Exploring uterine inflammation in postpartum primiparous precocious and conventional and multiparous Bos indicus beef cows.

This study aimed to compare the postpartum uterine dynamics of primiparous precocious (PP), primiparous conventional (PC) and multiparous conventional (MC) Bos indicus beef cows. For this purpose, PP (n = 8), PC (n = 18) and MC (n = 12) cows were enrolled in this study. These cows were evaluated at 20 and 10 days prepartum and weekly from parturition to 42 days postpartum (DPP). During this period, body weight (BW), subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) and serum concentrations of glucose, ß-hydroxybutyrate, albumin and haptoglobin were measured. Proportion of polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells, and abundance of mRNA transcripts of genes involved in uterine inflammation and uterine health were evaluated. The PP cows had lower (p < .05) BW and SFT than that for PC and MC cows during the study period. The serum concentration of albumin after 35 DPP was lower (p < .05) in PP cows. The PP cows had the highest proportion of PMN on 28 and 35 DPP compared to PC and MC cows. The relative mRNA abundance of IL-1ß and IL-8 increased after 21 DPP in PP cows compared to the other groups. The PC had the highest, MC had an intermediate, and PP cows had the lowest relative abundance of IL10 mRNA. Overall, these findings indicated that uterine inflammation was more pronounced in PP cows. Moreover, based on the proportion of PMN and abundance of transcripts associated with inflammation in the uterus, PP cows may require a longer period to recover their uterine health after calving.

Enhanced extraction yields and mobile phase separations by solvent mixtures for the analysis of metabolites in Annona muricata L. leaves.

The effects of five extraction solvents and their mixtures on the yield of metabolites in crude and fractionated extracts of Annona muricata L. leaves were investigated by direct comparison. Extraction media were prepared using simplex centroid mixtures of ethanol, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, acetone, and chloroform. The effects of the mobile phase solvent strength and the analysis wavelength on the chromatographic separation were also investigated. Solvent mixtures rather than pure solvents were found to be the most efficient extractors for the different fractions. The results indicated that the mobile phase composed of methanol/acetonitrile/water (26:27:47 v/v/v) was most suitable for the basic fraction analysis at 254 nm, whereas the mobile phase composed of methanol/acetonitrile/water (35:35:30 v/v/v) was the most adequate for the organic fraction analysis at 254 nm. The results indicated that the chromatographic profiles and number of peaks were affected by the mobile phase strength and analysis wavelength.

Molecular quantitative assay for esterase-mediated organophosphate resistance in Rhipicephalus microplus.

The use of pesticides is the main tool to control infestations of the cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus, and organophosphate (OP) is one of the most used compounds for this purpose. Carboxylesterases (ChEs) are targets for OP pesticides in arthropods, and acetylcholinesterase 2 (AChE2) and esterase 1 (EST1) are metabolic enzymes involved in the xenobiotic detoxification process. The increase in the synthesis of these enzymes can be detected by the quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay, which was used to identify cattle tick populations resistant to OP pesticides. For that, two field populations of R. microplus were used, one previously identified by the larval packet test (LPT) as OP -sensitive (LC50=0.13µg/cm2) and the other OP-resistant (LC50=8.14µg/cm2). To promote the OP enzyme detoxification, groups of 10 females of the resistant strain were immersed in solutions of diazinon in technical grade at concentrations of 1.0mg/ml, 2.5mg/ml, and 5.0mg/ml. The ticks that survived diazinon exposure were submitted to qPCR assay, which enabled observing an increase in AChE2 and EST1 synthesis in the OP-resistant strain when compared to the susceptible strain. The initial results of expression analysis suggest that the qPCR assay can discriminate OP-resistant and susceptible populations. The development and improvement of molecular diagnostic tests to identify pesticide resistant R. microplus populations are priorities and in the near future it will be important to expand the molecular targets involved in OP resistance, which could be used for better selection of effective strategies to control cattle tick populations.