Variation in bull beef quality due to ultimate muscle pH is correlated to endopeptidase and small heat shock protein levels.

This study set out to determine if ultimate pH (pH(u)) affected the performance of intracellular small heat shock protein and endopeptidase dynamics in muscle during beef ageing. Longissimus dorsi muscles from 39 Angus or Limousin×Angus bulls were examined to see if pH(u) achieved at 22h post mortem (rigor) affected tenderness and water holding capacity of beef. Samples were segregated into three pH(u) groups termed high (pH>6.

The intracellular distribution of small heat shock proteins in post-mortem beef is determined by ultimate pH.

This study analysed Longissimus dorsi muscles from 39 Angus or Angus×Limousin bulls to determine the small heat shock protein (sHSP) dynamics in beef aged at 15°C. Using quantitative ELISA we determined that alpha β-crystallin and HSP20 were present at higher levels in muscles from Angus bulls. sHSP levels peaked at 0.

Suppression by mycophenolate mofetil of the neointimal thickening caused by vascular injury in a rat arterial stenosis model.

Injury of the rat carotid artery by gentle perfusion of air causes vascular thickening, similar to that seen in the clinic setting in humans after percutaneous angioplasty or bypass surgery to repair injured or diseased blood vessels. In the animal model as well as in patients, this stenosis appears to be the result of smooth muscle cell migration and proliferation. Various cell types in the lesion area may contribute by producing inflammatory cytokines, adhesion molecules and growth factors.

Vaccinating guinea pigs with recombinant glycoprotein D of herpes simplex virus in an efficacious adjuvant formulation elicits protection against vaginal infection.

Guinea pigs were immunized with glycoprotein gD-2t in SAF-m or saline, then challenged with herpes simplex virus, type 2 (HSV-2). Animals given gD-2t in SAF-m had higher anti-gD-2t antibodies, fewer and less severe vaginal lesions, and decreased ganglionic latency compared to animals given gD-2t in saline. Leucocytes from animals vaccinated with gD-2t in SAF-m had greater proliferative responses to gD-2t in vitro than cells from control animals.

A herpes simplex virus type 1 ICP22 deletion mutant is altered for virulence and latency in vivo.

The in vivo function of the herpes simplex virus type 1 immediate early gene ICP22 has been investigated in mice and guinea pigs using a deletion mutant (del22Z) of HSV-1(F) that lacks all but 18 nucleotides of the ICP22 coding sequence. This mutant carries the bacterial lacZ gene at the site of the deletion and makes functional beta-galactosidase, but is unable to synthesize any detectable ICP22 messenger RNA or protein in vitro. Del22Z was impaired in its ability to cause death in mice following intracerebral, intraperitoneal, or intravaginal inoculation.