Hepatic ultrasonography in three breeds of healthy calves: Nellore, Curraleiro Pe-duro and Pantaneiro.

An ultrasonography was performed in 21 healthy male calves of Nellore (n = 8), Curraleiro Pe-duro (n = 7) and Pantaneiro (n = 6) breeds, between 8 and 12 months, with the objective to display information about size, position and ultrasonographic parenchymal patterns of the liver, in addition to the topography of the gallbladder, right kidney and major vessels. The measurements used were dorsal margin distance (DMD) and ventral margin distance (VMD) of the liver, viewable extension (VE) of the liver, the caudal vena cava (CVC), width (CVCW) and depth (CVCD) and the portal vein (PV), width (PVW) and depth (PVD). The measures DMD, VMD and VE were similar, and the organ's longest visible extension was in 11th ICS. CVC was more frequently observed in the 11th and 10th ICS, despite being visible from the 12th to the 9th ICS in Nellore and still 8th ICS in Curraleiro Pe-duro and Pantaneiro. CVCD was lower in the 10th and 9th ICS in Nellore. The PV presented higher observation frequency in the 10th ICS. The measures PVD and PVW were higher in Nellore in the 11th, 10th and 9th ICS. To our knowledge, this report is the first to document ultrasonographic findings in three healthy calves. Considering the three breeds, the results show no differences in the ultrasonographic features as regard to the measurements and visualization of the position, size and vasculature of the liver and there was no additional information about the topography of the gallbladder and the right kidney.

Earwax metabolomics: An innovative pilot metabolic profiling study for assessing metabolic changes in ewes during periparturition period.

Important metabolic changes occur during transition period of late pregnancy and early lactation to meet increasing energy demands of the growing fetus and for milk production. The aim of this investigation is to present an innovative and non-invasive tool using ewe earwax sample analysis to assess the metabolic profile in ewes during late pregnancy and early lactation. In this work, earwax samples were collected from 28 healthy Brazilian Santa Inês ewes divided into 3 sub-groups: 9 non-pregnant ewes, 6 pregnant ewes in the last 30 days of gestation, and 13 lactating ewes ≤ 30 days postpartum. Then, a range of metabolites including volatile organic compounds (VOC), amino acids (AA), and minerals were profiled and quantified in the samples by applying headspace gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, respectively. As evident in our results, significant changes were observed in the metabolite profile of earwax between the studied groups where a remarkable elevation was detected in the levels of non-esterified fatty acids, alcohols, ketones, and hydroxy urea in the VOC profile of samples obtained from pregnant and lactating ewes. Meanwhile, a significant decrease was detected in the levels of 9 minerals and 14 AA including essential AA (leucine, phenyl alanine, lysine, isoleucine, threonine, valine), conditionally essential AA (arginine, glycine, tyrosine, proline, serine), and a non-essential AA (alanine). Multivariate analysis using robust principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis was successfully applied to discriminate the three study groups using the variations of metabolites in the two stress states (pregnancy and lactation) from the healthy non-stress condition. The innovative developed method was successful in evaluating pre- and post-parturient metabolic changes using earwax and can in the future be applied to recognize markers for diagnosis, prevention, and intervention of pregnancy complications in ewes.