Gait analysis in laying hens and broilers with and without leg disorders.

Selection of broiler strains for high body weight has changed the anatomical characteristics and in connection to that, the pattern of locomotion. In addition, rapid growing broilers show a high incidence of leg disorders which compromise the walking ability of the birds. Differences in the patterns of locomotion between laying hens and broilers and between broilers with and without leg disorders can be demonstrated and quantified by gait analysis.

Imaging of thick sections of nervous tissue with energy-filtering transmission electron microscopy.

Electron microscopy of nervous tissue requires on the one hand nanometre resolution for the analysis of fine structures of nerve cell contacts, for instance synaptic vesicles, synaptic membranes and associated organelles. On the other hand, the visualization of the three-dimensional organization of nervous tissue on the level of dendrites and neurites is essential for the understanding of neuronal integration and also for a stereological evaluation of quantitative parameters such as size and shape of synaptic contact zones, number and distribution of synaptic vesicles, organization of cytoskeleton and distribution of organelles like mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. Therefore, it is necessary to have access to the fine structure and to the spatial organization within one sample.

Is enterotoxaemia in grasscutters (Thryonomys swinderianus) caused by C. perfringens toxovars?

In 1985, in a colony of domesticated grasscutters in Cotonou/Benin (West Africa), an endemic disease that caused severe losses of up to 50 percent of the population was found. The animals regularly showed a necrotic small intestine and strongly reddened and granulated (like a raspberry) Peyer's plaques of the whole small intestine protruding into the intestinal lumen; the latter has never been described in other necrotic enteriditis caused by C. perfringens.

Influence of dietary protein content of efficiency of energy utilization in growing pigs.

The objective of this trial was to quantify the influence of a varied dietary crude protein content supplying equal amounts of limiting essential amino acids on parameters of energy metabolism. A total of 16 castrated male pigs were allocated to four dietary treatments and subjected to measurements of N-balance and gas exchange at approximately 65 and 85 kg live weight. Two ratios formulated to be isoenergetic differed in crude protein content (CP) and were offered at two feeding levels.

Signal recognition and chemo-electrical transduction in olfaction.

The mimicking of olfaction is considered to be a promising approach for the construction of artificial odour-sensing systems. In the nose, the detection of volatile odorants begins when the odorant ligands interact with specific odorant receptors in the ciliary membrane of the olfactory neurons. A large family of genes encoding putative odorant receptors has been identified recently.

Monoclonal antibodies against the high affinity choline transport system.

Monoclonal antibodies have been isolated that specifically block the high affinity, Na(+)-dependent transport of choline in insect synaptosomes and synaptosomal ghosts. Antibodies were derived after immunization of mice with synaptosomal membranes from locust. Antibody VIB6F5, an IgG isotype, significantly inhibited the high affinity translocation of choline, the effect exhibited saturation at increased antibody concentrations.

Muscarinic receptors modulating acetylcholine release from insect synaptosomes.

1. Cholinergic synapses in the central nervous system of insects contain inhibitory muscarinic receptors whose stimulation by agonists leads to a diminished output of acetylcholine; antagonists, like atropine, facilitate acetylcholine release. 2.

Gangliosides, sialoglycoproteins and acetylcholinesterase of the developing mouse brain.

The developmental accretion of up to nine individual gangliosides in foetal brains, peri- and postnatal cortices, postnatal cerebelli and olfactory lobes and in the liver and the spleen were investigated in mice and compared with that of glycoprotein-bound sialic acid and the activity of the acetylcholinesterase.In foetal brain and in postnatal liver and spleen more sialic acid was found bound to glycoproteins than to gangliosides. In postnatal brain structures, however, ganglioside-NeuAc predominated and increased between the 7th and 21st d about 2-fold in the olfactory lobes and cerebellum and more than 3-fold in the cortex.