A diarréia é considerada uma das principais causas de morbidade e mortalidade de bezerros neonatos. Foram colhidas 100 amostras fecais diarréicas e 30 amostras não diarréicas (grupo controle), de bezerros Nelore com até nove semanas de idade com o objetivo de detectar os enteropatógenos Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, rotavírus, coronavírus, Cryptosporidium spp. e ovos de helmintos. Enteropatógenos foram detectados em 79,0% das amostras diarréicas e em 70,0% das amostras não-diarréicas. No grupo de bezerros com diarréia, E. coli (69,0%) foi o agente mais freqüentemente isolado, seguido de Cryptosporidium spp. (30,0%), coronavírus (16,0%) e rotavírus (11,0%). No grupo controle, E. coli, Cryptosporidium spp. e coronavírus foram detectados, respectivamente, em 66,7%, 10,0% e 3,3% das amostras. Salmonella spp. e ovos de estrongilídeos não foram encontrados nos dois grupos avaliados. A fímbria K99 foi identificada exclusivamente nas linhagens de E. coli isoladas de bezerros com diarréia (5,8%). Entre os antimicrobianos avaliados "in vitro" a enrofloxacina, a norfloxacina e a gentamicina foram os mais efetivos. O peso dos bezerros aos 210 dias de idade não apresentou diferença significativa entre os animais com e sem diarréia.

Hepcidin has been found to be the key regulator of iron metabolism that leads to hypoferremia during inflammation. Recent work has shown that equine hepcidin is predominantly expressed in the liver of horses. In this study, hepcidin gene expression was determined in the liver and bone marrow of six healthy horses after iv infusion of Escherichia coli O55:B5 LPS. The IL-6 gene expression was also determined in liver and bone marrow samples. Clinical and laboratory evaluations were measured at multiple time points between 0 and 240 h post-LPS infusion (PI). Liver and bone marrow biopsies were taken immediately before (baseline) and at 6 and 18 h PI. In response to endotoxin infusion, all horses showed characteristic clinical signs of endotoxemia. Plasma iron concentration was decreased significantly from the pre-infusion level at 8 h PI. Hypoferremia peak was observed at 12 h and returned to normal levels at 30 h PI. Relative real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that liver hepcidin and IL-6 mRNA expression was up-regulated at 6 h PI. Bone marrow hepcidin relative expression was not influenced by LPS infusion. In another experiment, equine monocyte cultures were stimulated with LPS (1 µg/ml). Monocyte hepcidin and IL-6 gene expression was significantly induced after 2 h of LPS stimulus and returned to baseline levels thereafter. The present study describes that, in horses, LPS infusion up-regulates hepatic hepcidin mRNA expression resulting in early observed hypoferremia and suggests that hepcidin may act as an acute-phase protein in horses.

No abstract

To test the hypothesis that the administration of 2.5 mg of estradiol benzoate (EB) followed by 1500 mg of long acting progesterone (LA P4) causes similar uterine changes and molecular dynamics in anovulatory mares to those observed in cyclic ones, we evaluated the changes of estrogen (ERα and ERβ) and progesterone receptors (PR) in anestrous, transitional and cyclic mares by RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry. In addition, we evaluated uterine edema, tonus and estrogens and progesterone plasma profile. Endometrial biopsies were taken from anestrous and transitional mares immediately before EB injection, 48 h after EB administration and five days after LA P4 was given. In cyclic mares, biopsies were collected at estrus and at five days after ovulation. Similar estrogen peaks were achieved after the injection of the single EB dose between treated and cyclic groups, as well as maximum uterine edema. Uterine tone was increased to diestrus levels after administration of 1500 mg of LA P4. Changes in relative abundance of transcripts for PR, ERα and ERβ when progesterone stimulated endometrium was compared to estrogen stimulated endometrium were similar between cyclic and non-cyclic treated mares. However, apparent decreased PR in the endometrial glandular epithelium was not observed in non-cyclic mares five days after LA P4 administration as observed at five days after ovulation in cyclic mares. The protocol produced similar endometrial edema, uterine tonus and changes in relative abundance of PR, ERα and ERβ transcripts to those observed in cyclic mares during late estrus and early diestrus, as well as similar estradiol and estrogen conjugate plasma concentrations.

BackgroundOculocutaneous albinism (OCA) is an autosomal recessive hereditary pigmentation disorder affecting humans and several other animal species. Oculocutaneous albinism was studied in a herd of Murrah buffalo to determine the clinical presentation and genetic basis of albinism in this species.ResultsClinical examinations and pedigree analysis were performed in an affected herd, and wild-type and OCA tyrosinase mRNA sequences were obtained. The main clinical findings were photophobia and a lack of pigmentation of the hair, skin, horns, hooves, mucosa, and iris. The results of segregation analysis suggest that this disease is acquired through recessive inheritance. In the OCA buffalo, a single-base substitution was detected at nucleotide 1,431 (G to A), which leads to the conversion of tryptophan into a stop codon at residue 477.ConclusionThis premature stop codon produces an inactive protein, which is responsible for the OCA buffalo phenotype. These findings will be useful for future studies of albinism in buffalo and as a possible model to study diseases caused by a premature stop codon.

The results of this study support the hypothesis that 5% imiquimod cream may be used as an effective treatment for aural plaques in horses.

Despite the regional pattern of the cutaneous signs, skin with decreased thickness was not regionally distributed in the HERDA-affected horses. Histopathological evaluation is informative but not conclusive for establishing the diagnosis. Samples of skin from the neck, croup or back are useful for diagnosis of HERDA. However, the final diagnosis must be confirmed using molecular testing.

Summary Ingestion of food contaminated with slaframine, an alkaloid produced by Rhizoctonia leguminicola, causes a mycotoxicosis, characterised by excessive salivation. Twenty‐eight horses demonstrated this clinical sign after the consumption of alfalfa hay which on inspection showed dark patches on many of the stems. The presence of slaframine (1.5 ppm) in this hay was confirmed by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. This is the first equine slaframine toxicosis case reported in Brazil.