Dental malocclusion in a coarse-haired wombat (Vombatus ursinus).

A female coarse-haired wombat held in captivity at the San Diego Zoo from approximately 2 to 16 years-of-age developed a dental malocclusion as a consequence of tooth overgrowth. The incisor premolar and molar teeth in this species are classified as aradicular hypsodont and continue to grow throughout life, presumably to counter the abrasive character of the high fiber high ash, and high silica natural diet. In this case, there was a developmental defect of the maxillary incisor teeth, preventing functional interaction of the maxillary and mandibular incisor teeth.

Plasma vitamin E and other analyte levels in Nepalese camp elephants (Elephas maximus).

Plasma concentrations of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) and other analytes in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Nepal were determined during typical work camp management of the elephants. Elephants foraged for food for 4-6 hr each day under the control of mahouts and were also provided daily with cut forage and supplements of unhusked rice, cane molasses, and salt. Blood samples were taken monthly for 1 yr without chemical restraint from 26 female elephants in four camps.

Modulation of rat rotational behavior by direct gene transfer of constitutively active protein kinase C into nigrostriatal neurons.

The modulation of motor behavior by protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathways in nigrostriatal neurons was examined by using a genetic intervention approach. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) vectors that encode a catalytic domain of rat PKCbetaII (PkcDelta) were developed. PkcDelta exhibited a constitutively active protein kinase activity with a substrate specificity similar to that of rat brain PKC.

Dietary fiber influences nutrient utilization, growth and dry matter intake of green iguanas (Iguana iguana).

Herbivory is an uncommon feeding strategy in lizards. Appropriate diet formulations for captive lizards should be based on performance measures, yet few data are available on the effect of plant fiber on food intake, nutrient utilization and growth of captive herbivorous lizards. This study was conducted to determine the effect of three levels of dietary fiber on dry matter intake, nutrient and energy metabolizability and growth rate of the green iguana (Iguana iguana).

An HSV-1 vector containing the rat tyrosine hydroxylase promoter enhances both long-term and cell type-specific expression in the midbrain.

A defective herpes simplex virus type one (HSV-1) vector that contains a 6.8-kb fragment of the rat tyrosine hydroxylase promoter (pTHlac-7kb) was examined for its capability to target catecholaminergic cell type-specific expression in the CNS. Cell type-specific expression was assessed by comparison with a control vector (pHSVlac) that uses the HSV-1 immediate early 4/5 promoter to support expression in multiple cell types.

Expression of the calcium-binding protein, parvalbumin, in cultured cortical neurons using a HSV-1 vector system enhances NMDA neurotoxicity.

Calcium-binding proteins (CaBPs) are a family of proteins having a unique distribution in the brain and are thought to be important in buffering intracellular calcium. Glutamate neurotoxicity is a process by which the over-activation of glutamate receptors can cause the influx of excessive extracellular calcium and neuronal cell death. It has been proposed that neurons containing CaBP may be more resistant to glutamate neurotoxicity due to their increased ability to buffer calcium.

A herpes simplex virus-1 vector containing the rat tyrosine hydroxylase promoter directs cell type-specific expression of beta-galactosidase in cultured rat peripheral neurons.

A defective herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) vector system was used to study cell type-specific expression of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene. HSV-1 particles containing 663 bp (pTHlac 663), 278 bp (pTHlac 278), or 181 bp (pTHlac 181) of the rat TH promoter driving E. coli LacZ were used to infect superior cervical ganglia (SCG: TH-expressing tissue) and dorsal root ganglia (DRG:non-TH-expressing tissue) cultures.

Calcium level affects the efficacy of supplemental microbial phytase in corn-soybean meal diets of weanling pigs.

A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment was conducted with 64 pigs (4 wk old, 8.04 +/- .50 kg BW) to determine the effect of various dietary concentrations of Ca, vitamin D, and microbial phytase (Aspergillus niger) on phytate-P utilization.

Supplementing corn-soybean meal diets with microbial phytase maximizes phytate phosphorus utilization by weanling pigs.

Two experiments were conducted with crossbred weanling pigs to determine the optimal dietary supplement of Aspergillus niger phytase activity to a low-P, corn-soybean meal basal diet (BD). In Exp. 1, 50 pigs (7.

Supplemental microbial phytase improves bioavailability of dietary zinc to weanling pigs.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of supplemental microbial phytase on utilization of dietary zinc by weanling pigs. Experiment 1 was a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement of treatments with 24 pigs for 4 wk. Two levels of phytase activity (0 and 1350 units/g) and three levels of zinc (0, 30 and 60 mg/kg as ZnSO4.

Basis for regulation of selenium supplements in animal diets.

Selenium was discovered 174 yr ago but, until 1957, was given little notice by biologists or was vilified as an agent that caused toxicity in grazing ruminants and horses in the northern Great Plains. After its status as an essential nutrient was established, Se received intense scrutiny, and hundreds of papers have been published dealing with its metabolic functions and the consequences of a Se deficiency. Because regions of Se deficiency are so extensive in the United States, great efforts have been made to gain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for Se supplementation of animal diets.

Dietary selenate versus selenite for cattle, sheep, and horses.

Food and Drug Administration regulations currently permit addition of .3 mg of Se per kilogram of diet for chickens, turkeys, ducks, swine, sheep, and cattle. However, field reports indicate that this level may not be adequate for ruminants in all situations.

Formulated diets versus seed mixtures for psittacines.

Psittacines are often classified as seed eaters despite studies that have established great diversity in food habits in the wild. While seeds are consumed, so are flowers, buds, leaves, fruits and cambium. Some psittacines consume part of greater than 80 species of grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees.

Search for cellular phosphorylation products of D-allose.

The all-cis hexose D-allose, fed to hamster fibroblast cultures over 14-20 hr, brings about a striking down-regulation of hexose transport. This down-regulation by allose is inhibited by 2,4-dinitrophenol. By using D-[14C]allose and thin-layer chromatography, two types of products accumulated that have been identified as allose and allose phosphate.

Concerted hexose transport curb by tunicamycin is rendered irreversible by glucose or allose in medium containing L-glutamine.

The hexose transport in a hamster fibroblast mutant (DS7), unable to use glucose for generation of energy, is nevertheless subject to a marked down-regulation ("curb") after prolonged incubation of monolayer cultures with glucose; fructose is unable to exert any curb. D-Allose, an all-cis hexose, mediates a vigorous curb of the transport system. Moreover, prolonged coincubation of glucose or allose with tunicamycin (TM) brings about an additional effect that is not an inhibition of the transport system, which we shall call the "concerted" transport curb.

Relationship between body fat and postweaning interval to estrus in primiparous sows.

Twenty-two primiparous Yorkshire sows were used to determine whether a minimal threshold of body fat exists below which the return to estrus is delayed. A second objective was to examine the relationship between body fat and interval from weaning to estrus in restricted-fed sows. During lactation (28 d), sows received 7, 9, 11 or 13 Mcal of ME daily to produce a range of sow body fatness at weaning.

Bioavailability of beta-carotene in humans.

Normal healthy volunteers were studied after they ingested various beta-carotene doses. Daily administration of 15 or 45 mg beta-carotene resulted in significant increase in plasma beta-carotene levels. The extent of increase and the pattern of plasma beta-carotene levels showed substantial interindividual variation.

Responses of dairy cattle to long-term and short-term supplementation with oral selenium and vitamin E1.

In a two-lactation-gestation cycle experiment, 152 Holstein cows with low serum Se and vitamin E were fed total mixed rations and assigned at parturition to four groups (1, control; 2, 500 IU vitamin E/d; 3, 2 mg Se/d; 4, 500 IU vitamin E plus 2 mg Se/d). Supplements were not fed during dry periods. Serum Se and vitamin E were increased within 1 mo by oral supplements.

Biochemical and physiological indicators of selenium status in animals.

Selenium (Se) concentrations in animal tissues vary with the tissue and with the amount and chemical form of Se in the diet. In cattle, sheep and swine, Se concentrations rank in kidney greater than liver greater than heart greater than skeletal muscle greater than adipose tissue. Selenium concentrations (wet basis) in skeletal muscle of swine (.

Plasma vitamin and mineral status in home parenteral nutrition patients.

Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) provides long-term nutritional support for persons whose absorptive capacity is compromised by a variety of intestinal malabsorption problems. However, the presence of vitamin and mineral deficiency syndromes that normally would not have time to develop in the hospitalized patient receiving total parenteral nutrition has been reported in patients receiving HPN. This study entails a longitudinal survey of plasma concentrations of vitamins A, E, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, as well as the minerals zinc, copper, and selenium, in patients receiving HPN.

Tunicamycin tightens the glucose- and D-allose-mediated control of hexose transport in a metabolic fibroblast mutant.

The hexose transport system of a fibroblast mutant, DS7, unable to convert glucose 6-phosphate to fructose 6-phosphate ("the phosphoglucose isomerase mutant"), is subject to a specific down-regulation ("curb") evoked by only glucose or D-allose. Neither fructose nor mannose has a curbing effect on this mutant. Further addition of tunicamycin intensified the transport curb on the mutant mediated by glucose or allose.

Abrogation of adriamycin-induced cardiotoxicity by selenium in rabbits.

Adriamycin-induced cardiomyopathy in rabbits was produced by intravenous injections of the drug with a short therapeutic schedule (3 mg/kg body wt administered as four intermittent doses). Animals receiving selenium supplementation of Adriamycin showed preservation of the normal pattern of the heart histologic picture. The protective effect of selenium was accompanied by increased selenium levels in the plasma and the heart muscle.

Importance of diet of dam and colostrum to the biological antioxidant status and parenteral iron tolerance of the pig.

Fifteen second-parity sows were used to determine the importance of vitamin E (E) and selenium (Se) supplementation of the sow's diet and colostrum consumption by the neonatal pig on tolerance to parenteral iron. Selenium (.1 ppm) and E (50 IU/kg) supplementation of the diet of the sow increased plasma tocopherol and Se concentrations, but did not increase plasma glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity.

Hexose transport control in a fibroblast metabolic mutant can be promoted more effectively by D-allose than by glucose.

By studying the energy-requiring control of the hexose transport system (the transport "curb") in a lung fibroblast mutant called the phosphoglucose isomerase mutant (because it is devoid of the enzyme phosphoglucose isomerase) the following features were noted. The aldohexose D-allose, if added over 20 hr to a culture of the mutant, promotes the development of an intense curb of the hexose transport system, greatly surpassing that brought about by incubation with glucose. The allose-mediated curb can be circumvented by various metabolic inhibitors as well as by the presence of other aldohexoses such as mannose.