Evaluation of KIM-1 and NGAL as Early Indicators for Assessment of Gentamycin-Induced Nephrotoxicity In Vivo and In Vitro.

Background/aims: The aminolycoside Gentamicin is a widely used antibiotic, applied in equine medicine. Despite its clinical use, concerns remain regarding the potential toxic side-effects, such as nephrotoxicity. Early detection of renal damage is critical in preclinical drug development.

KIM-1 and NGAL as biomarkers of nephrotoxicity induced by gentamicin in rats.

Gentamicin is a member of aminoglycosides, which has represented highly effective antimicrobial agents especially in Gram-negative infections despite their toxic effects in the kidney. Rapid diagnosis is vital to preserve renal function and to slow down renal injury. Owing to the poor sensitivity and specificity of serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), new biomarkers for earlier and more accurate detection are needed.

Quantitative real-time PCR study of the expression and regulation of the tetracycline resistance gene in Riemerella anatipestifer.

Riemerella anatipestifer (RA) is one of the most important pathogens of 1- to 8-wk-old ducklings that severely affects the development of the duck industry in China. Every year, antibiotic medicines including tetracycline and doxycycline are used in the duck industry. Few reports compare the expression of multidrug-resistant genes in RA before and after addition of chemical drugs.

Complete genome sequence of Riemerella anatipestifer reference strain.

Riemerella anatipestifer is an infectious pathogen causing serositis in ducks. We had the genome of the R. anatipestifer reference strain ATCC 11845 sequenced.

Transcription phase, protein characteristics of DEV UL45 and prokaryotic expression, antibody preparation of the UL45 des-transmembrane domain.

Background: Some UL45 gene function of Herpesvirus was reported. While there was no any report of the duck enteritis virus (DEV) UL45 protein as yet.

Results: The UL45 gene and des-transmembrane domain of UL45 (named UL45Δ gene, 295-675bp of UL45) of DEV were amplified by PCR and subcloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a(+).

Characterization of the duck plague virus UL35 gene.

Objective: Previous study has demonstrated that the duck plague virus (DPV) UL35 gene can be expressed as a recombinant fusion protein, and the prepared antiserum has a high reactivity and specificity against the purified recombinant protein. In the present study, to elucidate the properties and functions of its encoding protein, the UL35 gene product (VP26) was identified by using the prepared rabbit polyclonal antiserum.

Methods: Real-time PCR, Western blot and immunofluorescence analysis were used to determine the transcription and expression kinetics and subcellular localization of DPV VP26 in DPV-infected cells.

[Cloning, prokaryotic expression and subcellular localization in the infected host cells of the duck plague virus DPV UL35 gene].

Based on the duck plague virus (DPV) UL35 gene sequence that our laboratory obtained (GenBank accession number EF643558), a pair of primers was designed using Oligo6.0 and primer5.0, then the UL35 gene was amplified from DPV CHv strain genomic DNA and cloned into the pMD18-T to construct a clone plasmid pMD18-T-UL35.

Antibiotic susceptibility of Riemerella anatipestifer field isolates.

Kirby-Bauer tests were used to analyze the antibiotic resistance of 224 isolates of Riemerella anatipestifer isolated between 1998 and 2005. Among the 36 antibiotics tested, 50% of the analyzed isolates were resistant to ampicillin, ceftazidime, aztreonam, cefazolin, cefepime, cefuroxime, oxacillin, penicillin G, rifampin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Higher levels of resistance were detected for aztreonam, cefepime, oxacillin, penicillin G, ceftazidime, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (87.

In vivo assessment of mitochondrial toxicity of metacavir in Rhesus monkeys after three months of intravenous administration.

Aim: To explore the potential mitochondrial toxicities and their severities of intravenously administered metacavir, a nucleoside analog, in rhesus monkeys.

Methods: Totally 21 rhesus monkeys were randomly divided into 4 groups: metacavir 120 mg/kg group, metacavir 40 mg/kg group, zidovudine(AZT) 50 mg/kg group, and blank control group. Animals were killed after the completion of dosing or further observed in a 4-week recovery phase.

Characterization of synonymous codon usage bias in the duck plague virus UL35 gene.

Objective: The aim was to identify the codon usage bias between the newly identified duck plague virus (DPV) UL35 gene (GenBank accession No. EF643558) and the UL35-like genes of 27 other reference herpesviruses.

Methods: A comparative analysis of the codon usage bias of the 28 herpesviruses was performed by using the CodonW 1.

His6-tagged UL35 protein of duck plague virus: expression, purification, and production of polyclonal antibody.

Objective: Duck plague virus (DPV), the causative agent of duck plague (DP), is an alphaherpesvirus that causes an acute, febrile, contagious, and septic disease of waterfowl. UL35 protein (VP26) is a major capsid protein encoded by the UL35 gene, which is located in the unique long (UL) region of the DPV genome. To investigate the specific roles of VP26, the UL35 gene was amplified from the DPV DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subcloned into pET-32a(+).

New strategies for electrophoresis analysis of enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR in animal intestinal microflora.

Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR (ERIC-PCR) is a molecular biological technology that can be used to study microbial community diversity and dynamics. In many reports, investigations of microbial diversity from environmental samples were based on the agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) patterns of ERIC-PCR amplified products. This is not a sound practice, since bands with identical positions can contain different sequences; thus, this practice could possibly exaggerate the similarities or diversities among samples.

Comparative analysis of intestinal microbial community diversity between healthy and orally infected ducklings with Salmonella enteritidis by ERIC-PCR.

Aim: To analyze the difference of intestinal microbial community diversity between healthy and (S. enteritidis) orally infected ducklings.

Methods: Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC)-PCR was applied to analyze the intestinal microbial community diversity and dynamic change including duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum and rectum from healthy ducklings and 7-day-old ducklings after oral infection with S.