Demonstrated efficacy of a pilot heterologous whole-spore vaccine against Microsporidial gill disease in rainbow trout.

Intraperitoneal vaccines using whole viable spores of the microsporidian Glugea anomala or Glugea hertwigi reduced the numbers of branchial xenomas by 80% and 91%, respectively, after a standard experimental infection of juvenile rainbow trout with the microsporidian Loma salmonae. Similar significant results were obtained when killed-spore preparations were used.

Small rodents.

Although rodent pets constitute only a small percentage of pets seen in practice, owners of rodents are as dedicated to those pets as are other owners to the more common dogs and cats. Rodents make excellent pets, with low space, feeding, and economic requirements. Medical care for rodents is based primarily on gross clinical signs, because most standard diagnostic tests done in larger animals cannot be done in small rodents. Even with that disadvantage, however, specific diagnosis of most rodent diseases is possible, and several of those diseases can be treated successfully. Among the common diseases of small rodents are ascariasis, pyoderma, incisor malocclusion and overgrowth, neoplasia and abcessation, nephrosis and amyloidosis, respiratory infection, enteritis, and neurologic disorders. Most drugs used in rodents, including anesthetics, are the same as those used in other species, with the exception of several drugs contraindicated in hamsters.

Effects of a commercial malathion dip preparation on the cellular and humoral immune response of BALB/c mice.

Because of the widespread use of malathion as a treatment for ectoparasitism, a study was undertaken to determine the effects of a malathion dip preparation on the BALB/c mouse immune system. Mice were treated with either 2% (recommended dosage) or 8% solutions of malathion or a water control. The cellular immune response was evaluated by in vitro exposure of lymphocytes to mitogens, and the humoral immune response was assessed by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify antibody production against sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Responses to the mitogens and to the SRBC were not significantly different between 2% and 8% malathion treated and water treated mice. Results indicated that malathion did not affect these two aspects of the mouse immune system when used as a 2% or 8% dipping solution.

Rabbit husbandry and medicine.

This article reviews biological characteristics and husbandry practices affecting rabbit health, with emphasis on nutrition, housing, and breeding. Clinical and therapeutic procedures, zoonotic concerns, and important bacterial, protozoal, and parasitic diseases and reproductive problems are discussed.

Sperm counts and reproductive tract lesions in male Syrian hamsters exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol.

Pregnant hamsters were administered diethylstilbestrol (DES) orally on day 14 of gestation. Sperm counts from F1 adult males were lower than controls. Significant and consistent lesions were confined to the epididymides of DES exposed males, in which epididymal granulomas were the most common lesion. Epididymal granulomas of the tail have been associated with a bacterial etiology while granulomas of the head may be related to blind ductules or a lack of ductule connection.

Effect of pituitary hollow fiber units and thyroid supplementation on growth in the little mouse.

Hollow fiber units containing allogeneic pituitary cells were implanted intracranially into heterozygous (lit/+) and homozygous, mutant (lit/lit) C57BL/6J "little" weanling mice. Over the 48 days of the experiment, heterozygous mice with pituitary cell implants had a lower percentage weight gain than control mice. Homozygous, mutant mice with cell implants, however, made significant weight gains over mutant controls. Long bone lengths were lower, and organ and carcass weights were higher, in heterozygous mice receiving pituitary cell implants than in control mice, but corresponding measurements in mutant mice with and without implants were not significantly different. Supplementation of the diet with thyroid powder increased the percentage weight gain during the latter half of the 48-day period in both genotypes with and without implanted cells. Thyroid-supplemented mutant mice with pituitary cell implants had significantly higher organ and carcass weights than other mutant groups. The little mouse may serve as a model for pituitary studies and for the treatment of isolated growth hormone deficiency type 1 in man.

Chromodacryorrhea in laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus): etiologic considerations.

Chromodacryorrhea was produced in 5, 7, and 16 week old intact and adrenalectomized rats following intravenous injection of acetylcholine or acute stress induced by limb restraint. Atropine blocked the lacrimal response to both stimuli, and epinephrine and corticosterone had no dacryogenic effects. The latent period between the onset of limb restraint and red tear release averaged 16 minutes.

Idiopathic megaesophagus in a rat (Rattus norvegicus).

Necropsy and histopathologic examination of a rat (Rattus norvegicus) revealed megaesophagus and gangrenous bronchopneumonia. The esophageal dilitation, mural atrophy with persistence of neural structures, regurgitation and bronchopneumonia seen in this case were similar to findings in other animals with megaesophagus.

An ultrasonic study of the thermotropic transition of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine.

The acoustic absorption of sonicated and unsonicated suspensions of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine has been studied as a function of temperature at frequencies between 0.6 and 4.0 MHz. The absorption at a fixed frequency passes through a maximum at a temperature which is dependent on the sample preparation and history and somewhat dependent on the frequency of observation, with sonicated vesicles exhibiting a temperature of maximum absorption 2--3 degrees C below that found for unsonicated dispersions. The temperature dependence of the absorption at fixed frequency suggests a cooperative process while the frequency dependence of the absorption at fixed temperature indicates that more than a single relaxation time is required to describe the acoustic absorption.

Self-mutilation in mice associated with otitis media.

Mutilation of the external ear and adjacent tissues was an enzootic problem in outbred Mcr:(ICR) breeder mice in a commercial colony. Necropsy examination of affected and randomly selected, nonaffected adult breeder mice revealed a probable association of the cutaneous lesions with suppurative otitis media. Several microorganisms, including Mycoplasma pulmonis and Pasteurella pneumotropica, were isolated from the tympanic bullae.