From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2009-03-06 18:00:14 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] abstracts: new ones
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
BEGIN QUOTED NEW ABSTRACTS
J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 2009 Mar-Apr;45(2):97-101.
Vestibular syndrome due to a choroid plexus papilloma in a ferret.
van Zeeland Y, Schoemaker N, Passon-Vastenburg M, Kik M.
Division of Avian and Exotic Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary
Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 DS, The Netherlands;
Dierenarts Specialisten Amsterdam, Weesperzijde 147, Amsterdam, 1091
ET, The Netherlands.
A 6-year-old, castrated male ferret (Mustela putorius furo) was
presented with progressive neurological signs consisting of a right-
sided head tilt and ataxia. Neurological examination revealed
hemiparesis and absence of proprioception on the right side,
consistent with central vestibular syndrome. Measurement of blood
glucose excluded hypoglycemia due to insulinoma. Contrast-enhanced
computed tomography revealed the presence of an intracranial mass,
consistent with either granuloma or neoplasia. Palliative treatment
with prednisolone yielded no improvement. At postmortem examination, a
final diagnosis of a choroid plexus papilloma originating from the
fourth ventricle was made. This is the first report of such a tumor in
a ferret.
PMID: 19258423
http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/content/full/45/2/97
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19258423
---
Vet Pathol. 2009 Mar;46(2):325-8.
Alcian blue and pyronine y histochemical stains permit assessment of
multiple parameters in pulmonary disease models.
Meyerholz DK, Rodgers J, Castilow EM, Varga SM.
Department of Pathology, University of Iowa Carver College of
Medicine, 145 Medical Research Center, Iowa City, IA 52242 (USA).
Utilization of a combined Alcian Blue and Pyronine Y histochemical
method for the assessment of multiple parameters in the respiratory
tract of various species is described. Acidic mucins were deep blue
(sialylated mucins), red (sulfated mucins), or variably purple
(mixture of sialylated/sulfated mucins), and differential mucus
production was readily detected in a murine respiratory syncytial
virus vaccine model of pulmonary inflammation. Elastic fibers stained
red in the walls of pulmonary arteries, connecting airways, alveolar
septa, and subpleural interstitium. Mast cells had red to red-purple
granular cytoplasmic staining. Nuclei were ubiquitously counterstained
pale blue. Representative staining was detected in tissues from
multiple species, including inbred mice, rats, ferrets, cats, dogs,
sheep, and pigs. The fluorescent property of the stained tissues
offers additional modalities with which to analyze tissue sections.
This histochemical technique detects multiple critical parameters in
routine paraffin sections of lung tissue, reduces the need for
repeated serial sectioning and staining, and is cost-effective and
simple to perform.
PMID: 19261646
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19261646
END QUOTED NEW ABSTRACTS
There are also some recent brain research and vocal fold scarring
research that didn't seem really likely to be useful here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
and morbillavirus work designed to know more about measles but
unfortunately involving CDV which hopefully will at least learn more
about CDV and control:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19203105
On that note: I recently was asked about Vitamins D3 and A in ferrets
vs. in humans. This is a topic I've discussed with a couple of people
who have doctorates in veterinary nutrition. Humans, who are
descended from diurnal (daytime) activity beings without a large
amount of organ meat in the diet more easily can wind up with an
overdose of A but too little D. Ferrets are the opposite. They are
descended from crepuscular (dawn and dusk) activity burrow dwellers
who were used to getting their fair share of livers and other high A
level foods. Ferrets who get too much D3 are like dogs in that they
can develop hypercalcemia problems as a result from what I have
learned from those experts. On the other hand, here is one way that
enough dietary Vitamin A could prove useful for ferrets:
BEGIN QUOTED ABSTRACT
J Nutr. 2007 Aug;137(8):1916-22.
Disease manifestations of canine distemper virus infection in ferrets
are modulated by vitamin A status.
Rodeheffer C, von Messling V, Milot S, Lepine F, Manges AR, Ward BJ.
McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, Faculty of
Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Montreal General Hospital,
Montreal, QC, Canada.
The measles virus (MV) causes half a million childhood deaths
annually. Vitamin A supplements significantly reduce measles-
associated mortality and morbidity. The mechanisms whereby vitamin A
acts against MV are not understood and currently there is no
satisfactory small animal model for MV infection. We report on the
development of a ferret model to study antiviral activity of vitamin A
against canine distemper virus (CDV). CDV is closely related to MV at
the molecular level and distemper in ferrets mimics measles in humans.
We infected vitamin A-replete (control) and vitamin A-depleted ferrets
with CDV and assessed the ability of high-dose vitamin A supplements
to influence CDV disease. In control ferrets, CDV infection caused
fever, rash, conjunctivitis, cough, coryza, and diarrhea. In contrast,
control ferrets that were given 30 mg of vitamin A did not develop
typical distemper after infection and exhibited only a mild rash. The
supplement did not negatively affect ferret health and resulted in a
100% increase in serum and liver vitamin A concentrations. We also
found that profound vitamin A deficiency is inducible in ferrets and
can be rapidly reversed upon high-dose vitamin A supplementation.
Vitamin A deficiency caused anorexia, diarrhea, cataracts, behavioral
abnormalities, and ultimately death, with or without CDV infection.
All ferrets that received vitamin A supplements, however, recovered
uneventfully from CDV infection. These results replicate many aspects
of the observations of vitamin A therapy in humans with measles and
suggest that CDV infection in ferrets is an appropriate model for the
study of the antiviral mechanism of vitamin A.
PMID: 17634264
END QUOTE
with the COMPLETE and FREE text here:
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/137/8/1916
That one has been mentioned in the FHL before (and perhaps I carried
the abstract to the FML but I am not sure) but I think this may be the
first time that it is fully available for free.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/