The porcine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) harbors the highly polymorphic swine leukocyte antigen (SLA) class I and II gene clusters encoding glycoproteins that present antigenic peptides to T cells in the adaptive immune response. In Austria, the majority of commercial pigs are F 2 descendants of F 1 Large White/Landrace hybrids paired with Pietrain boars. Therefore, the repertoire of SLA alleles and haplotypes present in Pietrain pigs has an important influence on that of their descendants. In this study, we characterized the SLA class I ( SLA-1 , SLA-2 , SLA-3 ) and class II ( SLA-DRB1 , SLA-DQB1 , SLA-DQA ) genes of 27 purebred Pietrain pigs using a combination of the high-resolution sequence-based typing (SBT) method and a low-resolution (Lr) PCR-based method using allele-group, sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). A total of 15 class I and 13 class II haplotypes were identified in the studied cohort. The most common SLA class I haplotype Lr-43.0 ( SLA-1 *11XX- SLA-3 *04XX- SLA-2 *04XX) was identified in 11 animals with a frequency of 20%. For SLA class II, the most prevalent haplotype, Lr-0.14 [ SLA-DRB1 *0901- SLA-DQB1 *0801- SLA-DQA *03XX], was found in 14 animals with a frequency of 26%. Two class II haplotypes, tentatively designated as Lr-Pie-0.1 [ SLA-DRB1 *01XX/be01/ha04- SLA-DQB1 *05XX- SLA - DQA*blank] and Lr-Pie-0.2 [ SLA-DRB1 *06XX- SLA-DQB1 *03XX- SLA-DQA *03XX], appeared to be novel and have never been reported so far in other pig populations. We showed that SLA genotyping using PCR-SSP-based assays represents a rapid and cost-effective way to study SLA diversity in outbred commercial pigs and may facilitate the development of more effective vaccines or identification of disease-resistant pigs in the context of SLA antigens to improve overall swine health.
Equine peri-anaesthetic mortality and morbidity are of interest to anaesthetists, practitioners, horse owners and insurance companies. The largest prospective study, 'The Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Equine Fatalities' (CEPEF) was conducted more than 20 years ago. It included over 40,000 horses from multiple centres and reported mortality to be 1.9% that decreased to 0.9% when only elective cases were considered. This is in stark contrast to mortality rates in small animal (dogs: 0.17%, cats: 0.24%) and human anaesthesia (0.04-7/10,000). In spite of developments in understanding the pathophysiology of equine anaesthesia mortality has not decreased in the intervening years. The main contributors to peri-anaesthetic equine mortality are cardiac arrest, fractures and myopathy or neuropathy. Spinal cord myelopathy and cerebral necrosis are less common. Malignant hyperthermia and hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis are diseases associated with genetic mutations that can be triggered during general anaesthesia and may be fatal if not recognised and treated immediately. Morbidities are reported less frequently, presumably because often they do not cause permanent harm and may resolve within a short period of time. Complications in equine anaesthesia are numerous and include injuries at induction and recovery, damage to the airway associated with orotracheal or nasotracheal intubation, post-anaesthetic myopathy or neuropathy, regurgitation and aspiration of stomach contents, ocular injuries and complications associated with intravascular cannulation. Hypotension, hypoventilation, hypoxaemia, hypothermia and dysrhythmias may occur both during the maintenance phase of anaesthesia but also in recovery. Airway obstruction during recovery has repeatedly been reported over the years as causing pulmonary oedema, which is often fatal if the airway is not restored extremely quickly. This review summarises the literature on the risk of mortality and morbidity. Information has been gathered from single case reports as well as larger research studies.
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