Iranian Journal of Veterinary Medicine
Volume:16 Issue: 3, Summer 2022

Due to the threat of vaccination problems and antibiotic resistance, more appropriate approaches are desired to breed disease resistance animals that are now practiced in cattle, sheep, chicken, and fish farming. Over the recent century, breeding programs based on the productive characteristics have increased animals' overall growth rate and produc-tivity. Despite the benefits, livestock breeding with this method has caused many physiological disorders as well as a reduction in overall immunocompetence. This issue highlights the importance of genetic considerations during the process of breeding. One of the most crucial gene clusters identified in animals is the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which plays a crucial role in the immune system to distinguishing self from non-self. Recent studies have demonstrated that some MHC regions are highly polymorphic. Also, a significant association between different MHC alleles and susceptibility/ resistance to various diseases has been found. This review summarizes the recent research on MHC polymorphism and its association with immune responses in domestic animals

Developmental anatomy is a prerequisite for a real understanding of gross anatomy and teratol-ogy. It is concerned with the sequential stages of embryonic and fetal development, beginning with fertilization. Moreover, it helps to describe developmental changes and abnormalities, heredity, sexing, and the appearance of vestigial structures. Powerful advancements in molecular genetic manipulation and assisted reproductive technolo-gies are employed during embryo and fetal development, and these efforts have had profound impact on animal production worldwide. The present study was carried out to investigate the onset and stages of osteogenesis in rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Forty mature rabbits (33 does and 7 bucks) with a mean weight of 2 kg were included in this study. They mated twice at a ratio of three does to one buck on day zero (0). Mounting was carefully observed to ensure mating occurred and was confirmed by the physical examination of the vulva for swelling and redness, while preg-nancy diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasonography and abdominal palpation. Embryos and fetuses were extracted via a ventral incision on the abdominal and uterine walls of one pregnant doe each day after euthanization with thiopental sodium at the dose of 31 mg/kg body weight intravenously. Diaphonisation was employed in studying osteogenesis. Osteogenesis began at fetal day 21 (F21) using diaphonisation. In the skull, the bones of the splanchnocranium appeared before the neurocranium. The centrum and transverse processes were the first identifi-able features of all different types of bone in the vertebral column to be ossified. The spinous process and the fusion of the sacrum and sternum were not detected throughout the gestation period. It was also observed that the epiphys-eal and articular ends of none of the bones, neither in the fore nor hind limbs were ossified throughout gestation. Specifically, while the primary ossification centers of the middle phalanges were the last to appear in the manus and pes, all the carpals were absent, and only the calcaneous was evident in the tarsal bones. We recorded the onset of osteogenesis and subsequent development throughout the gestation period of rabbits, which has added some valuable information to the documented literature on the bone development of this species.

Avibacterium paragallinarum causes infectious coryza that is an important disease of chickens associated with an acute upper respiratory infection, growth retardation, marked drop in egg production, reduced hatchability, and increased number of culls. Infectious coryza has been reported from all around the world including Iran where chickens are raised.

This study was conducted to isolate Avibacterium paragallinarum from the suspected cases of infectious coryza in the backyard and commercial layer chickens in three provinces of Tehran, Alborz, and Qazvin in Iran, to characterize the isolates by molecular methods and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility profile.

Swab samples from eye secretions and mouth cavity were provided from five commercial laying farms (25 samples) and backyard chickens (20 samples) suspected of infectious coryza in Tehran, Alborz, and Qazvin provinces of Iran. Standard bacteriological and biochemical procedures were performed for the isolation and identification of Av. paragallinarum. The antimicrobial susceptibility of the recovered isolates was determined by the agar disk diffusion method. HPG-2 PCR was used to confirm Av. paragallinarum using the specific primers of N1 and R1, resulting in a 500 bp amplicon. PCR-amplified hmtp210 gene with the amplicon size of 1.6 kb was subjected to sequencing with the standard Sanger sequencing method and phylogenetically analyzed.

Three Av. paragallinarum isolates were obtained from all the cultured samples. Antimicrobial sensi-tivity test revealed that all three isolates were resistant to amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, streptomycin, ampicillin, and colistin while they were susceptible to cephalexin, ceftriaxone, florfenicol, gentamicin, linco-spectin, neomycin, and doxycycline. In phylogenetic analysis, two different genotypes of Av. paragallinarum were found.

In this study, Av. paragallinarum isolates recovered from layer flocks were genotypically closely related to the strains from serovar C while the isolate recovered from backyard chickens was closely related to serovar B strains. Our results showed that the antimicrobial susceptibility is highly variable among the Av. para-gallinarum isolates compared to previous studies. Future studies are required to develop better immunogenic strategies and eventually novel vaccine candidates to control the disease and reduce the risk of infection with multi-drug resistant Av. paragallinarum isolates.

Obesity is a major problem in horses, unfortunately many times underrated by owners. Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is one of the obesity complications that can cause laminitis, hypertension, subfertility, and so on. Insulin dysregulation (ID) is the main feature of EMS that results from insulin resistance.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of feeding management in obesity and EMS occur-rence.

Five hundred seventy horses were evaluated in this study. They were divided into the groups based on age, gender, breed, exercise activity, and feeding type. Glucose and insulin were measured using an AutoAna-lyzer device and ELISA kit, respectively.

Out of 570 horses, 2% had EMS while 14% were fat but obesity occurrence was higher in horses grazed in pasture (25%) compared to the horses that had not access to pasture (9%).

Results showed that prevalence of EMS under different feeding strategies is significantly dif-ferent. For the prevention of this important welfare issue, feeding management and routine exercise are the best ways.

The grivet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops), a non-human primate (NHP), has contributed sig-nificantly as an animal model in a variety of biological systems due to its similarities with human.

This study was designed to establish a detailed procedure for in vitro maturation (IVM) of germi-nal-vesicle stage oocytes, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in vitro embryo culture (IVC) of grivet monkey.

The reproductive organs were obtained from10 adult male and 4 adult female grivet monkeys after the proper anesthesia. The ovarian follicles were aspirated by aspiration technique or by the means of oocyte recov-ery with centrifugation (ORC). For the sperm recovery, the epididymides were dissected from the testicles and the tails of the epididymides were minced in the sperm washing medium and incubated for 15 min. At the time of insemination, a portion of the pre-incubated spermatozoa (10 μL) was introduced into 90 μL of fertilization medium containing about 20 matured oocytes.

The data on the oocyte recovery rate and IVM showed significant increase (P<0.05) in the COCs recovered via ORC technique (9.8±0.41 and 90.90%) comparedto the recovered COCs using aspiration (4.45±0.32, 80.00%). The results showed similarity in the rate of cleavage in both groups (ORC and aspiration) (71%). The rate of embryo development to the blastocyst stage was significantly higher in the ORC group (43%) compared to the aspiration group (33.33%).

It is concluded that the oocyte recovery technique is of great importance in terms of non-human primates' COCs competence in the in vitro embryo production (IVEP). On the other hand, it is well documented in the current research that the commercial ART medium used in the human infertility clinics is well applicable for the grivet monkey IVEP.

Pain is an unpleasant experience that serves as a survival mechanism and is mediated via the central and peripheral nervous systems. Manna of hedysarum, also called Persian Manna or Taranjebin, is known to have medical properties in Persian traditional medicine.

The main purpose of the current paper is to determine the possible antinociceptive effect of Manna of hedysarum as well as the neurotransmitter systems involved, in mice.

The first experiment was designed to reveal the effective dose of Manna of hedysarum. Adult male albino mice were injected with Manna of Hedysarum (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg) Ethanolic Extract (MHEE) or morphine (5 mg/kg). In experiment 2, MHEE (400 mg/kg), naloxone (2 mg/kg), and MHEE (400 mg/kg) plus naloxone (2 mg/kg) were injected. Experiments 3-5 were similar to experiment 2, except that naloxone was replaced with L-NG-Nitro Arginine Methyl Ester (10 mg/kg), cimetidine (12.5 mg/kg), and cyproheptadine (4 mg/kg). Then the formalin test was performed, and the paw licking time was measured.

Based on the findings, MHEE reduced the pain response in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). The co-injections of MHEE with mentioned antagonists significantly decreased the antinociceptive effect of MHEE on the licking and biting time of the injected paw (P<0.05).

These findings suggest that MHEE has an antinociceptive effect in mice and possibly acts on opioidergic, nitrergic, histaminergic and serotonergic systems

The incidence of diseases among dairy cows is high in the postpartum period, which reduces dairy enterprise and higher demands for antibiotics. Considering this, the notion of promoting heath and reducing antibiotic application in dairy cow medicine by taking advantages of bioactive phytochemicals in herbal extracts is emerging.

This study's main purpose was to investigate the effects of supplementing Holstein dairy cows' ration in the close-up period by Immunofin® polyherbal aqueous extract on the normal physiology, clinical health, and hematological and biochemical parameters of postpartum dairy cows.

In this experiment, the herbal extract was supplemented in a close-up period diet for cows in the treatment group (n=10). However, cows in the control group (n=10) received precisely the same ratio as the placebo. The clinical health of cows was assessed, and some of their biochemical and hematological parameters were com-pared between the two groups.

Cows in the treatment group had a lower incidence of retained fetal membrane and metritis (P=0.01). In addition, cows in the treatment group had a lower concentration of serum nonesterified fatty acid (P<0.001), and a lower number of peripheral blood leukocytes and lymphocytes count among cows in the treatment group (P<0.0001). In contrast, their mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume were higher (P<0.0001).

In conclusion, Immunofin® supplementation in a close-up period had no negative impacts on prepartum cows' clinical health and could desirably alter some of the clinical, biochemical and hematological pa-rameters.

Intensive aquaculture, which is always associated with high concentrations of nitrogen pollu-tants, can lead to increased economic damage and energy loss, and increased fish mortality.

This study aimed to investigate the histomorphometry of the skin and stress indices of the Nile tilapia on exposure to different concentrations of ammonia.

In this study, Nile tilapia fingerlings were prepared and kept in the tub for adaptation, oxygenation, and feeding. A Range Finding test was performed on the fishes to find the ammonia killing range. Then, an acute toxicity test was performed on tilapia fish for 96 hours. For sub-lethal toxicity studies, 120 Nile tilapia fry were divided into 4 groups, including three groups based on different percentages of LC50 96 h (10, 20, and 30% LC50 96h) and a control group. The groups were exposed to ammonia for 14 days in an environment with constant tem-perature and pH control. Finally, histological examination and stress indices were performed on fish.

The results showed that a higher concentration of ammonia resulted in tissue damage, including dis-coloration and skin blackening, and behavioral changes, including swallowing air from the water surface, decreased appetite and decreased mobility which finally resulted in death in these animals (P≤0.05). The highest and lowest glucose levels were reported for the control group and 2.7 mg/L. In addition, stress indices were significantly in-creased in experimental groups (P≤0.05).

The data obtained from this study showed that increasing the amount of ammonia can lead to irreversible tissue damage to the structure of the skin and other tissues. In addition, the increase in oxidative stress in the Nile tilapia was due to the increase in ammonia, which led to lesions in these fish

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi, especially Aspergillus spp, on grains and animal feeds. The most important mycotoxins are aflatoxins, including aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, and G2.

The present study was conducted to determine the occurrence of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, and G2) in the feed ingredients of livestock and poultry and to evaluate the effect of the season and spatial variation on aflatoxin contamination.

Ninety-three feedstock samples were collected from three major factories in Kermanshah province, Iran, during four seasons. The samples were analyzed by HPLC, and values for aflatoxins were determined. The sum of the aflatoxins was determined as the total for each sample. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software version 23 using general linear model (GLM) based on complete block design (samples and seasons).

Six out of 93 samples were positive for aflatoxin B1. Positive samples were mainly related to cold seasons. Moreover, no significant difference was found between the positive samples in terms of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, and total).

The aflatoxin B1 levels in animal feed were found higher during rainy seasons compared to the summer season. The aflatoxin B1, carried over from feed to livestock and poultry products in different seasons, may cause high contamination in livestock and poultry products at levels over the tolerance limit. Therefore, continuous surveillance of aflatoxins is required in animal feeds to reduce animal and consequently human exposure

A post-mortem examination is an important part of evidence-based medicine to understand the deterioration of clinical signs or causes of death in euthanized or deceased individual animals or even populations.Post-mortem analysis is aimed at improving clinical treatment and therapy, confirming a suspected diagnosis, man-aging breeding strategies, and clarifying the forensic cases (e.g., neglect or animal abuse). In analogy to virtopsy in human medicine, diagnostic imaging modalities have been applied in post-mortem veterinary medicine, which we call vetvirtopsy.We hypothesize that vetvirtopsy can be used as a method to answer certain clinical/post-mortem questions to im-prove the diagnosis reliability. In some questions, vetvirtopsy actually can replace conventional necropsy. This overview study aims to compare vetvirtopsy with conventional necropsy for variable causes of death in animals and to define its possibilities and limitations.Deceased or euthanized pets and wild animals were collected. The imaging techniques, such as post-mortem digital radiography, post-mortem ultrasound, post-mortem computed tomography, and post-mortem magnetic resonance tomography combined with image-guided tissue sampling, were used to address the open questions about clinical symptoms or causes of their death.The case series in this project showed that diagnostic imaging techniques are feasible in answering distinct ante-mortem and post-mortem clinical and forensic questions. However, there is an interdisciplinary collaboration between diagnostic imaging and sampling under imaging guidance