Effects of short-term sodium chlorate exposure on pigs.

The present study evaluated the effects of exposure to different doses of sodium chlorate in 10-week-old pigs. Twenty pigs were divided into four equal groups and treated with different doses of sodium chlorate: 0, 125, 250 and 500 mg kg-1 body weight per day via the drinking water for 7 consecutive days. The results showed a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in red blood cell and white blood cell counts, packed cell volume, haemoglobin, blood urea nitrogen (P < 0.001) and creatinine levels, and an increase in aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase (P < 0.05) activities in swine administered sodium chlorate at a dose of 500 mg kg-1 body weight per day. The histopathological study revealed increased numbers of vacuoles in the convoluted tubules, tubular necrosis and degeneration of the renal tubular epithelial cells, depletion of nuclei and lobular necrosis of the liver in all pigs treated with sodium chlorate at 500 mg kg-1 body weight per day. Thus, 7-day administration of sodium chlorate at 500 mg kg-1 body weight per day to pigs affects the liver and kidney tissues as well as the haematologic and serum biochemical parameters.

Application of a solid-phase fluorescence immunoassay to determine amoxicillin residues in fish tissue.

The present study demonstrates an application of Parallux (a solid-phase fluorescence immunoassay) for amoxicillin analysis in fish tissue. Amoxicillin at the recommended therapeutic dose (400 mg/kg body weight) was orally administered to three groups of 25 olive flounder ( Paralichthys olivaceus ), 25 rockfish ( Sebastes schlegeli ) and 25 red sea bream ( Pagrus major ) for 7 consecutive days. Amoxicillin was detected in the muscle of fish treated by the 3rd day of the withdrawal period. The recovery rates of all spiked muscle samples were > 86% of the spiked values. The present study showed that solid-phase fluorescence immunoassay can be easily adopted in predicting amoxicillin residues in the muscle tissue of farmed fish.

Biological and antibacterial activities of the natural herb Houttuynia cordata water extract against the intracellular bacterial pathogen salmonella within the RAW 264.7 macrophage.

Salmonellosis is a major bacterial zoonosis that causes a variety of disease syndromes, from self-limiting enteritis to fatal infection in animals and food-borne infection and typhoid fever in humans. Recently, the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella sp. has caused more serious problems in public health. The present study investigated the antibacterial effects of Houttuynia cordata water extract (HCWE) against murine salmonellosis. In RAW 264.7 cells, there was no detectable cytotoxic effect of HCWE at any concentration between 25 and 100 microg/ml after 8-h incubation. The antibacterial activity of HCWE was then examined in a Salmonella enterica serovar (Salmonella typhimurium), and was found to increase in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations from 25 to 100 microg/ml during 8-h incubation. HCWE also affected RAW 264.7 cells including morphologic change and bacterial uptake, but there was no significant difference in bacterial replication in RAW 264.7 cells. With HCWE alone, nitric oxide (NO) production by RAW 264.7 cells did not increase, but when RAW 264.7 cells were infected by S. typhimurium, with or without HCWE, NO production with HCWE was 2-fold higher than that without HCWE. Treatment with HCWE did not affect inducible NO synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression by RAW 264.7 cells, but when RAW 264.7 cells with HCWE were infected by S. typhimurium, iNOS mRNA expression was increased during 8-h incubation. Furthermore, HCWE showed virulence reduction effects in S. typhimurium-infected BALB/c mice. After a lethal dose of S. typhimurium, the mortality rate in the HCWE untreated group was 100% at 7 d, but the HCWE 25, 50, and 100 microg/ml groups survived until 11, 17, and 23 d, respectively. These data suggest that HCWE is stable and beneficial in the treatment of bacterial infection including intracellularly replicating pathogens and may solve antimicrobial misuse and overuse.

Ceftiofur distribution in plasma and tissues following subcutaneously administration in ducks.

A study was performed to determine the residues in blood and edible tissues of healthy ducks (25 days old, mean body weight 1.0+/-0.13 kg) after subcutaneous administration of ceftiofur sodium at a dose rate of 2 mg/kg body weight (Group I) and 4 mg/kg body weight (Group II). Blood, muscle, liver, kidney, and fat samples were collected from all of ducks on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th day after treatment of drug, and ceftiofur was analyzed with a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay with results reported as ceftiofur-free acid equivalent (CFAE). To study the spiked recovery, blank plasma and tissues were spiked with two different concentrations of ceftiofur sodium (0.1, 0.5 microg/g). Average recovery values for all samples ranged from 70.3 to 87.3%. In the group I, desfuroylceftiofur acetamide (DCA) was not detected in all of plasma, muscle, liver, and fat tissues on the 1st day after treatment. But, kidney samples on the 1st day were detected DCA (0.059+/-0.01 microg CFAE/g tissue). On the 2nd day of post-treatment, the concentrations of DCA in all tissues were lower than the detection limit, 0.05 microg CFAE /g tissue. In the group II on the 1st day after treatment, the concentration of DCA was 0.124+/-0.06 microg CFAE/g tissue, 0.103+/-0.03 microg CFAE/g tissue, and 0.071+/-0.010 microg CFAE/g tissue in plasma, kidney, and muscle samples, respectively. On the 2nd day after treatment of ceftiofur, the concentrations of DCA in all tissues were lower than 0.05 microg CFAE/g tissue. According to our results, the concentrations of DCA on the 1st day after treatment with 2 mg/kg body weight were below 0.05 microg CFAE/g tissue equivalent in all tissues except for kidney. On the 2nd day after administration at the dose of 4 mg/kg body weight, no DCA was also detected in all of the tissues although DCA was detected in all samples on the 1st day.

Application of a solid-phase fluorescence immunoassay to determine oxytetracycline and tetracycline residues in tissue of olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus).

Parallux, a solid-phase fluorescence immunoassay (SPFIA) developed for antibotics residue detection in milk, was applied for analysis of fish tissue. The recommended therapeutic doses of oxytetracycline (OTC, 100 g/ton water, withdrawal period 30 days) and tetracycline (TC, 150 g/ton water, withdrawal period 30 days) were treated to a group of 35 olive flounders (Paralichthys olivaceus) using dipping administration. Muscle was sampled before and after drug treatment 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 14th day. The concentration of oxytetracycline in muscle, determined by SPFIA, was compared with that of internal standard (100 ppb as oxytetracycline). The S/C ratio of sample inhibition value to cutoff inhibition value was employed as an index to determine the muscle residue in olive flounder. To investigate the recovery rate, and standard solutions were added to muscle samples to give final concentrations in muscle of 0.1 and 0.5 microg/ml. The recovery rates of all spiked samples were >89% of the spiked value. OTC and TC were detected in muscle of fishes treated until the 3rd day of withdrawal period. The present study showed that the SPFIA can be easily adopted in predicting tissue residues for OTC and TC in farmed fishes.