Development of an in Vivo Lipopolysaccharide Inflammation Model to Study the Pharmacodynamics of COX-2 Inhibitors Celecoxib, Mavacoxib, and Meloxicam in Cockatiels ().

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used frequently in avian medicine for their antipyretic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory properties during surgery and for diseases that cause tissue damage and inflammation. NSAIDs inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, which are responsible for the induction of pyresis, pain, and inflammation. In our study, a lipopolysaccharide-induced (LPS) pyresis model was optimized using cockatiels () as subject birds (four males/three females) and validated in two females and one male, characterized by an intravenous bolus injection of LPS (7.

Biomechanical properties of celiotomy wounds closed with tape and cyanoacrylate versus intradermal sutures.

Objective: To compare cutaneous wound closure with mesh and 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (MOC) vs an intradermal suture pattern (ISP) in terms of time of application and biomechanical properties.

Sample Population: Experimental study with 12 female beagle dogs.

Methods: A skin incision was created from the xiphoid to the pubis as part of an ovariohysterectomy; the linea alba and subcutaneous tissue were closed routinely.

The Ontogeny of Cytochrome P450 Enzyme Activity and Protein Abundance in Conventional Pigs in Support of Preclinical Pediatric Drug Research.

Since the implementation of several legislations to improve pediatric drug research, more pediatric clinical trials are being performed. In order to optimize these pediatric trials, adequate preclinical data are necessary, which are usually obtained by juvenile animal models. The growing piglet has been increasingly suggested as a potential animal model due to a high degree of anatomical and physiological similarities with humans.

Postnatal Maturation of the Glomerular Filtration Rate in Conventional Growing Piglets As Potential Juvenile Animal Model for Preclinical Pharmaceutical Research.

Adequate animal models are required to study the preclinical pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD) and safety of drugs in the pediatric subpopulation. Over the years, pigs were presented as a potential animal model, since they display a high degree of anatomical and physiological similarities with humans. To assess the suitability of piglets as a preclinical animal model for children, the ontogeny and maturation processes of several organ systems have to be unraveled and compared between both species.

Immunomodulatory properties of gamithromycin and ketoprofen in lipopolysaccharide-challenged calves with emphasis on the acute-phase response.

Macrolide antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been reported to be modulators of the innate immune response, irrespectively of their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory actions. Therefore, it was our objective to evaluate whether the macrolide gamithromycin (GAM) and the NSAID ketoprofen (KETO) attenuate the acute-phase response in calves, and whether their combined administration is beneficial due to synergistic and/or additive effects. To this end, both drugs, as well as their combination, were studied in a previously developed inflammation model, i.

Serologic screening for 13 infectious agents in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Flanders.

Introduction: In order to investigate the role of roe deer in the maintenance and transmission of infectious animal and human diseases in Flanders, we conducted a serologic screening in 12 hunting areas.

Materials And Methods: Roe deer sera collected between 2008 and 2013 (n=190) were examined for antibodies against 13 infectious agents, using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, virus neutralisation, immunofluorescence, or microagglutination test, depending on the agent.

Results And Discussion: High numbers of seropositives were found for Anaplasma phagocytophilum (45.

Evaluation of heart rate variability in dogs during standard and microburst vagus nerve stimulation: a pilot study.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an established treatment for epilepsy and depression in human patients, but in both humans and dogs, optimal stimulation parameters remain unknown. Delivering afferent bursts of stimulation may be promising as a means of increasing efficacy, but evaluation of potential effects on the heart due to unavoidable efferent stimulation is required. The present study investigated heart rate variability (HRV) in healthy Beagle dogs treated with 1 h of sham, standard or microburst left-sided VNS in a crossover design.

Long-term follow-up of atrial function after cardioversion of atrial fibrillation in horses.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes atrial electrical and contractile remodelling in horses. The aim of this study was to quantify left atrial (LA) contractile function and its time course of recovery after cardioversion of naturally-occurring AF in horses. The study population included 42 AF horses which were successfully treated using transvenous electrical cardioversion TVEC (n=39) or quinidine sulfate (n=3), with trivial or mild mitral regurgitation present in 25 horses.

Exposure to the proton scavenger glycine under alkaline conditions induces Escherichia coli viability loss.

Our previous work described a clear loss of Escherichia coli (E. coli) membrane integrity after incubation with glycine or its N-methylated derivatives N-methylglycine (sarcosine) and N,N-dimethylglycine (DMG), but not N,N,N-trimethylglycine (betaine), under alkaline stress conditions. The current study offers a thorough viability analysis, based on a combination of real-time physiological techniques, of E.

Evaluation of tissue Doppler imaging for regional quantification of radial left ventricular wall motion in healthy horses.

Objective: To compare the feasibility and repeatability of tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) for quantification of radial left ventricular (LV) velocity and deformation from different imaging planes and to correlate cardiac event timing data obtained by TDI to M-mode and pulsed-wave Doppler-derived time intervals in horses.

Animals: 10 healthy adult horses.

Procedures: Repeated echocardiography was performed by 2 observers from right and left parasternal short-axis views at papillary muscle and chordal levels.

Influence of atrioventricular interaction on mitral valve closure and left ventricular isovolumic contraction measured by tissue Doppler imaging.

Background: The influence of atrioventricular (AV) interaction on mitral valve closure (MVC) and left ventricular (LV) isovolumic contraction is not fully clarified. We investigated the relationship among AV delay, MVC, and LV isovolumic contraction using a horse model because of the low heart rate and physiologically long AV delay.

Methods And Results: Six horses were evaluated during sinus rhythm, right ventricular pacing without preceding atrial contraction, and dual-chamber pacing at AV delays of 150 to 350 ms, programmed at a constant rate.

The influence of morphine on cerebral 5-HT2A availability in dogs: a SPECT study.

Unlabelled: The opioid and serotonergic systems are closely involved in pain processing and mood disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of systemic morphine on cerebral serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT(2A)) binding in dogs using SPECT with the 5-HT(2A) radioligand (123)I-5I-R91150.

Methods: 5-HT(2A) binding was estimated with and without morphine pretreatment in 8 dogs.

Flow cytometric detection of myeloperoxidase in horse neutrophils: a novel technique in equine diagnostic research.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a protein of interest due to its involvement in equine pathologies. Until now, results in equine diagnostic research were achieved through extracellular MPO detection. However, studying the cellular MPO content in neutrophils has revealed important insights in human diseases.

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 retention and cardioprotection for ischemic myocardium.

Background: Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) is a chemoattractant of stem/progenitor cells, and several studies have shown that SDF-1 may improve ventricular function after infarction. SDF-1 is cleaved by proteases including matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and CD26/dipeptidylpeptidase-4 (DPP-4), which are activated in injured tissues.

Methods And Results: We investigated the biodistribution and functional roles of SDF-1 in experimental ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

Detection of innocent systolic murmurs by auscultation and their relation to hematologic and echocardiographic findings in clinically normal Whippets.

Objective: To determine murmur prevalence by auscultation of 105 apparently healthy Whippets without signs of cardiac disease, to determine the origin of these murmurs, and to evaluate the influence of sex, type of pedigree (ie, bred for showing or racing), and training on these murmurs.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Animals: 105 client-owned Whippets.

Viability and cell death of synovial fluid neutrophils as diagnostic biomarkers in equine infectious joint disease: a pilot study.

Synovial fluid samples from culture-confirmed infected joints (n=13), joints with pronounced non-infectious synovitis (n=11) and healthy joints (n=14) were collected from 24 equine patients and seven slaughterhouse horses. The samples from the joints with non-infectious synovitis and healthy joints served as negative controls. After isolation, counting and identification of neutrophils, the percentage viability, and the proportion apoptotic and necrotic neutrophils were determined by flow cytometry.

Electrocardiographic reference values in whippets.

The aim of this study was to determine the electrocardiographic characteristics of whippets and to compare the results with published reference values for a general dog population. Electrocardiographic parameters from 105 healthy whippets were used to establish reference values for the breed. The most important differences compared to published reference values were the higher median R-wave amplitudes in leads II, CV(6)LL and CV(6)LU.

Enteral feeding reduces endothelial nitric oxide synthase in the caudal intestinal microvasculature of preterm piglets.

The initiation of enteral feeding represents a challenge to the neonatal intestinal microcirculation, especially in preterms where it predisposes to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). We hypothesized that a structural microvascular deficiency may occur when enteral feeding is initiated in preterm piglets susceptible to NEC. Stereologic volume densities of a pan-endothelial marker (vWF), and the main vasodilator endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), were determined along the small intestine of 1) unfed preterm piglets, 2) piglets receiving total parenteral nutrition (TPN) for 2-3 d, and 3) piglets fed 2 d sow's colostrum (TPN+SOW) or milk formula (TPN+FOR) following TPN.

Echocardiographic reference values in whippets.

The aim of the study was to establish reference echocardiographic values for whippets, to compare these values with previously published reference values for the general dog population, and to determine whether there is an influence of gender and breeding lines on echocardiographic measurements. Echocardiographic parameters from 105 apparently healthy whippets without cardiac symptoms were used to establish reference values for the breed and to compare these values with two previously reported reference ranges. The coefficients of the allometric equation Y= aM(b), useful to reconstruct normal M-mode and two-dimensional average values for whippets of varying weights, were calculated, as well as the lower and upper limits of the 95% prediction interval.

Vertebral heart size ranges specific for whippets.

To assess the influence of breed, breeding lines, and training on heart size, the vertebral heart size (VHS) was evaluated on left-to-right lateral, right-to-left lateral, dorsoventral, and ventrodorsal thoracic radiographs from 44 whippets free from cardiac and pulmonary disease. In lateral views, the VHS was 11.0 +/- 0.

Inhibition of heme oxygenase-1 impairs cardiac muscle sensitivity to beta-adrenergic stimulation.

Unlabelled: Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is the inducible isoform of heme oxygenase and plays a role in defense against cellular stress. The effects of HO-1 on cardiac muscle contractility, however, are unknown.

Methods: HO-1 was induced by intraperitoneal injection of hemin in rabbits 24 and 48 h before isolating right ventricular papillary muscles for mechanical in vitro analysis at baseline and during stimulation with isoprenalin.

Neuregulin-1 induces a negative inotropic effect in cardiac muscle: role of nitric oxide synthase.

Background: Deficient cardiac neuregulin/ErbB signaling increases susceptibility to heart failure. In this study, we examined the effects of neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) on myocardial contractility.

Methods And Results: NRG-1 (alpha and beta isoforms) induced a negative inotropic effect in isolated rabbit papillary muscles and a rightward shift of the dose-response curve to isoproterenol.

Coronary perfusion and muscle lengthening increase cardiac contraction: different stretch-triggered mechanisms.

An increase in coronary perfusion, transversal stretch of the myocardium, increases developed force (F(dev)) (Gregg effect) through activation of stretch-activated ion channels (SACs). Lengthening of the muscle, longitudinal stretch of the myocardium, causes an immediate increase in F(dev) followed by a slow F(dev) increase (Anrep effect). In isometrically contracting perfused papillary muscles of Wistar rats, we investigated whether both effects were based on similar stretch-induced mechanisms by measuring F(dev) and intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) after a muscle length increase from 85% to 95% L(max) (length at which maximal isometric force develops) at low and high coronary perfusion before and after inhibition of SACs with gadolinium (10 micromol/l Gd(3+)).