Parental methyl-enhanced diet and in ovo corticosterone affect first generation Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) development, behaviour and stress response.

The role of maternal investment in avian offspring has considerable life history implications on production traits and therefore potential for the poultry industry. A first generation (G) of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were bred from a 2 × 2 factorial design. Parents were fed either a control or methyl-enhanced (HiBET) diet, and their eggs were treated with a vehicle or corticosterone injection during day 5 of incubation.

Strain Typing of Prion Diseases Using In Vivo Mouse Models.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) or prion diseases exhibit strain variation, a phenomenon that has been studied extensively in mouse bioassays. Despite the introduction of many rapid in vitro systems, bioassays remain a key tool in defining prion strains and their ability to transmit disease in vivo. Prion strains can be characterized by a range of phenotypic characteristics such as incubation period, vacuolar pathology, and distribution of the abnormal form of PrP following experimental transmission of the agent into a panel of mice (transgenic or wild type).