Avian Inflammatory Markers.

Inflammation represents a fundamental response to diverse diseases ranging from trauma and infection to immune-mediated disease and neoplasia. As such, inflammation can be a nonspecific finding but is valuable as an indicator of pathology that can itself lead to disease if left unchecked. This article focuses on inflammatory biomarkers that are available and clinically useful in avian species.

The Effects of Acute Blood Loss for Diagnostic Bloodwork and Fluid Replacement in Clinically Ill Mice.

Despite the great value of diagnostic bloodwork for identifying disease in animals, the volume of blood required for these analyses limits its use in laboratory mice, particularly when they are clinically ill. We sought to determine the effects of acute blood loss (ABL) following blood collection for diagnostic bloodwork in healthy mice compared with streptozotocin-induced diabetic and dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-treated dehydrated mice. ABL caused several mild changes in the control mice, with significant decreases in body weight, temperature, and activity in both experimental groups; increased dehydration and azotemia in the DSS-treated mice; and a significant drop in the blood pressure of the diabetic mice.

Significance of mastocytemia in cats.

Background: In cats, mastocytemia is considered to be confined to animals with mast cell tumors (MCT), whereas in dogs it is associated with diverse diseases.

Objective: The objective of this retrospective study was to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of mastocytemia in cats.

Methods: All blood smears and buffy coat (BC) smears on which mast cells were identified over a 6-year period were retrospectively reviewed and mast cells counted.

ASVCP reference interval guidelines: determination of de novo reference intervals in veterinary species and other related topics.

Reference intervals (RI) are an integral component of laboratory diagnostic testing and clinical decision-making and represent estimated distributions of reference values (RV) from healthy populations of comparable individuals. Because decisions to pursue diagnoses or initiate treatment are often based on values falling outside RI, the collection and analysis of RV should be approached with diligence. This report is a condensation of the ASVCP 2011 consensus guidelines for determination of de novo RI in veterinary species, which mirror the 2008 Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute (CLSI) recommendations, but with language and examples specific to veterinary species.

Postnatal neural precursor cell regions in the rostral subventricular zone, hippocampal subgranular zone and cerebellum of the dog (Canis lupus familiaris).

Identification of neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs) in vitro and in vivo is essential to the use of developmental and disease models of neurogenesis. The dog is a valuable large animal model for multiple neurodegenerative diseases and is more closely matched to humans than rodents with respect to brain organization and complexity. It is therefore important to determine whether immunohistochemical markers associated with NPCs in humans and rodents are also appropriate for the dog.

Subject-based reference values: biological variation, individuality, and reference change values.

Subject-based reference values have been largely overlooked in veterinary medicine. These values represent longitudinal data rather than the cross-sectional data represented by standard population-based reference values. As such they provide information about biological and analytical variation.

Biodistribution and pharmacodynamics of recombinant human alpha-L-iduronidase (rhIDU) in mucopolysaccharidosis type I-affected cats following multiple intrathecal administrations.

The storage disorder mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) is caused by a deficiency in lysosomal α-L-iduronidase activity. The inability to degrade glycosaminoglycans (GAG) results in lysosomal accumulation and widespread tissue lesions. Many symptoms of MPS I are amenable to treatment with recombinant human α-L-iduronidase (rhIDU), however, peripherally administered rhIDU does not cross the blood-brain barrier and has no beneficial effects in the central nervous system (CNS).

Hepatic and metabolic changes in surgical colic patients: a pilot study.

Objective: To determine: (1) changes in blood ammonia, bile acid (BA), bilirubin, triglyceride, and glucose concentrations and liver enzyme activities in perioperative colic patients and (2) the association between these laboratory findings and short-term survival.

Design: Prospective observational clinical study.

Animals: Thirty-two adult horses undergoing exploratory celiotomy for colic.

Malignant pilomatricoma in a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier.

A 3-year-old, castrated male, soft-coated Wheaten Terrier was presented for evaluation of mild lameness, fecal incontinence, lumbosacral pain, and lack of anal tone. Magnetic resonance imaging scan showed a large (8 x 6 x 5 cm) mass invading and expanding the pelvic bones, sacrum, and associated structures. A fine-needle aspirate of the mass contained many neoplastic cells with high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratios and rare spindle and inflammatory cells.

Transplantation and magnetic resonance imaging of canine neural progenitor cell grafts in the postnatal dog brain.

Cellular transplantation in the form of bone marrow has been one of the primary treatments of many lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs). Although bone marrow transplantation can help central nervous system manifestations in some cases, it has little impact in many LSD patients. Canine models of neurogenetic LSDs provide the opportunity for modeling central nervous system transplantation strategies in brains that more closely approximate the size and architectural complexity of the brains of children.

Magnetic resonance imaging detects differences in migration between primary and immortalized neural stem cells.

Rationale And Objectives: The study was performed to evaluate the effect of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent (super paramagnetic iron oxide [SPIO]) on differentiation and migration of primary murine neural stem cells (NSCs) in comparison to a neural stem cell line (C17.2). Because detection of labeled cells depends on the concentration of SPIO particles per imaging voxel, the study was performed at various concentrations of SPIO particles to determine the concentration that could be used for in vivo detection of small clusters of grafted cells.

In vitro growth and differentiation of canine olfactory bulb-derived neural progenitor cells under variable culture conditions.

The dog serves as a large animal model for multiple neurologic diseases that may potentially benefit from neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation. In the adult brain, multipotent NPCs reside in the subventricular zone and its rostral and caudal extensions into the olfactory bulb and hippocampus. The olfactory bulb represents a surgically accessible site for obtaining cells for autologous NPC transplantation.

Abnormalities in neural progenitor cells in a dog model of lysosomal storage disease.

Lysosomal storage disorders constitute a large group of genetic diseases, many of which are characterized by mental retardation and other neurologic symptoms. The mechanisms of neural dysfunction remain poorly understood. Because neural progenitor cells (NPCs) are fundamentally important to normal brain development and function, we investigated NPC properties in a canine model of mucopolysaccharidosis VII (MPS VII).

Structure-specific patterns of neural stem cell engraftment after transplantation in the adult mouse brain.

Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) may be useful for delivering exogenous gene products to the diseased CNS. When NSCs are transplanted into the developing mouse brain, they can migrate extensively and differentiate into cells appropriate to the sites of engraftment, in response to the normal signals directing endogenous cells to their appropriate fates. Much of the prior work on NSC migration in the adult brain has examined directed migration within or toward focal areas of injury such as ischemia, brain tumors, or 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesions.

Suppurative, nonseptic polyarthropathy in dogs.

The goals of this study were to determine the historical, physical examination, and clinicopathologic findings in dogs with suppurative, nonseptic polyarthropathy and to identify concurrent disorders associated with this syndrome. Medical records of 52 dogs with cytologic evidence of suppurative inflammation in two or more joints were examined retrospectively. Age of dogs was 4.

Gelatinase activity in synovial fluid and synovium obtained from healthy and osteoarthritic joints of dogs.

Objective: To determine matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity in synovial fluid (SF) obtained from the joints of dogs with degenerative joint disease (DJD) secondary to various underlying conditions.

Sample Population: 35 samples of SF obtained from 18 clinically normal (control) dogs and 34 samples of SF obtained from 17 dogs with DJD; dogs with DJD were from 2 populations (client-owned dogs and research dogs that had DJD secondary to the lysosomal storage disease mucopolysaccharidosis VII).

Procedure: MMP activity in samples of SF was semiquantitatively examined by use of gelatin or casein zymography.