5371 This review focuses on the status of infectious diseases that are serious for animal health and have adverse economic effects in Mongolia. Data presented here are limited due to the lack of published or other easily available documents. Foot-and-mouth disease continues to cause substantial economic losses as exemplified by the outbreak of infection with serotype O PanAsia lineage virus. In the case of the 2001 outbreak, a 65%reduction in export revenues was recorded. In order to ascertain the free status of Mongolia from rinderpest, sero-epidemiological surveillance has been carried out since 2001. In 2004, Mongolia was certified free from rinderpest by Office Interna-tional des Epizooties (OIE). A sharp rise in both animal and human brucello-sis incidence has become a serious problem. Rabies and anthrax remain endemic with occasional human cases. Other prevailing infectious diseases are contagious pustular dermatitis, contagious agalactia, enterotoxemia and ¡pas-teurellosis. The current programs for the control of infectious diseases in livestock in Mongolia lack a definite policy that would enable rapid implementation. A large-scale surveillance of infectious diseases in animals and management of appropriate preventive measures are urgently required in Mongolia.

A cDNA clone encoding a prohibitin-like protein (Toprh) was isolated from a piroplasm cDNA library of Theileria orientalis and its nucleotide sequence was determined. An open reading frame, encoding a polypeptide of 278 amino acid residues, was found in Toprh cDNA sequence. An intron of 89 bp was identified when this cDNA clone was compared with the Toprh gene in the genome of T. orientalis. The deduced amino acid sequence of Toprh shares 93.8, 93.1 and 69.1% identities with the prohibitins of T. parva (from chromosome 1), T. annulata (from chromosome 1), and Plasmodium falciparum, (from chromosome 10), respectively. By Western blot analysis, Toprh was found to be expressed in the piroplasm stage of the parasites.

The CKH-Jsr (jumbled spine and ribs) mouse was found as a spontaneous mutant with malformation of vertebrae, that is, a short trunk and kinky tail. We examined Lunatic Fringe (Lfng and Uncx4. 1 expression in the presomitic mesoderm (PSM) and somites of Jsr-mutant (CKH-Jsr/+) embryos to elucidate pathogenesis of the Jsr mutation. Expression pattern of Lfng in the PSM of Jsr-mutant embryos was similar to that of the normal (C57BL/6) embryos. However, expression pattern of Uncx4. 1 in the somites of Jsr-mutant embryos was impaired to be irregular and mosaic, suggesting that the anterior-posterior (A-P) polarity is disordered in the Jsr mutant. These results indicate that the Jsr mutation disrupts the A-P polarity of somites during the somitogenesis without altering Lfng expression pattern in the PSM.

The consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of various ailments, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Carotenoids, such as lycopene and beta-carotene, are natural constituents of edible plants and may protect against disease. In this study, the influence of lycopene and beta-carotene on DNA damage caused by catechol-estrogens in vitro is examined. One possible mechanism by which catechol estrogens such as 4- hydroxyestradiol (4-OHE2) and 2- hydroxyestradiol, which cause DNA damage in naked plasmid DNA as well as in cells, contributing to the process of carcinogenesis, is through the generation of reactive oxygen species. It was found that both carotenoids at concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 10 MicroM significantly inhibit strand breakage induced by 4- OHE2/copper sulphate by up to 90%in plasmid DNA with beta-carotene being slightly more effective. No pro-oxidant or cytotoxic effects were observed at the concentrations tested. These carotenoids had a similar, though reduced effect on DNA damage as measured by the comet assay, in Chinese hamster lung fibroblasts. The results obtained show that both lycopene and beta-carotene, most probably and mainly through their potent antioxidant properties, are able to inhibit catecholestrogen-mediated DNA damage.

The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the renal renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in diabetic nephropathy (DN) , which was induced by injection of streptozotocin (STZ). Male CBA/N and CBA/J mice were compared in this study. The former possesses a single renin gene, Ren1. whereas the latter carries two renin genes, Ren1 and Ren2. To examine the molecular dynamics of renal RAS, including renin, angiotensinogen (Agt), angiotensin-converting enzyme (Ace), angiotensin type 1 (Agtr1) and type 2 (Agtr2) receptors in experimental DN, we performed laser-microdissection (LMD) followed by reverse transcriptase nested polymerase chain reaction using each specific primer pairs and immunohistochemistry for renin and angiotensin 2. CBA/N mice had a higher response after injection of STZ than CBA/J mice, showing a significant increase of the kidney/body weight ratio, although there was no significant difference between the two strains for the blood glucose level or pancreatic beta-cell response. The onset of renal pathological changes associated with DN was earlier and more severe in CBA/N mice than in CBA/J mice. Distinct immunoreactivities for renin and angiotensin 2 were newly distributed on the flattered epithelial cells in the dilated distal tubules in the cortex as well as the collecting ducts in the cortex and medulla, and were demonstrated more intensity in CBA/N mice than in CBA/J mice. Micro dissectional analysis in both models revealed a higher incidence of RAS-related gene expression in CBA/J, Ren 2 mice than in CBA-N, Ren 1 mice.

In the present study, we demonstrated that heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) was present in both canine reticulocytes and mature erythrocytes, and that the canine Hsp 70 in reticulocytes was decreased along with the maturation of the cells into erythrocytes. These results suggest that the Hsp 70 in canine reticulocytes might act as a chaperone to remove unnecessary proteins during reticulocyte maturation. We also demonstrated that Hsp 70 was present in exosomes from reticulocytes during their maturation in in vitro culture. Furthermore, the concentration of Hsp 70 in reticulocyte membranes was increased in proportion to an increase of the protein in exosomes until 48 hours after the incubation of reticulocytes in vitro. At 96 hours of the incubation, however, only a trace amount of Hsp 70 was detected in the membrane, while a large amount of the protein was present in the exosomes. These results suggest that Hsp 70 in canine reticulocytes might play an important role for exosome formation in reticulocytes, resulting in the maturation of the cells.

The meq gene was thought to be only detected in Marek's disease virus serotype 1 (MDV1) including a very virulent strain, Md5, while L-meq, in which a 180-bp sequence is inserted into the meq open reading frame, is found in other strains of MDV1, such as CVI988/R6. However, both meq and L-meq were previously detected by PCR in chickens infected with MDV1, suggesting hat MDV1 may consists of at least two subpopulations, one with meq, the other with L-meq. To further analyze these subpopulations, we analyzed the time course changes in distribution of these subpopulations among T cell subsets from chickens infected with MDV1. Both meq and L-meq were detected in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells infected with strain Md5 or CVI988/R6. The shift in MDV subpopulations from one displaying meq to the other displaying L-meq and/or the conversion from meq to L-meq occurred mainly in the CD8(+) T cell subset from Md5- infected chickens. PCR products corresponding to L-meq rather than meq were frequently amplified from the CD8(+) T cell subset from CVI988/R6-infected chickens. These results suggest that a dominant subpopulation of MDV1 changes depending on the T cell subsets, and that L-meq is dominantly present in the CD8(+) T cells which play a role in the clearance of pathogenic agents.

Pleurotus cornucopiae (PC) mushroom with a brilliant yellow pileus is found in the field and known in Japan as Tamogi dake mushroom. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanism of the antimutagenic effect of PC mushroom using both the Ames test and Comet assay. We have found a strong inhibitory effect of both aqueous and organic PC extracts on the mutagenicity elicited by benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P). This inhibition was dose- dependent in reaction mixtures containing cytosolic and microsomal fractions (S-9) from untreated rat liver as well as in those containing S-9 from aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Au) ligand of Sudan III-treated rats. Sudan III was a potent inducer of cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) activity. We treated rats with Sudan III to enhance the metabolic activation of B[a]P by the S-9 fraction. To explain whether this antimutagenicity was due to the inhibition of CYP1A activity that metabolically activates B[a]P, we tested the effects of the extracts on activities of CYP1A1 and CYP1A2, represented by ethoxyresorufin Odeethylase (EROD) and methoxyresorufin Odemethylase (MROD), respectively. Both aqueous and organic extracts inhibited EROD activity at all dose levels, while the inhibitory effect was only observed at high doses with regard to MROD activity. Furthermore, pre-treatment of Chinese hamster V79cells with PC extracts significantly reduced H2O2 - induced-DNA damage, indicating that PC extracts provide a protective effect against oxidative DNA damage. These results indicate that whole-mushroom extracts contain compounds that may inhibit the metabolic activation of B[a]P by CYP1A1 as well as prevent oxidative DNA damage.

Green tea contains catechins and caffeine as major constituents. Treatment of rats with green tea (2.5% w/v) significantly increased 7-ethoxycou-marin 0-deethylase (7-ECOD), caffeine N-1 demethylase (CN1D) and UDP-glucuronyltransferase (UGT) activities. Treatment with caffeine similarly activated CYP1A2 and related monooxygenases as well as UGT, while treatment with catechins induced UGT activity but not 7- ECOD or CN1D activity. Numbers of benzo[a]pyrene (BP) -induced revertant colonies in an Ames test (mutation assay) with S. typhimurium TA98 as the test strain were markedly larger when BP was preincubated with the liver S-9 (9000 x g supernatant of liver homogenate) from green tea-treated rats than when preincubated with that from control rats. In a modified Ames assay system in which UGT was activated by the addition of UDP-glucuronic acid to the preincubation mixture, numbers of revertant colonies in the assay using liver S-9 from green tea-treated rats decreased to a similar level to that in the assay using S-9 from controls. The acceleration of two enzymatic reactions may contribute to the rapid elimination of BP; the first step, the formation of a metabolic intermediate (which is mutagenic) by CYP1A2 and the second, the conjugation of active metabolic intermediates by UGT. We speculated that green tea can reduce the amount of time carcinogens reside in the body and the chance that body tis-sues will be exposed to active metabolites of carcinogens thorough rapid elimination due to the simultaneous induction of CYP1A2 and UGT activities.