Therapeutic effect of pentoxifylline versus losartan on experimentally induced acute pancreatitis in adult albino rats: light and electron microscopic study

To study the therapeutic benefit of pentoxifylline versus losartan on L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis in adult albino rats. Forty adult male albino rats were used and divided into a control group I, group II which received L-arginine, group III which received L-arginine followed by pentoxifylline and group IV which received L-arginine followed by losartan. Serum amylase and lipase assay was carried out and subjected to statistical analysis. Pancreatic tissue samples were taken and processed for light and transmission electron microscopic examination. Rats that received L-arginine [group II] showed loss of acinar architecture, edema, and zonal degenerative changes. Pentoxifylline-treated animals [group III] revealed apparent small-sized acini with a small amount of electron-lucent secretory granules and the edema was still present in some areas. Rats treated with losartan [group IV] showed an almost normal pancreatic architecture. Most of the acinar cells had normal apical electron-dense zymogen granules, normal rough endoplasmic reticulum, and apparently normal mitochondria. Moreover, there was significant reduction in serum amylase and lipase levels in the losartan-treated group compared with the pentoxifylline-treated group. Losartan was more efficient than pentoxifylline in the treatment of acute pancreatitis induced by L-arginine as indicated by histological and biochemical results

Pathological and molecular studies on avian leukosis virus subgroup [J] in chicken parents flocks

The present study was carried out on 10 parent chickens flocks collected from different provinces. The examined cases were classified into 47 commercial layers and 198 broiler parents to study the gross and microscopical lesions of different tumors induced by avian leukosis subgroup-J [ALV-J] in broiler breeders and layers flocks. Serological tests were conducted on 245 serum samples to detect the antibodies of ALV-J. Polymerase chain reaction PCR was carried out on tissue samples to confirm the presence of DNA of ALV subgroup J. Myeloid leukosis was recorded in four broiler flocks induced by the novel sub group-J of ALV. Pathological findings of infected parent chickens flocks revealed multiple neoplastic nodules in different organs including liver, kidney, gonads, intestine, skeletal muscle and bone. Histologically, the main constituent of tumor lesions was mature and immature myelocytes. Nephroblastoma was considered as the first recorded cases in Egyptian broiler parent flocks affected with ALV subgroup J. The results of this work concluded that the histopathological examination plays a crucial and decisive role in diagnosing different types of neoplasm caused by avian leukosis virus subgroup-J. The application of PCR test verified the presence of DNA of ALV-J that induced the tumors of myeloid leukosis

Study of plasma Amylin concentration in patients with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Twenty insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients and twenty healthy control subjects were included in this study. Fasting plasma amylin level was done. The mean of amylin level in patients was [1.61 +/- 1.2] ng/ml and the mean of amylin level in controls was [6.21 +/- 2.0 ng/ml]. The amylin level was significantly lower in patient with type I diabetes than control [P< 0.001].The decrease of amylin level in IDDM patients together with its apparent insulin antagonistic action raised the speculations about its possible role in the counter regulation of hypoglycemia in this disease