ABSTRACT:Twelve clinical cases of cyathostomosis in horses treated at the Equine Clinic University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Brno, the Czech Republic, between the years 1999 and 2008 are described in this report. Six cases (50%) were hospitalized in the period from 2007 to 2008. Eleven of them were hospitalized in the period from December to March. Only one case was admitted in June, but the clinical signs had appeared for the first time in January. All horses described in these cases were younger than six years of age. Diarrhoea as a predominant clinical sign was present in four horses and colic in four horses. One horse showed both colic and diarrhoea whilst three horses had weight loss and subcutaneous oedema. Metabolic acidosis was found in three horses, eight patients had leucocytosis. Hypoproteinemia was found in four horses, hypoalbuminemia in seven horses, hypokalemia in three horses and increased alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in five horses. Seven horses recovered, one horse died and four horses were euthanized.

Previously published increased prevalence rates of APC-R in patients with arterial disorders could not be confirmed in this study. A firm association between the presence of APC-R and previous bypass occlusion or postoperative failure of the vascular reconstruction could not be demonstrated.

Two cases of botulism in horses are described in the article. In the first case two horses died, one survived and recovered after four weeks. Botulotoxin type B was detected using a mouse bioassay in the gastrointestinal content of both dead horses; Clostridium botulinum bacteria were cultivated from one of them. In the second case two horses were affected. One of them was euthanized because of persistent recumbency, the second one recovered after six weeks. Detection of botulotoxin in the serum of the dead horse using the mouse bioassay was not successful.

Multicellular agglomerates in form of irregularly shaped or spherical clusters can recapitulate cell-cell interactions and are referred to as microtissues. Microtissues gain increasing attention in several fields including cardiovascular research. Cardiac microtissues are evolving as excellent model systems for drug testing in vitro (organ-on-a-chip), are used as tissue bricks in 3D printing processes and pave the way for improved cell replacement therapies in vivo. Microtissues are formed for example in hanging drop culture or specialized microwell plates; truly scalable methods are not yet available. In this study, a novel method of encapsulation of cells in Poly-N-isopropylacrylamid (PNIPAAm) spheres is introduced. Murine induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs) and bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were encapsulated in PNIPAAm by raising the temperature of droplets formed in a microfluidics setup above the lower critical solute temperature (LCST) of 32°C. PNIPAAM precipitates to a water-insoluble physically linked gel above the LCST and shrinks by the expulsion of water, thereby trapping the cells in a collapsing polymer network and increasing the cell density by one order of magnitude. Within 24 hours, stable cardiac microtissues were first formed and later released from their polymer shell by washout of PNIPAAm at temperatures below the LCST. Rhythmically contracting microtissues showed homogenous cell distribution, age-dependent sarcomere organizations and action potential generation. The novel approach is applicable for microtissue formation from various cell types and can be implemented into scalable workflows.

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