A superovulatory and surgical protocol was developed for recovery of bovine zygotes. Holstein cows and heifers were given follicle-stimulating hormone and cloprostenol to induce superovulation. Surgical cannulation and lavage of the uterine tube was performed 40 to 48 hours after the start of standing estrus. In general, cows had more corpora hemorrhagica than did heifers, but a higher percentage (P < 0.05) of ova recovered from cows were infertile. Several heifers were subjected to the procedure twice, and embryo recovery rates were equivalent both times.

The effect of in-house transport on plasma corticosterone concentration and blood lymphocyte populations of laboratory mice was investigated. Mice were transported within a research facility at 0900 hours in a pattern designed to simulate that commonly used by investigators prior to experimental manipulation. Plasma corticosterone concentration and WBC count were determined at 0.25, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours after transport. A significant (P less than 0.05) increase in plasma corticosterone concentration was seen in mice immediately after transport. The normal circadian rhythm of plasma corticosterone concentration was altered for the subsequent 24-hour period. Corresponding significant (P less than 0.05) decreases in total WBC numbers, lymphocyte count, and thymus gland weight were observed. The decrease in total blood lymphocyte numbers at 4 hours was reflected in B-and T-lymphocyte populations. The subsequent acute increase in plasma corticosterone concentration was associated with alterations in the cellular components of the immune system. Results of the study indicated that routine in-house transport of laboratory mice should be considered a stressful stimulus.

Cardiovascular and respiratory functions were serially characterized in 7 healthy, spontaneously breathing, adult horses (from which food had been withheld) during 5 hours of constant 1.06% alveolar halothane (end-expired halothane concentration of 1.06%; equivalent to 1.2 times the minimal alveolar anesthetic concentration for horses). To enable comparison of temporal results in relation to 2 body postures, horses were studied in lateral recumbency (LR) and dorsal recumbency (DR) on separate occasions. Temporal changes in results of measures of circulation previously reported from this laboratory for horses in LR were confirmed (ie, a time-related increase in systemic arterial blood pressure, cardiac output, stroke volume, and PCV). During DR, systemic arterial blood pressure was initially significantly (P < 0.05) greater and pulmonary artery pressure less than results at comparable periods during LR. Differences ceased to exist with duration of anesthesia. Except for a greater heart rate at hour 5 of DR, no other significant differences in circulation were found between LR and DR. In general, except for PaO2, measures of ventilation did not change with time in either LR or DR. The PaO2 was significantly greater during LR, compared with DR, but the average did not change significantly with time in either body posture.

Hematologic and serum biochemical values were determined in blood samples from 217 donkeys (Equus asinus). Donkeys were classified on the basis of size, sex, age, and whether they were domestic or feral. Parametric (mean +/- 2 SD) and nonparametric (2.5th to 97.5th percentile) reference ranges were calculated for each analyte. For all donkeys, 26 of 46 analytes significantly departed from gaussian distribution. Serum lactate dehydrogenase activity in miniature donkeys was higher than that in other donkeys. Differential leukocyte counts in feral donkeys differed from those in other types in ways that suggested that the former had smaller parasite loads or experienced greater stress. Erythrocyte, lymphocyte, and platelet counts and fibrinogen, glucose, inorganic phosphorus, and potassium concentrations decreased with age. Eosinophil counts, mean corpuscular volume, and plasma protein, serum protein, and serum globulin concentrations increased with age. Female donkeys had significantly (P < 0.05) higher mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration and leukocyte and neutrophil counts than did male donkeys. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin increased with age, and females had higher values than did males of all age groups. An interaction between age and sex was observed for alkaline phosphatase activity, with a trend for decreased activity with age.

Effects of dietary aflatoxin (AF) and T-2 toxin, singly and in combination, were evaluated in growing crossbred (Yorkshire X Landrace X Hampshire) pigs. The experimental design consisted of 4 treatment groups of 6 barrows each fed diets containing 0 mg of AF and T-2/kg of feed (controls; group 1), 2.5 mg of AF/kg of feed (group 2), 10 mg of T-2/kg of feed (group 3), or 2.5 mg of AF plus 10 mg of T-2/kg of feed (AF + T-2; group 4) ad libitum for 28 days (7 to 11 weeks of age). Production performance, and serum biochemical, and hematologic evaluations were made weekly. Body weight and body weight gain were depressed by all toxin treatments, but the effect of AF and T-2 toxin in combination was less than additive. Liver and kidney weights, as a percentage of body weight, were increased by AF treatment, and heart weight, as a percentage of body weight, was increased by T-2 treatment. Treatment with T-2 toxin induced necrotizing contact dermatitis on the snout, buccal commissures, and prepuce. Consumption of AF resulted in increased serum activities of alkaline phosphatase, aspartate transaminase, cholinesterase, and gamma-glutamyltransferase, and decreased serum concentrations of urea nitrogen, cholesterol, albumin, total protein, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus. Consumption of T-2 toxin resulted in increased serum triglyceride concentration and decreased serum iron concentration. Treatment with AF induced lower serum unsaturated iron-binding capacity and high RBC count, PCV, hemoglobin concentration, WBC count, and prothrombin time. Treatment with T-2 toxin induced microcytic hypochromic anemia, increased numbers of circulating metarubricytes and decreased absolute numbers of lymphocytes. Hepatocellular lesions in barrows of the AF and the AF plus T-2 groups (2 and 4, respectively) were compatible with aflatoxicosis. When fed in combination, each toxin appeared to have a sparing action on certain effects of the other, and the responses elicited were either additive or less than additive.

The immune receptor-mediated functions of bovine alveolar macrophages (AM) inoculated in vitro with bovine herpesvirus-1 (BHV-1) or parainfluenza-3 (PI-3) virus were tested in the presence or absence of virus-specific antiserum or pulmonary lavage fluids collected from calves 6 days after inoculation with BHV-1 or PI-3 virus. The Fc and C3b phagocytic indices of noninoculated AM, collected from 6- to 16-week-old calves, ranged from 75 to 87 and 59 to 64, respectively, and the binding indices ranged from 5 to 8 and 22 to 28, respectively. Infection of AM with either BHV-1 or PI-3 virus had no significant effect on receptor-mediated phagocytosis or binding, with the exception of a significant (P < 0.05) decrease, from 64 to 46, of the C3b phagocytic index of PI-3 virus-infected AM. The addition of lavage fluids, collected after BHV-1 or PI-3 virus infection, to AM infected with the respective virus caused a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in phagocytic indices with values for the Fc and C3b indices in BHV-1-infected AM decreasing from 81 to 49 and from 47 to 8, respectively, and those for the PI-3 virus-infected AM from 79 to 51 and from 46 to 15, respectively. The binding indices of virus-infected AM increased with the addition of viral lavage fluids, but the only significant (P < 0.05) increase was for C3b binding in PI-3 virus-infected cells, which increased from 33 to 56. Virus-specific serum added to AM infected with the respective virus also caused significant (P < 0.05) decreases in the Fc and C3b phagocytic indices, with those for BHV-1-infected AM decreasing from 81 to 24 and from 47 to 5, respectively, and those for PI-3 virus-infected AM from 79 to 23 and from 46 to 3, respectively. The Fc binding index significantly (P < 0.05) increased with the addition of virus-specific serum from 8 to 34 and from 10 to 42 in BHV-1 and PI-3 virus-infected AM, respectively. The C3b binding index of these AM also increased, but not significantly. Infection of AM with either BHV-1 or PI-3 virus had no significant effect on the phagocytosis of opsonized (OPZ) or nonopsonized (nonOPZ) Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE). The addition of lavage fluids, obtained after BHV-1 infection, to AM infected with BHV-1, significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the percentage of phagocytosis of OPZ-SE from 28 to 21 and had a similar, but less substantial effect, on the phagocytosis of nonOPZ-SE. Lavage fluids collected after PI-3 virus inoculation, added to PI-3 virus-infected AM did not have a notable effect on the phagocytosis of OPZ-SE, but did cause a significant (P < 0.05) decrease in the percentage of phagocytosis of nonOPZ-SE from 25 to 17. The addition of virus-specific serum to infected AM caused significant (P < 0.05) decreases in the percentage of phagocytosis of OPZ-SE and nonOPZ-SE, with the values in the BHV-1-infected AM going from 28 to 11 and 16 to 9, respectively, and in the PI-3-infected AM from 36 to 12 and 25 to 13, respectively. Alveolar macrophages infected with either BHV-1 or PI-3 virus, in the presence or absence of lavage fluids from virus-infected calves or virus-specific serum, killed ingested SE as readily as noninfected AM. On the basis of the findings of this study, we suggest, as with other virus infections, that products of the host antiviral immune response interact with AM infected with BHV-1 or PI-3 virus or cause impaired internalization of receptor-bound particles, resulting in impaired AM antimicrobial functions.