Use of lidocaine-bupivacaine-infused absorbable gelatin hemostatic sponges versus lidocaine-bupivacaine retrobulbar injections for postoperative analgesia following eye enucleation in dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To compare use of lidocaine-bupivacaine-infused absorbable gelatin hemostatic sponges versus lidocaine-bupivacaine retrobulbar injections for postoperative analgesia in dogs following eye enucleation. DESIGN: Randomized case-control study. ANIMALS: 19 dogs that underwent eye enucleation. PROCEDURES: 19 client-owned dogs admitted to a referral hospital for routine eye enucleation were enrolled with owner consent and randomly assigned to receive an orbital absorbable gelatin hemostatic sponge infused with lidocaine and bupivacaine after globe removal (n = 8) or retrobulbar injection of lidocaine and bupivacaine before globe removal (11). Baseline pain scores were recorded on the basis of an ordinal pain scale. Anesthetic premedication consisted of hydromorphone, midazolam, and glycopyrrolate. Propofol was used for anesthetic induction and isoflurane for maintenance. A transpalpebral eye enucleation was performed by a board-certified ophthalmologist. Pain scores and heart rate were again recorded 15 and 30 minutes and 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 24 hours after extubation by trained observers masked to treatment groups. Dogs were given hydromorphone as rescue analgesia if the total pain score was ≥ 9 of 18 or any categorical pain score was ≥ 3 (on a scale from 0 to 3 or 0 to 4). RESULTS: There were significant differences over time for comfort level, response to touch, behavior, heart rate, and total pain score; however, there was no difference between treatment groups. One dog in the absorbable gelatin hemostatic sponge group required rescue hydromorphone 4 hours after surgery. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The absorbable gelatin hemostatic sponge proved to be as effective in providing local analgesia for eye enucleation in dogs as the retrobulbar injections.

Characterization of recombinant B. abortus strain RB51SOD toward understanding the uncorrelated innate and adaptive immune responses induced by RB51SOD compared to its parent vaccine strain RB51.

Brucella abortus is a Gram-negative, facultative intracellular pathogen for several mammals, including humans. Live attenuated B. abortus strain RB51 is currently the official vaccine used against bovine brucellosis in the United States and several other countries. Overexpression of protective B. abortus antigen Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) in a recombinant strain of RB51 (strain RB51SOD) significantly increases its vaccine efficacy against virulent B. abortus challenge in a mouse model. An attempt has been made to better understand the mechanism of the enhanced protective immunity of RB51SOD compared to its parent strain RB51. We previously reported that RB51SOD stimulated enhanced Th1 immune response. In this study, we further found that T effector cells derived from RB51SOD-immunized mice exhibited significantly higher cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity than T effector cells derived from RB51-immunized mice against virulent B. abortus-infected target cells. Meanwhile, the macrophage responses to these two strains were also studied. Compared to RB51, RB51SOD cells had a lower survival rate in macrophages and induced lower levels of macrophage apoptosis and necrosis. The decreased survival of RB51SOD cells correlates with the higher sensitivity of RB51SOD, compared to RB51, to the bactericidal action of either Polymyxin B or sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Furthermore, a physical damage to the outer membrane of RB51SOD was observed by electron microscopy. Possibly due to the physical damage, overexpressed Cu/Zn SOD in RB51SOD was found to be released into the bacterial cell culture medium. Therefore, the stronger adaptive immunity induced by RB51SOD did not correlate with the low level of innate immunity induced by RB51SOD compared to RB51. This unique and apparently contradictory profile is likely associated with the differences in outer membrane integrity and Cu/Zn SOD release.