Functional piglet model for the clinical syndrome and postmortem findings induced by staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

Staphylococcal enterotoxin (SE) B causes serious gastrointestinal illness, and intoxication with this exotoxin can lead to lethal toxic shock syndrome. In order to overcome significant shortcomings of current rodent and nonhuman primate models, we developed a piglet model of lethal SEB intoxication. Fourteen-day-old Yorkshire piglets were given intravenous SEB, observed clinically, and sacrificed at 4, 6, 24, 48, 72, or 96 hrs posttreatment.

Study of corneal lesions induced by 1,318-nm laser radiation pulses in Dutch belted rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

Background And Purpose: Use of high-energy near-infrared lasers is becoming more prevalent in today's industries, such as technology, medicine, and military operations. Despite wide-range use of these lasers, threshold, median effective dose (ED50), and the mechanism of laser-tissue interaction are not well defined at the 1,318-nm wavelength for human corneal exposures. The goals of the study reported here were to establish the ED50 for single-pulse, 1,318-nm laser exposures on the Dutch Belted rabbit cornea and to characterize microscopic changes.