Chromosomal aberrations and their mechanisms have been studied for many years in livestock. In cattle, chromosomal abnormalities are often associated with serious reproduction-related problems, such as infertility of carriers and early mortality of embryos. In the present work, we review the mechanisms and consequences of the most important bovine chromosomal aberrations: Robertsonian translocations and reciprocal translocations. We also discuss the application of bovine cell cultures in genotoxicity studies.
Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the causative agent of granulocytic anaplasmosis. It affects humans and several wild and domesticated mammals, including horses. The aim of our study was a preliminary survey of the occurrence of these re-emerging pathogens in horses in Slovakia. The sera from 200 animals of different ages and both sexes were tested for the presence of A. phagocytophilum antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence assay. Subsequently, detection of the 16S rRNA gene fragment of A. phagocytophilum was attempted by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in each blood sample. Our results confirmed the presence of specific antibodies in 85 out of 200 individuals (42.5%), but no significant changes were found between the animals of different ages and sexes. However, the PCR analysis did not detect any positive animals. Our data represent one of the highest values of seropositivity to A. phagocytophilum in horses in Central Europe. These results may contribute to a better understanding of the circulation of A. phagocytophilum in this region, thus indicating a potential risk to other susceptible species.
The aim of this study was to reveal the potentially genotoxic effect of zearalenone on bovine lymphocytes by comet assay in vitro. The bovine lymphocytes were exposed to various zearalenone concetrations (50; 10; 2; 0.4 and 0.08 ppm). The viability and DNA damage of lymphocytes was monitored after 2 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. After 2 hours of zearalenone exposure, statistically significant DNA damage occurred at all tested concentrations of 0.08 ppm (12.2±1.25; p<0.05), 0.4 ppm (12.7±0.88; p<0.01), 2 ppm (12.0±0.51; p<0.01), 10 ppm (11.2±0.47; p<0.01) and at 50 ppm (14.2±0 61; p<0.001). Significantly greater DNA damage was also found after 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. The obtained results showed that zearalenone may induce DNA damage of the bovine lymphocytes.
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