Anthropogenic pollutants comprise a wide range of synthetic organic compounds and heavy metals, which are dispersed throughout the environment, usually at low concentrations. Exposure of ruminants, as for all other animals, is unavoidable and while the levels of exposure to most chemicals are usually too low to induce any physiological effects, combinations of pollutants can act additively or s...

Use of the weight of various organs and tissues together with their specific metabolic activity for prediction of basal metabolism (BM) seems to be promising. In this study we compared the use of this method with those based on simple or multiple regression analyses. We observed that 97.4% of differences in BM in a group of nine adult male Wistar rats weighing 273--517 g could be accounted for ...

The plasma membranes of the nerve terminal and the postsynaptic cell of electric organ are separated by a basal lamina. We have purified, biochemically characterized, and visualized in the electron microscope a macromolecule which appears to anchor the nerve terminal to this basal lamina. This molecule, terminal anchorage protein 1 (TAP-1) is associated with the nerve terminal membrane of elect...

In the pig, under-nutrition in utero causes low birth weight, a decrease in muscle fiber number, and a reduction in postnatal growth rate. Low protein intake during gestation and lactation has been demonstrated to increase the loss of body protein and to reduce the visceral organ mass of the newborn piglets. The effect of under-nutrition of pregnant swine on subsequent serum hormones characteri...

The acetylcholine receptor of the Torpedo electric organ acts as substrate for the enzyme protein carboxyl methyltransferase within receptor-enriched membranes and after it is purified. In right-side-out receptor-enriched vesicles, protein of the membrane. All four receptor subunits were found to be methylated from the inside as well outside of the membrane vesicles. The higher molecular weight...

Although outcomes of neonatal cardiac surgery have dramatically improved in the last two decades, low body weight still constitutes an important risk factor for morbidity and mortality. In particular, cardiac surgery in neonates with very low birth weight (≤1.5 kg) is carried out with greater risk because most organ systems are immature. We report here on a successful case of early one-stage to...

The proteoglycan components of Bruch's membrane have not been well characterized to date. In this study, the glycosaminoglycans present in Bruch's membrane were identified and found tp be heparan sulfate with small amounts of chondroitin and/or dermatan sulfate and hyaluronic acid. The biosynthesis of glycosaminoglycans and their incorporation into proteoglycans was investigated using an eye or...

The object of this study was to evaluate the single oral dose toxicity of platycodin D, a saponin from the root of Platycodon grandiflorum in male and female mice. Platycodin D was administered to female and male mice as an oral dose of 2000, 1000, 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg (body wt.). Animals were monitored for the mortality and changes in body weight, clinical signs and gross observation during ...

A meta-analysis was carried out in order to study the association of mycotoxins with performance and organ weights in growing pigs. A total of 85 articles published between 1968 and 2010 were used, totaling 1012 treatments and 13 196 animals. The meta-analysis followed three sequential analyses: graphical, correlation and variance-covariance. The presence of mycotoxins in diets was seen to redu...