Search

Summary: Eight horse breeds—Hokkaido, Kiso, Misaki, Noma, Taishu, Tokara, Miyako and Yonaguni—are native to Japan. Although Japanese native breeds are believed to have originated from ancient Mongolian horses imported from the Korean Peninsula, the phylogenetic relationships among these breeds are not well elucidated. In the present study, we compared genetic diversity among 32 international horse breeds previously evaluated by the Equine Genetic Diversity Consortium, the eight Japanese native breeds and Japanese Thoroughbreds using genome‐wide SNP genotype data. The proportion of polymorphic loci and expected heterozygosity showed that the native Japanese breeds, with the exception of the Hokkaido, have relatively low diversity compared to the other breeds sampled. Phylogenetic and cluster analyses demonstrated relationships among the breeds that largely reflect their geographic distribution in Japan. Based on these data, we suggest that Japanese horses originated from Mongolian horses migrating through the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese Thoroughbreds were distinct from the native breeds, and although they maintain similar overall diversity as Thoroughbreds from outside Japan, they also show evidence of uniqueness relative to the other Thoroughbred samples. This is the first study to place the eight native Japanese breeds and Japanese Thoroughbred in context with an international sample of diverse breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microminipigs are extremely small-sized, novel miniature pigs that were recently developed for medical research. The inbred Microminipigs with defined swine leukocyte antigen ( SLA) haplotypes are expected to be useful for allo- and xenotransplantation studies and also for association analyses between SLA haplotypes and immunological traits. To establish SLA-defined Microminipig lines, we characterized the polymorphic SLA alleles for three class I ( SLA-1, SLA-2 and SLA-3) and two class II ( SLA- DRB1 and SLA- DQB1) genes of 14 parental Microminipigs using a high-resolution nucleotide sequence-based typing method. Eleven class I and II haplotypes, including three recombinant haplotypes, were found in the offspring of the parental Microminipigs. Two class I and class II haplotypes, Hp-31.0 ( SLA-1*1502- SLA-3*070102- SLA-2*1601) and Hp-0.37 ( SLA- DRB1*0701- SLA- DQB1*0502), are novel and have not so far been reported in other pig breeds. Crossover regions were defined by the analysis of 22 microsatellite markers within the SLA class III region of three recombinant haplotypes. The SLA allele and haplotype information of Microminipigs in this study will be useful to establish SLA homozygous lines including three recombinants for transplantation and immunological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unusual HLA-A‘null’ alleles because of an entire gene deletion were found in three apparently unrelated Japanese families with leukemia patients. Inclusion of the entire HLA-A gene in the deletion was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction direct sequencing of the surrounding regions of HLA-A. Further localization of the breakpoints of the HLA-A deletion at the centromeric and telomeric sides was performed, and these families were shown to possess the identical deletion. We then determined the genomic sequence of the HLA-A-deleted haplotype. Surprisingly, the haplotype turned out to carry an insertion of an SVA (SINE-VNTR- Alu) retrotransposon of 2 kb as well as the 14 kb deletion that included the entire HLA-A gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To estimate the species-specific mutation rates at the DRB1 locus in humans and chimpanzee, we analyzed the nucleotide sequence of a 37.6-kb chimpanzee chromosomal segment containing the entire Patr-DRB1*0701 allele and the flanking nongenic region and we compared it with two corresponding human sequences containing the HLA-DRB1*070101 allele using the sequence of HLA-DRB1*04011 as an outgroup. Because the allelic pair of HLA-DRB1*070101 and Patr-DRB1*0701 shows the lowest number of substitutions between the two species, it appears that these sequences diverged close to the time of the humans–chimpanzee divergence (6 million years ago). Alignment of the nucleotide sequences for HLA-DRB1*070101 and Patr-DRB1*0701 alleles showed that they share a high degree of similarity, suggesting that the studied chromosomal segments with these sequences have not been subjected to recombination since the humans–chimpanzee divergence. Comparison of the flanking 10.6 kb of nongenic sequences revealed an average of 41.5 and 83 single nucleotide substitutions in humans and chimpanzee, respectively. Thus, the species-specific nucleotide substitution rates in the flanking nongenic region were estimated to be 6.53 × 10−10 and 1.31 × 10−9 per site per year in humans and chimpanzee, respectively. Unexpectedly, the estimated rate in humans was twofold lower than in chimpanzee ( P < 10−3, Tajima’s relative rate test) and lower than the average substitution rate in the human genome. Because the nucleotide substitution rate in nongenic regions free from selection is expected to be equal to the mutation rate, the estimated substitution rate should correspond to the species-specific mutation rate at the DRB1 locus. Our results strongly suggest that the mutation rate at DRB1 locus differs among species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease. Prostacyclin (PGI 2 ), an endothelial cell-produced endogenous prostaglandin, plays a crucial role in maintaining endothelial function. However, its effects on intestinal microcirculation and barrier function are not fully understood. We hypothesized that PGI 2 improves intestinal microcirculation and barrier function via endothelial protective effects., Methods: ICR and ICGN (a spontaneous nephrotic model) mice were used in this study. Intestinal microcirculation was visualized in vivo to investigate PGI 2 effects. Beraprost served as PGI 2 . PGI 2 administration spanned 4 weeks, following which we assessed its influence on intestinal endothelial, intestinal barrier, and renal functions., Results: We visualized intestinal microcirculation and endothelial glycocalyx in the intestinal blood vessels. Beraprost administration induced a 1.2-fold dilatation of the vascular diameter of the small intestine. Intestinal blood flow in ICGN mice was significantly reduced compared that in ICR mice but improved with beraprost administration. ICGN mice exhibited reduced serum albumin levels, decreased ambulation, an imbalance in intestinal reactive oxygen species (ROS)/nitric oxide (NO), and impaired tight junctions; all were ameliorated by beraprost administration., Conclusions: Beraprost improves intestinal microcirculation and barrier function by ameliorating ROS/NO imbalances, thereby reducing physical inactivity during renal failure., (© 2024 The Author(s). Microcirculation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: To assess the effects of alcohol on the histological changes in chronic hepatitis type C, we performed histopathological examination on liver biopsy specimens by using a semiquantitative method., Methods: Subjects were 91 patients with chronic hepatitis type C and 32 with alcoholic liver disease. The patients with chronic hepatitis type C were classified into three groups according to the total amount of alcohol intake: nondrinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers. For each patient, we evaluated pathological changes of several items and awarded scores from 0 to 2 points, with severe to moderate scoring 2 points, mild 1, and negative 0; the total score was then compared between groups. The evaluated histological changes included virus-related histological changes (V1, inflammatory cell infiltration; V2, lymphoid follicle formation; and V3, bile duct damage) and alcohol-related changes (A1, perivenular fibrosis; A2, stellate/pericellular fibrosis; and A3, fatty change)., Results: The total scores of the hepatitis C virus-related histological changes were significantly lower in patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD group) (p < 0.05). However, we found no significant difference between the different alcohol intake groups. The total score for alcohol-related histological changes significantly increased in line with increases in total alcoholic intake regardless of the presence or absence of hepatitis type C virus infection (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: The results suggest that both alcoholic-related liver damage and virus-related liver damage have specific features; in a addition, alcohol was found to have little effect on the histological liver damage observed in chronic hepatitis type C.

Background: Our study was undertaken to check the discordance between findings from 99mTc-Sn colloidal reticuloendothelial scintigraphy (RESS) and 99mTc-GSA asialo-scintigraphy (GSA, a technique for evaluation of liver parenchymal cell density and function) and to analyze the discordance in relation to functional disturbances. We compared data between patients with alcoholic liver diseases (ALD) and patients with viral liver diseases (VLD)., Methods: The subjects of this study were 40 patients with chronic liver disease (17 with ALD and 23 with VLD). We used the liver uptake ratio of the tracer of the Sn colloid (SnL15, %), the liver uptake rate (GSAL15, %), and the Rmax (an indicator of total liver receptors) as indices of liver scans., Results: GSAL15 was sometimes nondiscordant from SnL15. The patients were divided into two groups: the nondiscordant group (26 cases where the balance/sum of the two variables was <25%) and the discordant group (14 cases where the balance/sum was > or =25%). SnL15 was 41.6 +/- 16.2% in the nondiscordant group and 42.7 +/- 16.3% in the discordant group (p = 0.80). GSAL15 was 34.3 +/- 12.1% in the nondiscordant group and 21.5 +/- 8.1% in the discordant group (p = 0.001). Rmax was 0.33 +/- 0.17 in the nondiscordant group and 0.113 +/- 0.008 in the discordant group (p = 0.002). Thus, the SnL15, as determined by RESS, did not differ significantly between the nondiscordant and discordant groups, whereas GSAL15 was significantly unfavorable in the discordant group as compared with the nondiscordant group. SnL15 as determined by RESS did not differ significantly between the ALD group (40.4 +/- 18.7%) and the VLD group (43.5 +/- 15.0%) (p = 0.59), whereas Rmax as determined by GSA was significantly improved in the ALD group (0.34 +/- 0.20) compared with the VLD group (0.20 +/- 0.4) (p = 0.02)., Conclusions: Liver cell function was lower in cases that showed discordance between liver cell function and reticuloendothelial function compared with cases without such discordance, although reticuloendothelial function did not differ between discordant and nondiscordant groups. Liver cell function was better in cases of ALD than in cases of VLD, whereas reticuloendothelial function did not differ between the ALD group and the VLD group.