Skull of the grey heron (Ardea cinerea): Detailed investigation of the orbital region.

The skull of the grey heron (Ardea cinerea) was examined with an emphasis on describing the orbital region. In the young (circa sixteen to seventeen days old) heron, the frontal bone (os frontale) and nasal bone (os nasale) comprised separate paired bones, connected by sutures (sutura interfrontalis, sutura internasalis and sutura frontonasalis plana). In adult animals, the relationship between these bones was different: the left and right frontal bone and the left and right nasal bone had grown together, and the frontal bone and nasal bone had fused into a common frontonasal bone (os frontonasale). In the ectethmoid bone (os ectethmoidale), the main components comprised of the orbital and antorbital part of the ectethmoid plate (lamina ectethmoidalis orbitalis et antorbitalis), the lateral process (processus lateralis ectethmoidalis) and the tubercle (tuberculum ectethmoidalis); the left and right ectethmoid plates were fused together to form the ectethmoid sinus (sinus ectethmoidalis) between them. In the young heron, the anatomical and functional link between the frontal and lacrimal bones did not exist yet, nor did the osseous frame of the ectethmoid-lacrimal complex. Further research into the young heron skulls is needed. This article provides novel insights into the grey heron's orbital region.

Hydrolysable tannin fed to entire male pigs affects intestinal production, tissue deposition and hepatic clearance of skatole.

The effect of adding hydrolysable tannins to the diet of fattening boars was studied. Performance, reproductive organ weights, salivary gland morphology, boar taint compounds and skatole metabolism were evaluated. At 123 days of age and 52 ± 6 kg liveweight, 24 Landrace × Large White boars were assigned within a litter to four treatment groups: control (T0 fed mixture with 13.2 MJ/kg, 17.5% crude proteins) and three experimental diets for which the T0 diet was supplemented with 1%, 2% and 3% of hydrolysable tannin-rich extract (T1, T2 and T3, respectively). Pigs were kept individually with ad libitum access to feed and water and slaughtered at 193 days of age and 122 ± 10 kg liveweight. Adding hydrolysable tannins to the diet had no negative effect on growth performance at 1% and 2%, whereas the 3% inclusion reduced feed intake and resulted in an adaptive response of the salivary glands (particularly parotid gland hypertrophy). Relative to T0, fat tissue skatole concentration was increased in the T1 group, but was similar in T2 and T3. Across treatments tissue skatole concentrations were proportional to the activity of hepatic CYP450. The results indicate the potential of tannin supplementation to reduce boar taint although further investigations are needed in order to establishing optimal dosage.

Steroid hormones, boar taint compounds, and reproductive organs in pigs according to the delay between immunocastration and slaughter.

The producer of vaccine against GnRH recommends that immunocastrated pigs are to be slaughtered within 4 to 6 weeks after the second vaccination (V2). The objective of the study was to examine the effect of shorter or longer delay on steroid hormones, boar taint compounds, and morphologic and histologic traits of reproductive organs. Forty male pigs (individually housed and fed a commercial diet) were assigned within litter to four treatment groups, 10 pigs were left entire (EM27) and the others were vaccinated against GnRH (Improvac, Pfizer Animal Health) at the age of 12 and 19 weeks. Pigs were slaughtered at 21 (IC21), 24 (IC24), and 27 (IC27 and EM27) weeks of age. Two EM27 pigs died during the experiment, one IC21 pig was excluded because of illness, one IC27 pig was a nonresponder, and two pigs (IC24 and IC27) were hermaphrodites. To assess the effect on steroid hormones, blood was taken at 12, 15, 19, 21, and 24 weeks of age. Subcutaneous fat and reproductive organs were sampled after slaughter for determination of androstenone, skatole, morphologic, and histologic measurements. Immmunocastration interrupted the rise of estrogen and caused a substantial fall of testosterone in IC21, IC24, and IC27 pigs. As a result, androstenone and skatole levels were successfully reduced regardless of the time elapsed from V2. The weight of the reproductive organs was also drastically reduced, the shrinkage being proportional to the length of the interval between V2 and slaughter and was the most evident for vesicular glands, followed by bulbourethral glands, and testes. Corresponding changes were observed also on a histologic level with a progressive decrease in the size and number of Leydig cells, a diminishing immunoreactivity of 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/Δ-5-4 isomerase, and luteinizing hormone receptor, along with a shrinkage of tubuli seminiferi, atrophy of seminiferous epithelium, and a loss of germ cells, indicating a disruption in testicular spermatogenetic function. Regression of the glandular tissue with a decreasing amount of secreta was also observed for bulbourethral and vesicular glands. The investigated physiologic, morphologic, and histologic traits were progressive with the increasing delay to slaughter (clearly seen already 2 weeks after V2), though no signs of functional or morphological restoration was observed within 8 weeks after V2.

Cell transformation mediated by the Epstein-Barr virus G protein-coupled receptor BILF1 is dependent on constitutive signaling.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) open reading frame BILF1 encodes a seven trans-membrane (TM) G protein-coupled receptor that signals with high constitutive activity through Galpha(i) (Beisser et al., 2005; Paulsen et al., 2005). In this paper, the transforming potential of BILF1 is investigated in vitro in a foci formation assay using retrovirally transduced NIH3T3 cells, as well as in vivo by using nude mice. BILF1 revealed a substantial transforming potential that was dependent on constitutive signaling, as a signaling-deficient mutant completely lost its ability to transform cells in vitro, and an intermediately active triple-mutated receptor possessed an intermediate transforming potential. Furthermore, BILF1 expression induced vascular endothelial growth factor secretion in a constitutively active manner. In nude mice, BILF1 promoted tumor formation in 90% of cases, ORF74 (from Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus) in 100% of cases, whereas the signaling-deficient receptor resulted in tumor establishment in 40% of cases. These data suggest that BILF1, when expressed during EBV infection, could indeed be involved in the pathogenesis of EBV-associated diseases and malignancies. Furthermore, the correlation between receptor activity and the ability to mediate cell transformation in vitro and tumor formation in vivo supports the idea that inverse agonists for BILF1 could inhibit cell transformation and be relevant therapeutic candidates.