The effect of dietary supplementation of sage plant extract and Enterocin M on the mucus in the the small intestine and caecum in rabbits.

The aim of this study was to determine the beneficial effect of natural substances - enterocin M (Ent M; the proteinaceous substance produced by Enterococcus faecium CCM8558) and sage plant ( Salvia officinalis L.) extract on the production of mucus in the rabbits small intestine and caecum. Sixty four post-weaned rabbits (meat line M91) were divided into three experimental groups (EG - Ent M; SG - sage extract; ESG - combination Ent M with sage extract) and control group (CG). The experiment lasted for 35 days, the natural substances were administered during the first 21 days, Ent M in EG/ESG, sage extract in SG/ESG. The beneficial effect on mucus production quantity occured in the duodenum (p⟨0.001) and jejunum (p⟨0.01) in ESG compared to that found in CG on day 21, the prolonged effect in EG in the duodenum (p⟨0.001) compared to that observed in CG at the end of the experiment and to that in EG on day 21. The novelty of the study is in the application and monitoring the effect of non-rabbit-derived probiotic strain ( Enterococcus faecium CCM8558) bacteriocin - Enterocin M and sage plant extract on mucus quantity (expressed in gram) in different segments of the rabbit small intestine as well as the caecum. The results obtained indicate that supplementation of selected natural substances in the feed has the potent stimulatory effects on mucus production in the rabbit small intestine.

The protection of Vitamin E and selenium against carbon tetrachloride-induced genotoxicity in ovine peripheral blood lymphocytes.

The protective effect of Vitamin E and selenium was studied for the possibility of decreasing the chromosome aberrations (CA), micronuclei (MN) and sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) in ovine peripheral lymphocytes cultured in vitro. The cultures of lymphocytes from two healthy lambs were treated with carbon tetrachloride at concentrations of 2, 4, 8, and 16 microg/ml for the last 48 h of cultivation and subsequently with the same doses of CCl(4) and Vitamin E and selenium. A possible metabolic modification in carbon tetrachloride genotoxicity was detected with the application of S9 fraction for 2h. No positive clastogenic effect of CCl(4), and subsequently no protective effect of either antioxidant was obtained in the CA assay. In the MN assay for 48 h, an increase and, respectively, a decrease in the frequency of MN was found in cultures treated with CCl(4) alone and in cultures treated concurrently with CCl(4), Vitamin E and selenium at concentrations of 8 and 16 microg/ml (P<0.001 and P<0.01). High statistical significance was achieved in SCE assay after the treatment of ovine peripheral lymphocytes with CCl(4) at all concentrations tested (P<0.001), except the lowest dose. A significant decrease in SCEs was obtained in cultures treated simultaneously with CCl(4), Vitamin E and selenium (P<0.001). The highest dose (16 microg/ml) was also shown to improve the cell-cycle kinetics in comparison with corresponding unprotected dose (P<0.01). Insufficient confirmation of the genotoxicity of CCl(4) and the protective effect of the antioxidants, respectively were seen in cultures with metabolic activation.

[Superovulation after administration of PMSG in cows of various breeds]. / Superovulácia po aplikácii PMSG u kráv roznych plemien.

Superovulation response was studied to i. m. administration of 2500 and 3000 i. u. of PMSG (special product Folligon, Intervet Co.) in 67 breeding cows of the Black-Pied Lowland. Slovak Pied and Slovak Pinzgau breeds within the 9th to 12th days of their sexual cycles. The time which had elapsed from these cows' last calving ranged from 50 to 150 days and the number of their prior calvings ranged from one to ten. The best superovulation effect was obtained after the administration of 2500 i. u. PMSG in the Pinzgau breed: these cows had, on the average, 13.20 +/- 2.36 corpora lutea without non-ovulated follicles. At the PMSG dose increased to 3000 i. u., the number of yellow bodies rose to 18.11 +/- 1.12 and that of non-ovulated follicles to 3.46 +/- 0.46. In the Slovak Pied breed the average number of yellow bodies obtained after administration of 2500 i. u. PMSG was 11.74 +/- 1.27 and that of non-ovulated follicles was 0.44 +/- 0.02. At the PMSG dose of 3000 i. u., the number of yellow bodies increased to 15.49 +/- 1.62 and that of non-ovulated follicles increased up to 5.12 +/- 0.81. In the Black-Pied Lowland breed the lowest response was obtained: the i. m. administration of 2500 i. u. PMSG resulted in the formation of 9.5 +/- 0.84 yellow bodies and 1.16 +/- 0.26 non-ovulated follicles, and at the dose of 3000 i. u. the respective numbers were 13.41 +/- 0.89 and 3.07 +/- 0.39. Comparing the superovulation effect in dependence on age, the response of the cows of the Black-Pied Lowland and Slovak Pinzgau breeds to PMSG administration increases until the age of nine years (from 9.79 and 13.6 yellow bodies, respectively, on the average for the first five years to 12.71 and 17.99, respectively, in the ninth year); in the Slovak Pinzgau breed it decreases from 15.83, recorded in the first five years, to 8.28 +/- 1.68 in the ninth year. The number of non-ovulated follicles grows with age in the Slovak Pinzgau breed from 3.46 +/- 0.46 in the first five years to 3.64 between five and nine years of age and up to 4.44 +/- 0.52 after the ninth year, in the Slovak Pied breed from 0.79 to 4.21 +/- 0.38, and in the Black-Pied Lowland breed from 2.69 to 3.20 +/- 0.22 between the fifth and ninth year.