Uterine leiomyosarcoma in a cat

Abstract: A 16-year-old cat presented with a 2-week history of anorexia and lethargy. Radiography revealed a soft-tissue opacity, heart-shaped mass between the descending colon and urinary bladder. Ultrasonography showed a large uterine body with a heterogeneously hypoechoic, thickened wall and hypoechoic intraluminal fluid. Computed tomography revealed a large, fluid-filled uterine mass with contrast enhancement, without evidence of regional lymph node or pulmonary metastasis. Ovariohysterectomy was performed and leiomyosarcoma was confirmed by histology. No notable abnormalities were observed during the 1-year postoperative follow-up periods. This report describes the diagnostic imaging and treatment of a rare case of feline uterine leiomyosarcoma.

Time-course changes in the expression levels of miR-122, -155, and -21 as markers of liver cell damage, inflammation, and regeneration in acetaminophen-induced liver injury in rats

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a significant threat to patient health and a major concern during drug development. Recently, multiple circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be potential biomarkers for DILI. To adapt and validate miRNAs for clinical use, we investigated the time-course changes in miR-122 expression levels in an acetaminophen-induced liver injury model in rats. In addition, miR-155 and miR-21 were evaluated as makers of inflammation and regeneration, respectively, to characterize liver status. Our results revealed that miR-122 is an early and sensitive biomarker of hepatocellular injury at a stage when alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, and total bilirubin were not detectable. However, no significant differences in the expression levels of other miRNAs (miR-155 and -21) were observed between treatment and vehicle groups. Collectively, these time-course changes in the expression levels of miRNAs may be useful as markers for clinical decision-making, in the diagnosis and treatment of DILI.

Preserved Hippocampal Glucose Metabolism on 18F-FDG PET after Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Chronic Epileptic Rats

Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) may be a promising modality for treating medial temporal lobe epilepsy. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is a noninvasive method for monitoring in vivo glucose metabolism. We evaluated the efficacy of hUCB-MSCs transplantation in chronic epileptic rats using FDG-PET. Rats with recurrent seizures were randomly assigned into three groups: the stem cell treatment (SCT) group received hUCB-MSCs transplantation into the right hippocampus, the sham control (ShC) group received same procedure with saline, and the positive control (PC) group consisted of treatment-negative epileptic rats. Normal rats received hUCB-MSCs transplantation acted as the negative control (NC). FDG-PET was performed at pre-treatment baseline and 1- and 8-week posttreatment. Hippocampal volume was evaluated and histological examination was done. In the SCT group, bilateral hippocampi at 8-week after transplantation showed significantly higher glucose metabolism (0.990 +/- 0.032) than the ShC (0.873 +/- 0.087; P < 0.001) and PC groups (0.858 +/- 0.093; P < 0.001). Histological examination resulted that the transplanted hUCB-MSCs survived in the ipsilateral hippocampus and migrated to the contralateral hippocampus but did not differentiate. In spite of successful engraftment, seizure frequency among the groups was not significantly different. Transplanted hUCB-MSCs can engraft and migrate, thereby partially restoring bilateral hippocampal glucose metabolism. The results suggest encouraging effect of hUCB-MSCs on restoring epileptic networks.

Idiopathic canine polyarteritis in control beagle dogs from toxicity studies

It is sometimes difficult to assess the relevance of polyarteritis with treatment-related lesions in dog toxicity studies, as number of dogs used in a toxicity study is small and the lesions are similar to those seen in spontaneous diseases. This report is intended to establish a general profile of idiopathic canine polyarteritis in beagle dogs. Data from a total of 40 dog studies including 4-, 13- or 52- weeks studies conducted between 1990 and 2003 at Huntingdon Life Sciences, UK, were collected and analysed. There was no death by this disease and also no prominent clinical signs related to this disease. Histologically, males tended to develop polyarteritis more frequently than in females and epididymis is the most probable tissues, followed by thymus and heart. Dogs in two studies showed higher incidences of these lesions, whereas animals in the other studies did not exhibited, suggesting that genetic predilection plays an important role in this disease.