The first record of Dirofilaria immitis infection in a Humboldt penguin, Spheniscus humboldti.

Dirofilaria immitis infection is an important parastic disease in many mammals, especially canids, but has not been reported in bird hosts. Filarial worms were isolated from the lumen of the right atrium of the heart and the connective tissue of the lung of a captive female Humboldt penguin, Spheniscus humboldti, that died at a zoo in Japan. One of these worms was observed morphologically and identified as D. immitis by features such as 4 pairs of cephalic papillae, 1 pair of cervical papillae, esophagus divided into 2 regions, 4 pairs of pre-anal papillae, 5 pairs of post-anal papillae, and unequal spicules. In addition, the partial DNA sequence (234 bp) of mitochondrial CO / gene of the filarial worm was identical to that of D. immitis. This is the first report of D. immitis infection in a bird.

Purine metabolism of uric acid urolithiasis induced in newborn piglets.

To clarify the relationship between uric acid urolithiasis and purine catabolites in newborn piglets, the incidence of uric acid urolithiasis and the plasma concentrations of xanthine, hypoxanthine, uric acid and allantoin were examined in 32 piglets. The newborn piglets were divided into two groups: normal (over 1.2 kg, n = 18, group N) and low body weight (below 0.9 kg, n = 14, group L). The animals in both groups were given water (non-nutrition, n = 11, treatment W), artificial milk (normal nutrition, n = 12, treatment M), or a combination of water and allopurinol (prophylactic treatment for the urolithiasis, n = 9, treatment A), during the first 60-hr of birth. At necropsy, the incidence of urolithiasis was higher in the piglets that received treatment W than those in the treatment M or A in both the N and L groups. In group L, the plasma xanthine, hypoxanthine and uric acid concentrations were markedly increased in the piglets that underwent treatment W compared with the treatment M. In both the N and L groups, the plasma allantoin concentration was higher in the treatment W piglets as compared with the treatment M piglets. These results suggested that the occurrence of uric acid urolithiasis in the newborn piglets is attributable to increased purine catabolites due to a starvational condition after birth.