Serum endocan level and the severity of spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the endocan level may be related to the severity of spinal cord injury. BACKGROUND: Several biomarkers were evaluated for this purpose, but endocan has never been studied before. It is correlated to endothelial dysfunction and ischemia, which are the characteristics of spinal cord injury in most cases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 21 male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 300-350 g were randomly divided into three groups. In Group I, only a laminectomy was performed; in Group II, a mild SCI was performed after laminectomy; and, in Group III, a severe SCI was performed after laminectomy. At 48 h after the injury, after neurological assessment by Tarlov method, all animals were euthanized. A 5 cc blood sample was drawn for biochemical analysis, and spinal cord tissues were removed for histopathological examination. RESULTS: The difference between Groups I and III was statistically significant (p < 0.05). There was also a moderately positive correlation between the severity of SCI and the endocan level (r = 0.59, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The endocan level may be used as an indicator to determine prognosis after SCI (Tab. 1, Fig. 2, Ref. 24). Text in PDF www.elis.sk.

Acute-phase responses in cattle infected with hydatid cysts and microbial agents.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hydatid cysts and microbial agents on the acute-phase response in cattle. Twenty-seven cattle with hydatid cysts and eight apparently healthy cattle comprised the study and control groups, respectively. Parasitological, microbiological, histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations of the liver and lungs were undertaken, and 49 of these organs were infected with cysts. In 14 of 31 (45.1%) livers and 10 of 18 (55.5%) lungs microbial growth was observed. The most frequent species occurring in the liver were Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium spp. and Campylobacter spp., whereas in the lungs the most common species was Candida spp., followed by Streptococcus spp., Mannheimia haemolytica, Corynebacterium spp., Micrococcus spp. and S. aureus. The concentration of serum interleukin (IL-6) in infected cattle, 455.35 ± 39.68 pg/ml, was significantly higher than that of 83.02 ± 17.87 pg/ml in the control group (P0.05). The highest concentrations of IL-6 were detected in serum of the cattle where microbial growth had been detected, followed by cattle infected with bacteria + Trichostrongylus sp. (P< 0.001). Consequently, SAA showed an important increase in the group infected with hydatid cysts, whereas haptoglobin level decreased. It was noticed that IL-6, like SAA, had a significant role in hydatid cyst infection. Therefore IL-6 and SAA appear to be major markers in the detection of infection of cattle with hydatid cysts.