Technological Advances in Wound Treatment of Exotic Pets.

Although most research about the use of technological advances for wound healing was performed in laboratory animals but oriented to human medicine, recent technological advances allowed its application not only to small animals but also to exotic pets. This article reviews the literature available about some of these techniques (negative wound pressure therapy, photobiomodulation [laser therapy], electrical stimulation therapy, therapeutic ultrasonography, hyperbaric oxygen therapy), and other advances in wound management (skin expanders, xenografts, and bioengineered autologous skin substitutes) in exotic pet species.

The immunomodulatory effects of a commercial antiviral homeopathic compound in C57BL/6 mice, pre and post vaccine challenge.

Homeopathic remedies have been selectively employed in human medicine since Hahneman introduced the concept in 1828. While the use of homeopathy is regionally popular in both human and veterinary medicine, there is still a significant lack of scientific evidence supporting its efficacy. This is likely due to an absence of studies evaluating the mechanism of action of these compounds. Engystol® an FDA-approved antiviral agent, is a popular homeopathic commercial product. In select in vivo and in vitro observational studies, the drug showed a measureable innate immune therapeutic efficacy. The focus of the present study was to evaluate the innate and adaptive immunomodulatory effects of oral Engystol(®) (1 or 10 tablets/L water consumed), prior to and post antigenic challenge in a mouse model with a well-characterized and clinically measureable immune system. We first evaluated the murine immune response when oral Engystol(®) was given alone for 28days. Mice were then challenged with an antigen-specific H5N1 HA vaccine while on Engystol(®) for an additional 33days. Serum and supernatants from cultured splenic lymphocytes were collected and screened with a 32-cytokine panel. Serum vaccine epitope-specific IgG titers plus T cell and B cell phenotypes from splenic tissue were also evaluated. Preliminary results showed that Engystol(®) alone did not alter immunity; however, upon vaccine challenge, Engystol(®) decreased CD4(+)/CD8(+) ratios, altered select cytokines/chemokines, and anti-H5N1 HA IgG titers were increased in the 10 tablet/L group. Collectively, these data suggest that Engystol(®) can modulate immunity upon antigenic challenge.

Corticothalamic projections control synchronization in locally coupled bistable thalamic oscillators.

Thalamic circuits are able to generate state-dependent oscillations of different frequencies and degrees of synchronization. However, little is known about how synchronous oscillations, such as spindle oscillations in the thalamus, are organized in the intact brain. Experimental findings suggest that the simultaneous occurrence of spindle oscillations over widespread territories of the thalamus is due to the corticothalamic projections, as the synchrony is lost in the decorticated thalamus. In this Letter we study the influence of corticothalamic projections on the synchrony in a thalamic network, and uncover the underlying control mechanism, leading to a control method which is applicable for several types of oscillations in the central nervous system.

Role of inhibitory feedback for information processing in thalamocortical circuits.

The information transfer in the thalamus is blocked dynamically during sleep, in conjunction with the occurrence of spindle waves. In order to describe the dynamic mechanisms which control the sensory transfer of information, it is necessary to have a qualitative model for the response properties of thalamic neurons. As the theoretical understanding of the mechanism remains incomplete, we analyze two modeling approaches for a recent experiment by Le Masson et al. [Nature (London) 417, 854 (2002)] on the thalamocortical loop. We use a conductance based model in order to motivate an extension of the Hindmarsh-Rose model, which mimics experimental observations of Le Masson et al. Typically, thalamic neurons possess two different firing modes, depending on their membrane potential. At depolarized potentials, the cells fire in a single spike mode and relay synaptic inputs in a one-to-one manner to the cortex. If the cell gets hyperpolarized, T-type calcium currents generate burst-mode firing which leads to a decrease in the spike transfer. In thalamocortical circuits, the cell membrane gets hyperpolarized by recurrent inhibitory feedback loops. In the case of reciprocally coupled excitatory and inhibitory neurons, inhibitory feedback leads to metastable self-sustained oscillations, which mask the incoming input, and thereby reduce the information transfer significantly.