Molluscan immune defenses.

The interest of marine invertebrates as food resources provides a major interest to study molluscan immunity for better understanding of the host response to pathogens. Molluscs possess a natural immunity formed by anatomical and chemical protective barriers that prevent damage of the underlying tissues, body fluid losses and the infections of pathogenic microorganisms and parasites. The main physical barrier is shell and mucus which cover the soft body of molluscs. The integrity of body coverings is supported by blood clotting and wound healing. The internal defense mechanisms of molluscs involve such cellular reactions as: phagocytosis, nodule formation, encapsulation, pearl formation, atrophy, necrosis and tissue liquefaction. Granular hemocytes are the most numerous cell type of molluscan blood active in cellular defenses. Invaders small in size are eliminated by phagocytosis in which participate lectins and products of prophenyloxidase system activation. Numerous and large intruders are eliminated by nodule formation or encapsulation, either cellular or humoral. Humoral components of molluscan immunity are formed by lysozyme activity, lectins and the phenyloxidase system. Up to now the role of mercenenes, paolins, acute phase reactants, alpha 2-macroglobulins and multifunctional binding proteins with anti-protease activity is not well clarified yet. Research prospects on the field of molluscan immunology should essentially be devoted to study cellular defense functions and humoral effectors to select pathogen-resistant molluscs. This aim could also be achieved by the identification and characterization of immune genes which are candidates for molluscs genetic transformation.

Immune phenomena in echinoderms.

Advances in biochemistry and molecular biology have made it possible to identify a number of mechanisms active in the immune phenomena of echinoderms. It is obvious that echinoderms have the ability to distinguish between different foreign objects (pathologically changed tissues, microorganisms, parasites, grafts) and to express variable effector mechanisms which are elicited specifically and repeatably after a variety of non-self challenges. The molecular and biochemical basis for the expression of these variable defense mechanisms and the specific signals which elicit one type of effector mechanism are not, however, yet well known. The high capacity of coelomocytes to phagocytose, entrap and encapsulate invading microorganisms is a valid immune cell-mediated mechanism of echinoderms. The entrapped bacteria, discharged cellular materials and disintegrating granular cells are compacted and provoke the cellular encapsulation reaction. Moreover, humoral-based reactions form an integral part of the echinoderm defense system against microbial invaders. Factors such as lysozyme, perforins (hemolysins) vitellogenin and lectins are normal constituents of hemolymph, while cytokines are synthesized by echinoderms in response to infection.

Polydnaviruses of hymenopteran endoparasitoids knock out the host insect immune response.

The insect immune system reacts against invading microorganisms and parasites with the recruitment of haemocytes and with humoral response. Cellular immune reactions involve phagocytosis, nodule formation and encapsulation by different types of haemocytes whereas insect cell-free antibacterial immunity depends on the production of a number of peptides and proteins, among which lysozyme, cecropins and attacins represent the major group of immune proteins. Polydnaviruses from certain hymenopterous parasitoids interfere with both host immunity and host development. These immunosuppressive viruses exhibit an intimate genetic relationship with the parasitoid since viral sequences are integrated within the parasitoid chromosomal DNA. The viral genes expression in parasitized host induces immunosuppression and alters development of the host insect. The parasitoids developing in the host body cavity knock out the insect immune system, inducing a decline in cellular and humoral components of the immune system so that parasitoid eggs are not recognized as foreign and thereby are not encapsulated. Polydnaviruses carrying parasitoids escape the host immune response and may develop within the insect host whereas other invaders are normally destroyed by defense factors of insect haemolymph.

Earthworm immune responses.

The knowledge of the immunity in annelids started with the use of earthworms as biomarkers indicating changes caused by environmental pollution. Defence strategies effectively protect earthworms against bacterial infections and parasitic invasion. A natural immunity formed by anatomical and chemical protective barriers prevents damage of the underlying tissues, body fluid losses, and microbial infections of the body cavity. The internal defence mechanisms of annelids involve phagocytosis, nodule formation and encapsulation, blood coagulation and wound repair, and antibacterial immune proteins. The antibacterial activity of coelomic fluid associated with lysozyme-like substances and inducible humoral molecules support haemocytic reactions in the annelid defence system.

C-reactive protein in monitoring and evaluation of effects of therapy of the MMA syndrome of sows.

The elevated concentration of CRP in sows at the early stage of the MMA reflected the inflammation in the reproductive tract and in the mammary gland. Monitoring the level of CRP during the first days after parturition may be used to diagnose early stages of the MMA and to start therapy. In the treated MMA sows the level of CRP steadily decreased, and by the end of the experiment it had returned to the normal level. In the non-treated MMA sows CRP persisted at a high level and at day 10 of the experiment it was 13 times higher than in the treated animals and 16 times higher than in controls. Measurements of serum CRP are valuable in monitoring the health status of sows after parturition and should be introduced as the diagnostic method of the MMA syndrome in sows. The determination of the concentration of serum CRP during the first two days after parturition should be used for diagnosis of the early stages of MMA syndrome in sows and to start therapy when clinical symptoms of MMA are still absent.

[Microbiological evaluation of the effectiveness of gynalgin in the treatment of vaginitis]. / Ocena mikrobiologiczna skutecznosci Gynalginu w zapaleniach pochwy u kobiet.

The microbiological effectiveness of the preparation Gynalgin produced by POLFA Pharmaceutical Works in Rzeszów was assessed in cases of vulvovaginitis in 55 patients with clinically diagnosed inflammatory conditions of the lower genital tract, who were given Gynalgin tablets in 10-day courses. Vaginal smears were examined three times for the presence of bacteria, fungi and trichomonas vaginalis (before and immediately after the treatment, and two weeks later). In the initial examination in five vaginal smears mixed bacterial flora was found, in 6 smears trichomonas was present, in 4--bacteria and fungi, and in one--trichomonas and fungi. After the treatment in control examinations I and II the number of the isolated bacterial strains was lower, trichomonas was no longer present, and the number of fungi was reduced evidently. In the light of these microbiological examinations Gynalgin was found to exert a strong fungicidal, bactericidal and antitrichomonal activity, and the results of laboratory investigations agreed with those of clinical trials of Gynalgin effectiveness.

[The antibiotic sensitivity patterns of Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum in in vitro studies]. / Wrailiwosc na antybiotyki szczepów Salmonella pullorum i Salmonella gallinarum w badaniach in vitro.

The antibiotic sensitivity patterns of 100 strains of S. pullorum and 24 strains of S. gallinarum against 19 antibiotics and 3 antibiotic mixtures were determined by the broth dilution method. The strains studied were isolated from enzootic outbreaks of pullorum disease and fowl typhoid. It was found that all the strains were sensitive to ampicillin, streptomycin, neomycin, kanamycin, oxytetracycline, chloromycetin, gentamycin, signamycin, polzomycin, and neotarchocin. Besides, S. pullorum was sensitive to aureomycin. In vitro studies showed that polzomycin and neotarchocin appeared to be the most effective drugs in the treatment of poultry diseases caused by S. pullorum or S. gallinarum. The appearance of high percentage of S. pullorum and S. gallinarum strains resistant simultaneously to several antibiotics points to the necessity of the determination of antibiotic sensitivity patterns of salmonellae isolated from birds.

Selective inhibition of cecropin-like activity of insect immune blood by protease from American foulbrood scales.

Bioassays of American foulbrood larval scale filtrates have shown the presence of an immune inhibitor with a specific activity of proteases that selectively destroy cecropin-like activity in insect immune hemolymphs. It was an unexpected phenomenon to find that Bacillus larvae protease(s), even at trace concentrations, totally inhibits bactericidal activity of immune blood against Escherichia coli D 31. Thermal inactivation of a proteolytic enzyme coincides strictly with a disappearance of the ability to inhibit a cecropin-type activity in an assay system used, although the immune inhibitor was unaffected by trypsin digestion. Since neither bee larval hemolymph nor larval body homogenates possess demonstrable inhibitory action against cecropins present in hemolymph of Celerio euphorbiae and other insects, one can suggest that B. larvae proteases selectively destroy some molecules of the insect humoral immune system. The absence of cecropins in blood of immunized honeybee, Apis mellifera, larvae and a simultaneous high inhibitory activity of B. larvae protease(s) need further study on their role in pathogenesis of American foulbrood of the honeybee.

Polypeptide antibiotic 26a from Bacillus subtilis. IV. Evaluation of biological in vivo activity.

The studies performed with the antibiotic 26a, which has a close resemblance to bacitracin family polypeptide antibiotics, revealed a prominent therapeutic and protective actions. The antibiotic is characterized by a moderately low toxicity, lack of cytotoxic and cytostatic effects on several tissue cultures, and therapeutic effectiveness in lethal streptococcal infections in mice, and corynebacterial infections in guinea pigs.

[Effect of the number of lactation periods on the IgM level in the colostrum and peripheral blood serum of pregnant cows and calves]. / Wplyw ilosci laktacji na poziom IgM w siarzezarnych i cielat.

The level of immunoglobulins of IgM class was determined in serum of peripheral blood of cows of the black-white breed, being after first, second and third lactation, in blood serum of calves in the period from birth to the 12th week of age as well as in beestings from the first milking. IgM level in serum and beestings was determined by redial immunodiffusion according to Mancini et al., as modified by Fahey and Mc Kelvey. Statistic analysis of the results obtained (double nonorthogonal crossing, correlation test) showed that after one, two or three lactations no changes in IgM level occurred in serum of cows in the last month of pregnancy and in beestings from the first milking. A relationship was found between IgM level in serum of pregnant cows, in beestings and in serum of calves fed with beestings at the age from the third day to one week.

[Studies on using choline salt of N-glucosylpolyfungine as an antifungal preparation for cell culture]. / Badania nad zastosowaniem soli cholinowej N-glukozylopolifunginy jako preparatu przeciwgrzybowego do hodowli komórek.

Fungistatic and fungicidal activity as well as the toxicity of the polyfungine derivative of choline N-glucosylpolyfungine salt for chicken embryo fibroblasts were studied. This preparation was found to inhibit the growth of Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium sp. at 25-100 micrograms/ml concentrations of the medium. The highest sensitivity to polyfungine was shown by C. albicans strain, and the lowest by Aspergillus niger strain. The preparation studied did not lose its activity in the medium containing 20% of calf serum. Its toxicity for cells in vitro was considera bly lower than that of amphotericine B used for intravenous injections and reached over 156 micrograms/ml of the medium. In mixed cultures containing fibroblasts and cells of fungi, the polyfungine derivative inhibited the growth of microbes at concentrations lower than in the medium without cells.

[Effect of Neowetadina and Polyvaccinum on serum levels of immunoglobulins and total proteins in calves during the industrial fattening process]. / Wplyw Neowetadiny i Poliwakcyny na poziom immunoglobulin oraz bialka calkowitego w surowicy krwi u cielat w tuczu przemyslowym.

The usefulness of nonspecific stimulating preparations-Neowetadina (Biowet) and Poliwakcyna (Polfa) for stimulation of the serum level of immunoglobulins of the classes IgG, IgA and IgM and total protein was determined in calves of the black and white breed at the age of 9-10 weeks (average body weight 75-80 kg) over 8 weeks from the onset of industrial fattening in technological groups. The stimulants were given in single intramuscular injections at the following doses: 0.08 and 0.4 ml of Neowetadina per 1 kg of body weight, 0.4 ml of Poliwakcyna forte per 1 kg of body weight. The level of the particular classes of immunoglobulins in the calf sera was determined by radial immunodiffusion according to Mancini et al., modified by Fahey and McKelvey, and that of total protein by the biuret method. The serum of the IgG class immunoglobulins increased statistically significantly (P less than or equal to 0.05), starting from the 4th week after the administration of the preparations and reached its maximal value in the 5th week. However, the serum level of IgA increased in the 8th week of observation. Poliwakcyna and Neowetadina effected only slightly the increase of the serum level of IgM immunoglobulins. The preparations also stimulated the increase of total protein level in the blood serum of the calves.