Development of a double sandwich fluorescent ELISA to detect rattlesnake venom in biological samples from horses with a clinical diagnosis of rattlesnake bite.

Rattlesnake bites in horses are not uncommon and the clinical outcomes are widely variable. Treatment of horses with anti-venom is often cost prohibitive and could have negative consequences; therefore, the development of a quantitative test to determine if anti-venom therapy is indicated would be valuable. The objective of this study was to develop an ELISA to detect rattlesnake venom in biological samples from clinically bitten horses.

Antibody responses to natural rattlesnake envenomation and a rattlesnake toxoid vaccine in horses.

Antivenom antibody titers following administration of rattlesnake venom for antivenom production in horses are well documented; however, antivenom antibody titers following natural rattlesnake envenomation in horses are not. Antibody titers produced in response to the commercially available rattlesnake venom vaccine are also not published. Our study objectives were to measure antivenom antibody titers in rattlesnake-bitten horses and compare them to titers in horses vaccinated with the rattlesnake venom vaccine.

Cardiotoxicity, inflammation, and immune response after rattlesnake envenomation in the horse.

Background: Cardiac abnormalities are reported in rattlesnake-bitten horses. The prevalence and cause are unknown.

Objectives: To detect cardiac damage in rattlesnake-bitten horses by measuring cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and evaluating ECG recordings for presence of arrhythmias, and explore causes of this cardiac damage by measuring venom excretion, anti-venom antibodies, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα).

Transrectal ultrasound-integrated spectral optical tomography of hypoxic progression of a regressing tumor in a canine prostate.

The objective of this study was to evaluate if transrectal optical tomography implemented at three wavelength bands for spectral detection could monitor changes of the hemoglobin oxygen saturation (StO2) in addition to those of the total hemoglobin concentration ([HbT]) in lesions of a canine prostate, including an induced tumor modeling canine prostate cancer. Near-infrared (NIR) optical tomography was integrated with ultrasound (US) for transrectal imaging. Multi-spectral detection at 705_nm, 785_nm and 808_nm rendered measurements of [HbT] and StO2.

Light and electron microscopic evaluation of canine corneal endothelium following CO2 photokeratotomy.

Objective: To determine using light and scanning electron microscopy if treatment with CO2 photokeratotomy alters the corneal endothelium in healthy dogs.

Procedure: Eight surgery laboratory dogs were determined to be free of ocular abnormalities. Under general anesthesia, the left eye of each dog was treated in a quadrant from 12 to 3 o'clock with the CO(2) laser in a defocused mode.