Veterinary Research Forum
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Winter 2011

In this research, anatomical descriptions of the structure of the temporal bone and auditory ossicles have been performed based on dissection of ten guinea pigs. The results showed that, in guinea pig temporal bone was similar to other animals and had three parts; squamous, tympanic and petrous. The tympanic part was much better developed and consisted of oval shaped tympanic bulla with many recesses in tympanic cavity. The auditory ossicles of guinea pig concluded of three small bones; malleus, incus and stapes but the head of the malleus and the body of incus were fused and forming a malleoincudal complex. The average of morphometric parameters showed that the malleus was 3.53 ± 0.22 mm in total length. In addition to head and handle, the malleus had two distinct process; lateral and muscular. The incus had a total length 1.23 ± 0.02mm. It had long and short crus although the long crus was developed better than short crus. The lenticular bone was a round bone that articulated with the long crus of incus. The stapes had a total length 1.38 ± 0.04mm. The anterior crus(0.86 ± 0.08mm) was larger than posterior crus (0.76 ± 0.08mm). It is concluded that, in the guinea pig, the malleus and the incus are fused, forming a junction called incus-malleus, while in the other animals these are separate bones. The stapes is larger and has a triangular shape and the anterior and posterior crus are thicker than other rodents. Therefore, for otological studies, the guinea pig is a good lab animal.

In this investigation, diabetes was induced in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats by single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at 45 mg kg-1 of body weight. A group comprised of 8 diabetic rats was treated with metformin at 100 mg kg-1 of body weight for reducing the elevated blood glucose level. The results revealed that, in the untreated diabetic rats, the body and testicular weight reduced in comparison with the control rats (P < 0.05), the metformin treated diabetic rats showed body weight loss in comparison with the control group (P < 0.05). In the untreated diabetic rats, the blood glucose level significantly increased in comparison with control and metformin treated diabetic rats. Histomorphological examinations revealed a reduction in testicular capsule diameter, seminiferous tubules (STs) and germinal epithelium height, increase of amorphous material of interstitial tissue, germ cell depletion, decrease in cellular population and activity and disruption of spermatogenesis in the untreated diabetic rats in comparison with control group. In metformin treated diabetic rats, the histomorphological alterations were seen in lesser part in comparison with untreated diabetic group. The results from this study proved that, there was a direct relationship between increased levels of blood glucose as a result of STZ-induced diabetes and the histomorphological changes of testicular tissue.

Histological and histochemical studies on the pancreas of goose (Anser albifrons) were carried out using special staining and light microscope. The pancreas in goose is serous tubuloacinar gland having exocrine and endocrine part. Smooth muscle fibres were absent in capsule of pancreas. Acinar cells have bizonal shape. Intralobular ducts, Interlobular and main excretory ducts were present within parenchyma. The intralobular ducts were lined with a simple cuboidal epithelium reach interlobular ducts lined with low columnar epithelium. The main excretory ducts were lined by simple to stratified columnar epithelium. The glands inside the connective tissue of the ducts and basophilic staining on the apical surface of pancreatic duct system were found from the interlobular ducts to the main excretory ducts. The endocrine part was consisted of various shapes and sizes of alpha and beta islets. Mixed islets were not observed in the goose pancreas. Parasympathetic ganglia were observed in the exocrine pancreas. No significant differences were noted between males and females.

In this study, the effects of separate and combined intraperitoneal (IP) injections of histidine and dexamethasone were investigated on local inflammation in rats. Local inflammation was induced by subcutaneous (SC) injection of histamine (100 μl, 0.1%) in ventral surface of right hind paw. The thickness of paw was measured at 30 min before and 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 min after injection of histamine, using a fine caliper. The number of neutrophils in paw tissue sections was counted 3 h after intraplantar (IPL) injection of histamine. The IPL injected histamine elicited an inflammatory response that was characterized by increase of paw thickness and by infiltration of neutrophils in paw tissues. IP injections of histidine at doses of 200 and 400 mg kg-1 and dexamethasone at a dose of 1 mg kg-1 significantly (P < 0.05) decreased both paw thickness and infiltration of neutrophils in paw tissues. In combined treatment, IP injection of histidine (200 mg kg-1) with dexamethasone (1 mg kg-1) produced a more documented response in comparison with histidine and dexamethasone used alone. The results suggested that histidine and dexamethasone have anti-inflammatory activities. Histidine potentiated the anti-inflammatory effect of dexamethasone in histamine-induced local inflammation.

The objective of this study was to evaluate quality of frozen-thawed bull semen processed with extenders containing vitamin C and E as antioxidants. Pooled semen's were collected from 5 bulls and diluted to a concentration of 30 × 106 sperm/mL with citrate –egg yolk (CEY) or Tris – egg yolk (TEY) extenders. The diluted semen was divided to 5 aliquots including control and 4 experimental groups. Each aliquot was further diluted with an equal volume of CEY or a Tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane (TRIS) - based extender without (control) or containing vitamin C 1mM or 2mM and vitamin E 0.1mM or 0.2mM, and routine semen evaluations like sperm motility, viability and measurement of lipid peroxidation (LPO) were conducted. Significant reductions of LPO were achieved by addition of 1mM vitamin C and 0.1 mM vitamin E to CEY extender (P < 0.05). The highest sperm viability was achieved by addition of 0.1mM vitamin E to CEY extender. Supplementing CEY extender with 2mM vitamin C and 0.1mM vitamin E improved the sperm motility compared with the control group. On the basis of the present results it is concluded that vitamin C and E are very efficient antioxidants in CEY extender.

This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of prebiotic as alternative feed additive to an antibiotic growth promoter (bacitracin methylene disalicyate) on the growth performance and morphometrical parameters of the small intestine of broiler chickens. One hundred and forty four day old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments for 6 wk and each treatment contained four replicates (12 birds each). Dietary treatments were as follow: 1- Control (basal diet), 2- basal diet + antibiotic growth promoter and 3- basal diet + prebiotic. During the feeding experimental period, body weight, weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were measured. At the end of the experiment, small intestine segments were sampled and routine histological laboratory methods containing fixation, dehydration, clearing and paraffin embedding were used. Sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin for light microscopy evaluation and the height and width of villi and depth of crypts were measured. The results showed that body weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were not affected by dietary treatments. Prebiotic and antibiotic had significant (P < 0.05) effect on improvement of feed intake in 22 - 42 days and total period compared with the control. The addition of prebiotic or antibiotic increased the villus height in duodenum (P < 0.05) and prebiotic increased villus width of duodenum and ileum compared with other treatments. The duodenal crypt depth was increased by antibiotic compared with the prebiotic and control group. In conclusion, prebiotic can be used as a suitable alternative to antibiotic growth promoter.

Although the biology and ecology of the arthropod vectors are different, some factors, such as global warming, the increasing abundance of mosquitoes, the movement of domestic hosts, and the abundance of wild reservoirs, can act as favourable factors for the distribution of infections. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Dirofilaria immitis infection in shepherd dogs living in the high altitude of mountainous area (i.e.1200 meters above the sea level). The study group was comprised of 160 shepherd dogs living in 4 mountainous regions (Targavar, Margavar, Kolshin and Hovarchin) of west Azerbaijan where continuous movement of sheep and goat flocks resulted to have a little information about shepherd dogs in these regions. Additionally, arduous pathways have made impossible any access by car to some territories of these areas. The dogs were mostly mixed raced with different ages (from 1 to 10 years) and sexes (male = 136, female = 24). Blood samples were collected from cephalic vein. Direct thin and thick blood smears and modified knott’s technique were used for detecting D.immitis microfilariae and other blood parasites. The results indicated that 40 (25 %) of dogs were infected with D. immitis microfilariae. In examination of the dogs, no severe life threatening feature of the disease was diagnosed. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) of Dirrofilaria infection among gender, age groups and geographical areas. High prevalence of asymptomatic Dirrofilariasis in shepherd dogs in this area highlights the need of controlling and preventive programs.

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and effect of parasitic infection on erythrocyte indices in trade camels slaughtered in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Two hundred adult one humped camels comprised of 87 (43.5 %) males and 113 (56.5 %) females were examined for helminths and hemoparasites at their slaughter time according to the standard procedures. An overall prevalence of 79 % for single and mixed infections was observed. Examination of faecal samples from camels shows 82 (41 %) were harbouring different nematodes, mostly Strongyle, Strongyloides and Hemonchus species. Buffy coat and thin smear examination of blood samples showed Babesia and Anaplasma species. More females (44.5 %) than males (34.5 %) were positive for various parasitic infections. But the percentage was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Packed cell volume (PCV), mean haemoglobin concentration (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red blood cell counts were significantly (P < 0.01) affected in the infected camels compared to the non-infected ones. Parasite infection in camels leads to macrocytic anaemia.

During the study on the biology of Aphanius sophiae, a total of 20 fish specimens were collected in September 2007 using dip net at a depth of 30 - 50 cm in downstream of spring and preserved them in 10 % formalin in spot until examination. The fish were dissected and the ear cavity was examined to determine the presence of parasites of which 4 specimens including 4 females were infected with Tetracotyle sp. metacercariae, a trematode which in its metacercarial stage may infect a wide range of freshwater fish species. These metacercariae were positioned into cavity of inner ear membrane of infected fish. Our data showed that the infection was higher in females than males also as the number of parasites increases in fish ear, the size of parasites decreases. The prevalence of the infection with Tetracotyle sp. was 20 %, the parasite intensity was 2.5 and the parasite abundance was 0.5 in A. sophiae. Cercariae of Tetracotyle sp. infect fish by direct penetration. Two fish were infected with 3 parasites and other fish had 2 parasites in their ears, separately. This shows that even the inner ear is not exempted from the attacks of trematodes. This is the first report of Aphanius sophiae infection with Tetracotyle sp. metacercariae.