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.

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 present study was carried out to examine the sustained release effect of the implantable bovine somatotropin (SRI-BST) formula. In the blood profile test in steers, the bovine somatotropin concentration in serum by radioimmunoassay showed the peak concentration on the first day after the implantation of the SRI-BST formula, and concentration proceeded for 5 days (p less than 0.05). The insulin-like growth factor-1 concentration showed the peak concentration on the seventh day after implantation of the SRIF-BST formula, and concentration proceeded for 10 days (p less than 0.05). The glucose showed the peak concentration on the first day after implantation of the SRI-BST formula, and concentration continued for 3 days (p less than 0.05). The blood urea nitrogen showed the lowest concentration on the third day after implantation of the SRI-BST formula, and concentration continued for 7 days (p less than 0.05). these results proved that the SRIF-BST formula was the sustained release effects in steers.

The molecular genetic characterization of Aujeszky's disease virus (ADV) Yangsan strain (ADV-YS), a Korean isolate, was investigated by analyzing the electrophoresis patterns and the physical maps of the viral DNA digested with various endonucleases. To establish DNA library for ADV-YS, twelve major BamHI restricted segments were cloned. Each location of the segments in the ADV genome was determined by sequence comparison with the sequences reported in Genbank and those sequences of the both termini of the segments. Physical maps were constructed based on the electrophoresis patterns of the digested viral DNA by restriction endonuclease and the results of Southern blot analyses with various DIG labeled probes originated from those of enzyme restricted segments of virulent (Shope) and avirulent (Bartha) strain. Comparing ADV-YS with a standard strainof Kaplan in the maps of restriction enzymes, following major respects were identified: (ⅰ) disappearance of BamHI restriction site between the first and second BamHI segments, (ⅱ) creation of the BamHI restriction site in the fifth segment, and (ⅲ) generation of the BglⅡ site in the unique short (Us) regions. The genome of ADV-YS also contains a type 2 herpesvirus DNA molecule (in which the Us region only inverts itself relative to the unique longregion) like all other ADV strains except Norden strain(type3), analyzed up to date. The size of the ADV genome estimated from the sizes of the restriction enzyme fragments, was approximately 145.3kb (BamHI) or 145.3kb (BglⅡ) 145.4kb (BglⅡ). BamHI enzyme cleavage pattern were compared among the five Korean ADV isolates: Yangsan, Yongin, Dangjin, Jincheon and Iksan strains. Difference either in the number or in the size of the DNA fragments, suspected regions of termini of IR and TR, could be detected among all five strains.

Susceptibility to chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervid species has been associated with polymorphisms in the prion protein gene (PRNP). The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found in the PRNP of the Korean subspecies of Chinese water deer via analyses of the DNA sequences obtained from 34 individual deer. Two SNPs were detected at codons 77 and 100. One SNP at codon 77 encoding Glycine was determined to be a silent mutation but the other SNP detected at codon 100 induced an amino acid change, from Asparagine to Serine. The prion protein (PrP) amino acid sequence of the water deer showed 98.8-99.2% homology with those of American elk, white-tailed deer and mule deer. The PrP of the water deer contained amino acid residues closely related with CWD-susceptibility. This study is the first to describe genetic variations in the PRNP of the Korean subspecies of Chinese water deer.

A 10-year old female Yorkshire terrier with nasal discharge and swelling was referred to the local animal hospital. Abnormal mass of right nasal cavity was detected in physical examination and radiography. According to the radiographs of the head, there was an evidence of bony destruction in right nose. Oronasal fistula was detected in right maxillary canine teeth. After surgical excision, the sample of nasal mass was refereed to Pathology Department of Veterinary Medicine in Jeju National University. Grossly, the enlarged mass was soft and 3 × 3 cm in size. Histopathologically, the neoplastic mass was composed of tubular to tubulopapillary structures which were lined by single to 6~7 layers of cuboidal to ciliated columnar cells. These neoplastic cells showed invasive tendency to adjacent normal parenchyma. They had uniform, round to oval nuclei, cytoplasm with small vacuoles and indistinct cellular margin. The number of mitotic figures was varied in different areas, ranged from 0 to 4 per high power field. Necrotic foci and infiltration of inflammatory cells including neutrophils, lymphocytes, and plasma cells also presented in the mass. Immunohistochemically, the neoplastic cells demonstrated strong positive reaction for cytokeratin (CK) 18 but were negative for CK 7 and 8. Based on the gross, histopathology and immunohistochemistry, this mass was diagnosed as nasal adenocarcinoma originated from respiratory epithelium.