The lipolytic enzyme hepatic lipase (HL) may facilitate mobilization of cholesterol substrate for ovarian steroidogenesis. We investigated whether HL was necessary for optimum reproduction in the female mouse by analyzing breeding performance and ovarian responses to gonadotropins in HL-/- mice. HL-/- female mice bred with HL-/- males had the same pregnancy success rate and pup survival rate as did wild-type (WT) mice but had significantly smaller litters, producing 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClostridium piliforme is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes enterohepatic disease in many animal species. C. piliforme infections are commonly subclinical in laboratory rats and mice, and little is known about host regulation of disease or of the effects of C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClostridium piliforme is an obligately intracellular bacterium that causes enterohepatic disease in many domestic and laboratory animal species. Susceptibility to infection is known to vary with the host immune status, species and strain, but little is known about specific immune mechanisms that regulate this disease. Subclinical infection was induced in weanling C.
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