Spider silk constructs enhance axonal regeneration and remyelination in long nerve defects in sheep.

Background: Surgical reapposition of peripheral nerve results in some axonal regeneration and functional recovery, but the clinical outcome in long distance nerve defects is disappointing and research continues to utilize further interventional approaches to optimize functional recovery. We describe the use of nerve constructs consisting of decellularized vein grafts filled with spider silk fibers as a guiding material to bridge a 6.0 cm tibial nerve defect in adult sheep.

A novel Respiratory Health Score (RHS) supports a role of acute lung damage and pig breed in the course of an Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection.

Background: Bacterial lung infections are a major cause of economic losses in the pig industry; they are responsible for approximately 50% of the antibiotics used in pigs and, therefore, also present an increasing concern to consumer protection agencies. In response to this changing market we investigated the feasibility of an old approach aimed at the breeding selection of more resistant pigs. As a first step in this direction we applied a new respiratory health score system to study the susceptibility of four different pig breeding lines (German Landrace, Piétrain, Hampshire, Large White) towards the respiratory tract pathogen Actinobacillus (A.

Malignant catarrhal fever-like lesions associated with ovine herpesvirus-2 infection in three goats.

This is the first description of malignant catarrhal fever-like lesions associated with ovine herpesvirus-2 (OvHV-2) infection in goats with central nervous symptoms. The diagnosis was based on typical histological lesions characterized by systemic lymphohistiocytic and fibrinoid vasculitis and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and subsequent phylogenetic analysis of the detected OvHV-2 sequences.