A 11-year-old female mixed cat with subcutaneous mass around the left 5th mammary glands was presented to local animal hospital. According to history taking, the mass recurred 2 times on the same site of abdomen. After surgical excision, subcutaneous mass was referred to Pathology Department of Veterinary Medicine in the Jeju National University. Grossly, round to oval, milky yellow or pale red nodules, measuring 0.1~1 cm in diameter, were occupied in the subcutis. Microscopically, the most neoplastic sweat glands were proliferated in the dermis and subcutis. Most tubules were lined by round to oval shaped epithelium with eosinophilic cytoplasm, hyperchromatic nuclei with high mitotic figures and severe central necrosis. The neoplastic epithelium also had periodic acid-Schiff-positive diastase-resistant cytoplasmic granules, but was negative for Perl's iron stain. Based on the gross, histopathologic and special staining, this cat was diagnosed as apocrine sweat gland adenocarcinoma. In our best knowledge, this is the first report of apocrine sweat gland adenocarcinoma around abdominal mammary gland in a cat.

This study examined the efficacy of apitoxin for the treatment of otitis externa in dogs. Ten dogs with otitis externa were allocated randomly to two groups. The control group was treated with the susceptible antibiotics and the experimental group was injected with apitoxin into the tragus subcutaneously. There were no significant differences in the clinical scores, blood WBC counts and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratios between the control and experimental groups. By 2 weeks, the bacterial cell counts were significantly lower in the experimental group than the control (p less than 0.05). No adverse reactions were observed in any of the dogs during the study. This suggests that a topical injection of apitoxin is an effective treatment for otitis externa in dogs.

The prevalence of potentially xenozoonotic viruses in the reproductive tract of female pigs in Korea was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These viruses include porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), swine hepatitis E virus (SHEV), porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus (PLHV), and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2). Histopathological examination and PCR analysis were conducted using the ovaries of 70 slaughtered pigs that were collected from 14 farms in Jeju. Histopathologically, infiltrations of mononuclear inflammatory cells around the thick-walled coiled vessels in the ovarian medulla were observed in 15 cases. Based on the PCR method, PERV, PLHV, PRRSV, SHEV, and PCV-2 were detected in 69 (98.6%), 35 (50%), 5 (7.1%), 4 (5.7%), and 1 sample (1.4%), respectively. These results suggest that PERV and PLHV are the major xenozoonotic viruses in the porcine ovary. This study should aid in the development of a monitoring protocal for potencial xenozoonotic agents and in the production of germ-free pigs for xenotransplantation.

Bovine mastitis is an important disease causing serious economic loss in dairy production and food poison in public health. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus are the major causative agents of bovine mastitis. These bacteria were found in milk and environmental condition such as feces, water, soil and so on. Bovine mastitis causative micro-organisms can survive in 1-2 weeks in feces and bed complexes. Low level of percentage of water content (PWC) of feces and bed complexes can reduce the spreading of bovine mastitis incidence from environmental contamination. In this study, we developed the fecal dehydrating system and determined the elimination rates of bovine mastitis causative agent from feces and bed complexes. To develop the fecal dehydrating system, the screw pressurized dehydrating system was used and the maximum rate of dehydrating was reached to 52% PWC using 90% PWC (wet base) of fecal and bed complexes. The elimination rates of the dehydrating system for E. coli and S. aureus were reached at 41.19±7.84% to 62.55±8.71% in various percentages of PWC of feces and bed complexes (80, 85 and 90%). These results suggested that the application of fecal dehydrating system would reduce can exposure of dairy cattle to bovine mastitis causing agents contaminated feces and bed complexes, and can be used for environmental bovine mastitis control avoiding misuse or abuse of chemical disinfectants and antibiotics in dairy farm.

Neurofascin, one of the members of L1CAM, has been known to have some important roles during the development of nerve fibers. In order to investigate the role of neurofascin associated with the formation of Schmidt-Lantermann incisure in the sciatic nerve, the localization of neurofascin was studied with electron microscopy, immuno-fluorescence and immuno-electron microscopy. In the electron microscopy, the first formation of Schmidt-Lantermann incisure was checked at postnatal day 6 and the complete form of incisures traversing the whole myelin sheath began to be observed at postnatal day 8. In the immunofluorescence, neurofascin immunoreactive Schmidt-Lantermann incisures were first checked at postnatal day 6 and dramatically increased with aging by postnatal day 56. In the immunoelectron microscopy, neurofascin immunoreactive gold particles at the incisure forming sites were first observed at postnatal day 6 and the number of gold particles was increased as the animal was getting old by postnatal day 56. According to the present study, neurofascin is likely to have some relationships with Schmidt-Lantermann incisure formation.

This study was performed to investigate the possibility of superfecundation by surgical intrauterine artificial insemination in dogs of confirmed genetic pedigree. Artificial insemination was performed on 3 days after ovulation with 1.3×10∨8 spermatozoa. Five puppies were delivered on 60 days after insemination. The ratio of the number of newborns to the number of corpora lutea was 83.3% (5/6). Parentage analysis with 10 canine-specific microstatellite markers demonstrated that one puppy was genetically relative to the sire-A family and four puppies were genetically relative to the sire-B. The present study demonstrated that two kinds of puppies with different genetic pedigree can be produced by surgical uterine insemination of semen of individual dog into each uterine horn of a bitch.

A dead stray cat was necropsied for zoonotic feline disease monitoring. Grossly, there were no specific lesions. Major microscopic lesions included lymphocytic meningoencephalitis, malacia, and tissue cysts in the cerebral and cerebellar cortex. The size and shape of tissue cysts were identical to those of Apicomplexa including Toxoplasma (T.) gondii. Bradyzoites in the tissue cyst were strongly positive for T. gondii by immunohistochemistry. Electron microscopy revealed that bradyzoites within the tissue cyst were similar to the morphological features of T. gondii. Fresh tissue samples were examined by a polymerase chain reaction assay and resulted in a specific band of T. gondii only in the brain. Based on the results, this case was diagnosed as toxoplasmosis. This is the first case of toxoplasmic meningoencephalitis in a cat in Korea.

Animal shelters are potentially vulnerable to constant exposure to a variety of diseases for both animals and humans, because thousands of animals with unknown histories are being admitted to each shelter on a yearly basis in Korea. The control of disease spread, therefore, can be a major challenge to veterinarians in most shelters. This study investigated the health status of stray dogs admitted to the Gwangju Animal Shelter during the year of 2008, and analyzed types of disorders at the time of admission as well as newly acquired diseases while housed in the shelter. Canine heartworm disease was the most prevalent infection among stray dogs at the time of admission, while the respiratory disorder was the most common shelter-acquired disease. The majority of dogs (93.5%) was either small or middle-sized breeds with Maltese (19.7%) and Shih Tzu (16.0%) being the most commonly found stray dogs. Out of 1,143 dogs admitted to the shelter, owners of 128 dogs (11.2%) visited the shelter and found their lost dogs, while 518 dogs (45.3%) were adopted to new families. Results of this study strongly indicate that stray dogs in Korea are exposed to a variety of diseases and the disease control by veterinarians is one of the most important aspects of the shelter management.

The pathogenicity and acute toxicity of Lactobacillus (L.) pentosus PL11 from eel (Anguilla japonica) were investigated using male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. The pathogenicity of L. pentosus PL11 was examined after treating the rats with 10∨11 CFU/mL, 10∨9 CFU/mL or 10∨7 CFU/mL doses of L. pentosus PL11 culture or 0.85% NaCl (Control) intragastrically. For acute toxicity studies, rats were treated with dried culture broth of L. pentosus PL11 at doses of 5,000 mg/mL, 2,500 mg/mL, 1,250 mg/mL or 625 mg/mL or Lactobacilli MRS broth (Control), and clinical signs or mortalities were monitored for two weeks. The results of the present investigation revealed no mortalities or obvious clinical signs in rats administered with the live bacterial cultures or dried culture broth at any investigated dose level. Also, no significant differences were observed in net body weight gain, gross pathological findings, feed and water consumption and body temperature among the different treatment groups and between the treated and control rats. It can be concluded from the above findings that L. pentosus PL11 is a safe probiotic strain with potential as feed additive to increase the feed efficiency or health of fish.

Objective--To describe the simple elimination kinetics of methyllycaconitine (MLA) and deltaline and evaluate the heart rate response in cattle following oral administration of larkspur. Animals--5 healthy Angus steers that were habituated to metabolism crates. Procedures--Tall larkspur (Delphinium barbeyi) in the early flowering stage was collected, dried, and ground. Each steer received a single dose of larkspur that was equivalent to 10.4 mg of MLA/kg and 11.0 mg of deltaline/kg via oral administration. Steers were housed in metabolism crates during a 96-hour period following larkspur administration; heart rate was monitored continuously, and blood samples were collected periodically for analysis of serum MLA and deltaline concentrations as well as assessment of pharmacokinetic parameters. Results--No overt clinical signs of poisoning developed in any steer during the experiment. Mean ± SE heart rate reached a maximum of 79.0 ± 5.0 beats/min at 17 hours after larkspur administration. Serum MLA concentration was correlated directly with heart rate. Mean times to maximal serum concentration of MLA and deltaline were 8.8 ± 1.2 hours and 5.0 ± 0.6 hours, respectively. Mean elimination half-life values for MLA and deltaline were 20.5 ± 4.1 hours and 8.2 ± 0.6 hours, respectively. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance--Following larkspur administration in 5 healthy steers, maximum serum concentrations of MLA and deltaline were detected within 10 hours, and changes in serum MLA concentration and heart rate were correlated. Results indicated that cattle that have consumed larkspur will eliminate 99% of MLA and deltaline from serum within 144 hours.