Microsporum canis is a dermatophyte that mainly affects dogs and cats. However, it can be transmitted to humans by direct contact. This makes it one of the most frequent causative agents of dermatophytosis in humans, reflecting the frequent human close relationships with pets. Conventional treatment relies on antifungal pharmacological agents. However, errors in application have led to the occurrence of fungal resistance and toxic effects. Consequently, new therapeutic alternatives are needed for M. canis infections. Plant extracts have been explored as phytotherapeutics for the treatment of dermatophyte infections, which prompted an attempt to apply extracts of the ethnopharmacologically important plants Artemisia ludoviciana and Cordia boissieri.

Nerium oleander is a plant of the Apocynaceae family toxic to humans, animals, and insects. This study was performed to determine the cardiac and neurotoxicity of the plant extract by oral administration in Wistar rats and Balb/c mice and to compare the susceptibility of these animal models to oleander toxicity. Four groups of eight mice and eight rats received N. oleander extract orally while a fifth group was the control. Serum concentrations of the biochemical toxicity indicators, namely troponin and creatine kinase (CK), were determined and histopathological evaluation of the heart and brain was performed. In mice, CK and troponin concentrations were respectively 1.5 and 7 times higher than in the control group (P < 0.05), while in rats, they were 6–7 and 11 times higher. Hyperaemia, haemorrhage, and myofibrolysis, without infiltration of inflammatory cells, were observed in the heart. In the brain the authors observed hyperaemia associated with perivascular and perineuronal oedema, and in higher-dosed rats multifocal haemorrhagic and liquefactive necrotic lesions. Oleander can affect serum levels of CK and troponin due to nervous and cardiac injuries. Rats showed more severe changes in the biochemical indicators and histopathological lesions than mice. Therefore, biochemical and pathological findings indicate that Wistar rats are more susceptible to the cardiac toxicity and neurotoxicity effects of N. oleander poisoning than Balb/c mice.

Methane (CH4) is second major gas after carbon dioxide (CO2) responsible for the warming of environment and ozone layer depletion. Although CH4 production is necessary for efficient digestion, it&nbsp;represents an energetic loss of up to 12% of the gross energy intake in ruminants. Methane is produced by strict anaerobes belonging to the sub-group of the Archaea domain. The past decade has shown a lot of interest in the use of plant extracts to mitigate methane production in ruminants. Addition of&nbsp;plant essential oils, can limit the growth of the micro-organisms participating in methane formation in the rumen, thus resulting in the reduction of its production. Reduction of methane production in the rumen ecosystem is possible to achieve with the use of plantsaponins. Tannins have been found to&nbsp;be toxic for many of the rumen microbes, especially ciliate protozoa, fibre degrading microbes and methanogenic bacteria as a result of this methanogenesis in the rumen is reduced.&nbsp;

An in vitro study evaluated the anti-methanogenic potentiality of aqueous and alcoholic plant extract mixture of ajwainseed and soapnut berries under different roughage and concentrate ratio-based diets in a 3x3 factorial design. Dried and milled plant mixture was extracted (10 g/100 ml) in three solvents, viz, water (Control), ethanol (95 %), and methanol (98 %). Substrate (200 mg) prepared by mixing wheat straw and concentrate mixture at the ratio of 30:70, 50:50 and 70:30 was taken in glass syringes (six per treatment) and incubation medium (30 ml) dispensed anaerobically. Aqueous, ethanol and methanol plant extract (0.5 ml) were taken in three dietary treatments of groups I, II, and III respectively. All the syringes were incubated at 39°C for a running duration of 24 hours and total gas production was calculated. Hundred ml of emitted gas was injected into gas chromatograph equipped with flame ionization detector for methane estimation. In vitro true digestibility of diet and ammonia nitrogen content of fermented medium were determined. Experimental data generated were analysed by adopting factorial ANOVA procedures. Results revealed that ethanol plant extract mixture had significantly (P&amp;lt;0.01) reduced the in vitro total gas and methane production by suppressing the true dietary digestibility of high roughage to low concentrate (70:30) based diet.

Objective--To determine whether larkspur-derived N-(methylsuccinimido) anthranoyllycoctonine (MSAL)-type alkaloids alter heart rate and electrically evoked electromyographic (eEMG) response of the external anal sphincter (EAS) in cattle and whether these effects can be reversed by acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Animals--12 beef heifers and 4 cows. Procedures--3 or 4 heifers were used in 1 or 2 of 7 dose-response experiments; heart rate and EAS eEMG response were assessed before and 24 hours after oral treatment with larkspur (doses equivalent to 0.5 to 15 mg of MSAL-type alkaloids/kg). In 3 subsequent experiments, 3 heifers (1 of which was replaced with another heifer in the control experiment) each received 10 mg of MSAL-type alkaloids/kg and were injected IV with physostigmine (0.04 mg/kg), neostigmine (0.04 mg/kg), or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution 24 hours later, prior to assessment. Additionally, EAS eEMG response was measured in 4 cows before and after epidural administration of 2% lidocaine hydrochloride. Results--Larkspur-treated heifers developed dose-related increases in heart rate and decreases in EAS eEMG response. Twenty-four hours after administration of MSAL-type alkaloids, neostigmine decreased heart rate but did not affect eEMG response, whereas physostigmine did not affect heart rate but caused a 2-fold increase in eEMG response. In cows, epidural anesthesia did not alter eEMG response, suggesting that transdermal stimulation of the EAS pudendal innervation did not occur. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance--In cattle, cardiac effects and muscle weakness or loss of EAS eEMG response induced by larkspur-derived MSAL-type alkaloids were reversed by neostigmine or physostigmine, respectively. Treatment with anticholinesterase inhibitors may alter the clinical effects of larkspur poisoning in cattle.

The effects of administration of a commercially available extract of Gingko biloba (EGB) on bromethalin-induced brain lipid peroxidation and cerebral edema in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats was determined. Gingko biloba extract was given (100 mg/kg) by gavage immediately after bromethalin (1.0 mg/kg) administration. Rats were euthanatized at 24 hours after dosing. Brain lipid peroxidation was determined by measurement of brain malonaldehyde-thiobarbituric acid chromophore (MDA-TBA) concentration, brain sodium concentration, and brain water content. Treatment of bromethalin-dosed rats (10/group) with EGB was associated with a statistically significant (P < 0.05) decrease in clinical sign severity, compared with bromethalin-dosed saline solution-treated rats. All rats given bromethalin and saline solution developed clinical signs of toxicosis including CNS depression, hind limb weakness, ataxia, paralysis, and coma. Some rats given bromethalin and EGB developed clinical signs, however, none developed hind limb paralysis. The brain MDA-TBA concentration (2.4 +/- 0.5 delta MDA-TBA concentration/mg of protein), percentage of water in brain tissue (80.3 +/- 0.30%), and brain sodium concentration (6.68 +/- 0.21 mg/g of dry weight) were significantly increased in rats given bromethalin and saline solution, compared with control rats given saline solution (1.0 +/- 0.1 delta MDA-TBA concentration/mg of protein; 78.1 +/- 0.33% water in brain tissue; 4.83 +/- 0.30 mg of brain Na+/g of dry weight) and rats given bromethalin and EGB (1.6 +/- 0.2 delta MDA-TBA concentration/mg of protein; 79.3 +/- 0.31% water in brain tissue; 5.37 +/- 0.34 mg of brain Na+/g of dry weight). The MDA-TBA concentration (1.2 +/- 0.2 delta MDA-TBA concentration/mg of protein), percentage of water in brain tissue (78.7 +/- 0.40%), and brain sodium concentration (4.93 +/- 0.26 mg/g of dry weight) increased slightly in control rats given EGB.

Twelve horses, with acute laminitis (primarily in the forefeet) at 12 hours after intragastric dosing with an aqueous extract of black walnut (Juglans nigra) heartwood, were studied. The distribution of perfusion of blood to the foot and to outlined regions within the foot was quantified, using gamma scintigraphy of regionally 99mTC. labeled macroaggregated albumin, before and 12 hours after extract administration. Horses 1 to 3 were not studied further. Perfusion was quantified again for horses 4 to 12 at 84 hours after extract administration. At the onset of acute laminitis, horses 7 to 12 were administered a single dose of prazosin (0.025 mg/kg of body weight, IV) immediately after scintigraphy of the right forelimb and before scintigraphy of the left forelimb. When compared with baseline images, perfusion to the forefoot of horses after the development of acute laminitis was quantitatively decreased vs perfusion to the entire distal portion of the forelimb. Also with the onset of laminitis, perfusion also decreased to the dorsal laminar and coronary corium regions vs the distal portion of the forelimb. The acute laminitis-associated deficit in perfusion to the dorsal lamina was greater in magnitude than the deficit in perfusion to either the coronary corium or the entire forefoot. Equivalent deficits in the distribution of perfusion were not detected in forelimbs from horses with acute laminitis and which had been treated with prazosin. When compared with baseline images, perfusion to the dorsal lamina was increased in relation to perfusion to the distal portion of the limb at postdosing hour 84. Prazosin treatment did not influence that increase in perfusion to the dorsal lamina.

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Shreb) hay from a source known to cause "fescue foot" in grazing cattle was extracted with 80% ethanol. The ethanolic extract was further refined and fractionated into cation,nion, and neutral f fractions by ion-exchange chromatography. The cation fraction was partitioned with alkaline-chloroform to give chloroform-extractable cation and residual cation fractions. All fractions plus the crude ethanolic extract were assayed for toxic activity by intraperitoneal injection into 12 calves (weighting 152.4 to 241.3 kg each) over a 14-day period. Clinical signs of fescue foot were observed on the 5th day in calves given the anion and crude ethanolic extracts. Lameness, swelling, and reddening of the rear coronary bands, discoloration of the tip of the tail, and other signs of fescue foot were seen. Microscopically, coronary bands and tail tips of affected calves had blood vessels with thick walls and small lumens.

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