ABSTRACT
This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the estrous cycle phases with uterine bacterial and fungal flora in non-pregnant female rabbits. Thirty laboratory mature multiparous rabbits were used for this purpose. Samples from uterine lavage for culture of bacteria and fungi were collected at different stages of estrous cycle [based on vaginal cytology], and histopathological observations were evaluated based on the scoring system used for defining the infection of the uterus. Various types of bacteria and fungi were isolated from rabbits at all stages of estrous cycle. The widest variety of bacteria and fungi was isolated at Di-estrous stage and the lowest variety was detected at estrous stage. Klebsiella oxytoca as well as yeast have been isolated at all stages of estrous cycle. This study showed that infection with K. oxytoca and yeast had no relationship with different stages of estrous cycle but other bacteria and fungus were associated with one or more stages of the estrous cycle in rabbits
ABSTRACT
Background: brucellosis is one of the five common bacterial zoonosis caused by a gram negative, non-spore forming, and facultative intracellular bacterial organism belonging to the genus Brucella. Although brucellosis is considered as a health problem for both men and domestic animals in many countries, any licensed human vaccine has not been designed and produced for it yet. To overcome the problem, currently, antigenic determinants of Brucella cell wall e.g. outer membrane proteins [OMPs] and lipopolysaccharide [LPS] are considered as potential candidates to develop subunit vaccines
Materials and Methods: brucella abortus S99 used in the present study is obtained from the standard bacterial collection of Institute Pasteur of Iran. OMPs were extracted by deoxy cholate extraction technique and further purification performed by sequential centrifugation and ultracentrifugation. Protein concentration was determined using the Nano drop ND-10000 spectrophotometer. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [SDS- PAGE] was performed to determine the electrophoretic pattern and the molecular weight of the extracted OMP samples
Results: OMPs concentration of B.abortus S99 has been measured and reported as 6.27 mg/ml. SDS-PAGE analysis indicated one protein band in the range of 36-38 kDa which would be classified as the porins of B.abortus S99
Conclusion: extraction of B.abortus S99 OMPs with the applied method in the present study produced a satisfactory yield of OMPs. These proteins belonging to the second group of OMPs, called porins