Black bear (Ursus americanus) bile composition: seasonal changes.

Gallbladder contents from 8 active and 14 dormant black bears were analyzed for individual bile acids by high-performance liquid chromatography and for cholesterol, phospholipids, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, and copper. Only three bile acids occurring as taurine conjugates were detected: tauroursodeoxycholate, taurochenodeoxycholate, and taurocholate. The proportion of tauroursodeoxycholate to the sum of the three bile acids decreased. Calcium, cholesterol, phospholipids, magnesium, zinc, and copper concentrations were increased in dormancy. Standardized collection and handling procedures yielded more consistent data than previously available. The decrease in tauroursodeoxycholate and absence of deoxycholate and lithocholate are consistent with our working hypothesis that a marked reduction in metabolic activity of the gut flora is an integral part of the adaptation to metabolic stability of the dormant bear.

Augmentation cystoplasty utilizing de-epithelialized sigmoid colon: a preliminary study.

The use of bowel segments for bladder replacement or augmentation has been associated with metabolic complications and obstruction due to mucus production. Establishment of a transitional epithelium over the de-epithelialized surface of a segment of intestine might alleviate these complications. Twenty Holstein bull calves underwent sigmoidocystoplasty. Fourteen experimental animals had the epithelium of the sigmoid removed before augmentation. Six calves with intact mucosa served as controls. Fifteen calves survived the study: 11 experimentals and four controls. Cystectomies were performed at four, six, eight, or 12 weeks. Ninety-one percent (10/11) of the experimental calves had almost complete epithelialization of the de-epithelialized graft. All experimental animals had residual colonic mucosa or mucoceles. Nine of 11 experimental calves (82%) had greater than 25% contracture of the sigmoid graft. Two animals had less than 25% graft contracture (1) or formed a wide-mouthed true diverticulum (1) in the grafted segment. All control animals formed a wide-mouthed true diverticulum and had no graft contracture.

Cholinergic urticaria, passive transfer experiments from human to monkey.

Passive transfer experiments in cholinergic urticaria were carried out from 16 patients to a Macaca cymnologous monkey. Intravenous Evans blue dye was used to demonstrate vascular permeability. The animal was challenged after 24 h first by heating the serum-injected dorsal skin to 45 degrees C and secondly by superinjection of acetylcholine into serum-injected sites, and a control site. Local heat proved insufficient to evoke a response. Seven of 16 serum-injected sites showed positive reaction to acetylcholine, control injection of acetylcholine did not. These experiments suggest the presence of a serum factor in cholinergic urticaria which, with acetylcholine, causes increased vascular permeability.

Symptomatic dermographism (factitious urticaria)--passive transfer experiments from human to monkey.

Passive transfer experiments were carried out on three species of monkey, Macaca mulatta, Macaca nemestrina and Macaca fascicularis, using human serum from patients affected with severe symptomatic dermographism (factitious urticaria), cholinergic urticaria, chronic idiopathic urticaria and normal subjects. The monkeys were tested for dermographism by means of a calibrated dermographometer 24 h after intradermal injection of the serum, using Evans blue as a marker. Positive responses were seen initially in the M. nemestrina. Four sites injected with serum from patients with severe symptomatic dermographism gave positive responses, one site injected with serum from a normal subject produced a faint response. One of the four responses was reproduced one month later in M. fascicularis. These results indicate that passive transfer of dermographism is possible from human to monkey.

Quantification of regional platelet and calcium deposition on pericardial tissue valve prostheses in calves and effect of hydroxyethylene diphosphonate.

Mitral valves were replaced with 25 mm bovine pericardial tissue valve prostheses (Ionescu-Shiley) in 45 calves (23 controls and 22 treated daily with hydroxyethylene diphosphonate). Before being killed 1, 14, 30, and 90 days later, the calves received In-labeled autologous platelets intravenously. Regional variations in platelet deposition were measured by a new technique. Thrombus was noted early on the flexion zone of the valve; with time it increased on the free edge and central zone. Platelet deposition was initially high on the flexion zone, attachment zone, sewing ring, and perivalvular tissue but decreased with time. Hydroxyethylene diphosphonate treatment tended to decrease platelet deposition in all zones. Calcium content was high in thrombus and increased in all zones with time, in both groups, but the deposition was less in the group treated with hydroxyethylene diphosphonate. Collagenous tissue and adherent thrombus appear to provide nucleation sites for calcification.

Ascorbic acid levels in the aqueous humor of nocturnal and diurnal mammals.

Ascorbic acid concentration is known to be very high in the aqueous humor of humans and most animals. The role it might play in ocular function is a subject of conjecture. Some have proposed that it might protect the eye against light-induced damage. We examined the aqueous humor from 22 species of mammals to determine the range of levels and to see if there was a correlation with behavior. A wide range of ascorbic acid levels in the aqueous humor was found. Most of the animals considered to be diurnal had higher ascorbic acid levels than the nocturnal animals. This would suggest that ascorbic acid in the aqueous humor may play a protective role in those animals who are most exposed to light. Regardless, any theory proposing a role for ascorbic acid in the eye in mammals must take the wide range of ascorbic acid levels into account.

Platelet deposition on and calcification of bovine pericardial valve.

Platelet deposition on bovine pericardial mitral valves was quantified in healthy adult mongrel dogs at 1, 14 and 30 days post-implantation and 24 h after i.v. injection of 400-500 microCi of autologous 111In-platelets. In vitro quantitation of platelet deposition on components of the prosthesis indicated maximal activity at one day with a successive decrease in activity at 14 and 30 days. At one day, platelet-associated radioactivity on the sewing ring was 3-4 times as great as on the leaflets, but at 14 and 30 days this had dropped to approximately half of the value on the leaflets. Calves underwent mitral valve replacement with a bovine pericardial valve. Thirty days post-operatively, 111Indium labeled labeled platelets were administered i.v.; 24 h later, calves were sacrificed and sections of each valve leaflet were analyzed for platelet and calcium deposition. Platelet deposition per mm2 of surface was greatest at the free edge of the leaflet, followed by the central zone and flexion point. Calves treated with sodium hydroxyethylene diphosphonate (5 mg kg-1 day-1 s.c.) had reduced platelet deposition but no reduced calcium content on the valves after 30 days compared with untreated calves. In flow chamber studies, platelet deposition from the heparinized blood of normal calves was significantly less on the smooth (inner) than on the rough (outer) surface of fixed bovine pericardium.

A comparison of copper-loading disease in Bedlington terriers and Wilson's disease in humans.

Eleven Bedlington terriers were found to have a mean hepatic copper concentration of 6,321 micrograms/g dry wt (normal, 200 micrograms/g dry wt) and renal copper concentration that was three or four times normal. Brain copper levels were normal in younger dogs, were elevated in two older dogs, and were 100 times normal in one dog that died of the disease. Increased concentrations of copper in the liver, kidney, and brain also characterize Wilson's disease. Erythrocyte survival was normal in three affected dogs, but serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase levels were usually elevated. Unlike the hypoceruloplasminemia of patients with Wilson's disease, plasma ceruloplasmin activity was not only normal but was also slightly elevated in the terriers. Despite their normal or excessive ceruloplasmin, the Bedlington terriers could convert ionic 64Cu to radioceruloplasmin but did so only very slowly. These dogs accumulated significantly more 64Cu in their livers than normal, much like patients with Wilson's disease do before symptoms develop.

Hemostasis in the copper-laden Bedlington terrier: a possible model of Wilson's disease.

A hemostatic survey was done on 14 Bedlington terriers, 13 of which have the recently discovered copper toxicosis. Their hepatic copper ranged from 109 to 9,888 microgram/g dry weight and their ages from 8 months to 8 years. Despite histologic evidence of hepatitis in younger dogs and cirrhosis in older ones, plasmatic coagulation factors were not depressed. In fact, the hemophilic factors VIII, IX and XI were above normal, more closely related to the age of the dog than to the hepatic copper. Furthermore, their platelet were unusually sensitive to adenosine diphosphate exposure. Offsprings of matings between Bedlington terriers and Beagles seem to be normal.

Inheritance of porcine von Willbrand's disease: study of a kindred of over 700 pigs.

A study of over 700 pigs affected with von Willebrand's disease suggests that the classic disease is transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait. Less clear is the genetic basis of inheritance of variant types of this disease produced by selective mating.

A transmissible subacute spongiform encephalopathy in a visitor to the eastern highlands of New Guinea.

A Caucasian male, clinically ill with a respiratory disease, visited the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea (endemic for kuru in the Fore people) and developed subacute spongiform encephalopathy (Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease) ten weeks later, from which he subsequently died. Brain material was inoculated intracranially into squirrel monkeys, and several of them developed a spongiform encephalopathy. Monkeys that received control material (normal brain) were normal. Electronmicroscopic features in affected brain tissue are described, and the question of a relationship between Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease and kuru is considered.

Liver transplantation in pigs with von Willebrand's disease.

Nine pigs with von Willebrand's disease (vWd pigs) received normal auxiliary livers; in the immediate postoperative period, three pigs died, three survived from 3 days to 3 weeks, and three were killed 5-13 weeks postoperatively. There was an increase in factor VIII (up to 90 u/dl) but with a type of factor VIII that was more labile than normal and that decreased after 2 weeks, probably as a result of liver rejection. There was a slight increase in the levels of the ristocetin-Willebrand factor postoperatively (up to 11%) but this activity was undetectable after 2 weeks. There was no correction of the abnormal bleeding time and platelet retention. When a vWd liver was transplanted orthotopically into a normal pig, the factor-VIII coagulant activity and the ristocetin-Willebrand factor remained normal. The abnormality in porcine von Willebrand's disease is only partially corrected by liver transplantation, which suggests that there also is extrahepatic synthesis of the missing or abnormal plasmatic activity or activities.