Application of polymerase chain reaction fingerprinting to differentiate Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale isolates.

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) is an infectious respiratory pathogen of chickens, turkeys, and wild birds. There are 18 serotypes of ORT reported worldwide. In this study, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) polymerase chain reaction and random amplified polymorphic DNA assay with Universal M13 primer-based fingerprinting techniques were investigated for their ability to differentiate ORT isolates. The authors examined 50 field isolates and 8 reference strains of ORT for their genetic differences. The fingerprint patterns were compared with serotyping results of ORT by the agar gel precipitation test. M13 fingerprinting revealed different patterns for 6 reference serotypes of ORT that were tested, namely, C, D, E, I, J, and K. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale reference serotypes A and F yielded indistinguishable fingerprints with M13 fingerprinting. The ERIC 1R technique discerned only 5 of the 8 reference serotypes of ORT. Distinct fingerprints were also found within the ORT serotypes with both techniques. From 58 isolates of ORT that were fingerprinted belonging to 8 ORT serotypes, 10 different fingerprints were obtained with M13 fingerprinting and 6 different fingerprints were obtained with ERIC 1R fingerprinting. M13 fingerprinting technique was found to be more discriminative in differentiating ORT isolates than the ERIC 1R fingerprinting technique. These results suggest that fingerprinting techniques may be a more discerning tool for characterizing ORT isolates than the serological test using the agar gel precipitation test. This fingerprinting technique could potentially be a valuable tool in identifying an isolate from a clinical outbreak of ORT infection for development of an autogenous vaccine.

Measurement of peripheral arterial vasculature in domestic Yorkshire swine by using quantitative vascular angiography.

Anatomic knowledge of the cardiovascular system, including arterial diameters and arterial segment lengths, is important for appropriate selection of animal size. Here we correlate the diameter and segment lengths of the femoroiliac artery of Yorkshire swine with animal weight. Angiographic images were acquired by using fluoroscopic equipment, and quantitative vascular analysis software was used to measure the internal iliac, external iliac, external femoral, internal femoral, and circumflex femoral arteries. Results indicated that swine weight appeared to have a positive but moderate statistical correlation with arterial diameter, with the exception of the correlation between femoroiliac arterial segment length and swine weight, which was low and sometimes negative. Morphometric data and correlation between animal weight and anatomic dimensional assessments can benefit preclinical researchers and the medical device industry, assisting them to determine their specific animal needs and allowing study design to be performed with a more realistic and educated approach.