Study was made of the pathogenicity of a spirillum-like, anaerobic, gram-negative bacterium, originally isolated from aborted lambs, for pregnant guinea pigs. Reproducible conditions for propagation and preservation of the bacterium were determined as requisite for the preparation of cultures for animal inoculation. A preliminary experiment was done with 10 pregnant guinea pigs to test for an infective dose of organisms that would produce abortion. High-passage cultures (n = 50) were used to inoculate these guinea pigs intraperitoneally. Six of 10 guinea pigs aborted, and the organism was cultured from fetal tissues of 5 guinea pigs. Isolates from 3 of the 6 guinea pigs were propagated through 4 passages on blood agar and used to infect 3 groups, each of 5 guinea pigs. A 4th group of 5 guinea pigs was inoculated with the original culture. Three of 5 animals in the first 3 groups, which had been given the low-passage cultures from the preliminary trial, and 2 of 5 guinea pigs in the 4th group, which had been given the original culture, aborted. Antibody against the spirillum was detected in 19 of 30 inoculated guinea pigs. The major microscopic lesions were acute suppurative placentitis and splenitis. This bacterium retained pathogenic properties sufficient to cause infection, abortion, and microscopic lesions in two-thirds of the guinea pigs, in spite of high in vitro passage. The organism has unique ultrastructures, and its genus and species are yet to be determined.
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PLoS Negl Trop Dis
January 2025
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America.
Background: Machupo virus (MACV) is a New World mammarenavirus (hereafter referred to as "arenavirus") and the etiologic agent of Bolivian hemorrhagic fever (BHF). No vaccine or antiviral therapy exists for BHF, which causes up to 35% mortality in humans. New World arenaviruses evolve separately in different locations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Funct Biomater
January 2025
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
Cochlear implants are well established devices for treating severe hearing loss. However, due to the trauma caused by the insertion of the electrode and the subsequent formation of connective tissue, their clinical effectiveness varies. The aim of the current study was to achieve a long-term reduction in connective tissue growth and impedance by combining surface patterns on the electrode array with a poly-L-lactide coating containing 20% diclofenac.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Physiol Sci
January 2025
Department of Frontier Health Sciences, Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 7-2-10 Higashiogu, Arakawa-Ku, 116-8551, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address:
Actin linked regulatory mechanisms are known to contribute contraction/relaxation in smooth muscle. In order to clarify whether modulation of polymerization/depolymerization of actin filaments affects relaxation process, we examined the effects of cytochalasin D on relaxation process by Ca removal after Ca-induced contraction of β-escin skinned (cell membrane permeabilized) taenia cecum and carotid artery preparations from guinea pigs. Cytochalasin D, an inhibitor of actin polymerization, significantly suppressed the force during relaxation both in skinned taenia cecum and carotid artery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Tuberculosis Research Laboratory, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, National Capital Region Biotech Science Cluster 3rd Milestone, Faridabad, Haryana 121001, India.
Itaconate, an abundant metabolite produced by macrophages upon interferon-γ stimulation, possesses both antibacterial and immunomodulatory properties. Despite its crucial role in immunity and antimicrobial control, its mechanism of action and dissimilation are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that infection of mice with increases itaconate levels in lung tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Physiol
January 2025
Institute of Vegetative Physiology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany.
Objective: Previous studies on muscle fibers, myofibrils, and myosin revealed that the release of inorganic phosphate (P) and the force-generating step(s) are reversible, with cross-bridges also cycling backward through these steps by reversing force-generating steps and rebinding P. The aim was to explore the significance of force redevelopment kinetics (rate constant ) in cardiac myofibrils for the coupling between the P binding induced force reversal and the rate-limiting transition for backward cycling of cross-bridges from force-generating to non-force-generating states.
Methods: and force generation of cardiac myofibrils from guinea pigs were investigated at 0.
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