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Live animals have been produced recently from animal tissues preserved for decades at frozen temperatures with or without cryoprotectants. However, the tissues in these studies were cryopreserved within few hours of animal death to obtain culturable live cells as nuclear donors. How long the tissues can be left unfrozen after animal death, without losing the viability and potential to in vitro culture with comparable morphology and proliferative rate as the fresh tissues, is not completely understood. To understand this phenomenon, ear skin samples from individual sheep (n=3) were procured from slaughter plant and stored at 4 °C. After various intervals (2, 8, 24, 32, 48, and 56 h after slaughter), 2-3 mm(2) pieces (n=10) of skin samples were cultured for 12 d on two dishes (60 mm) for each sheep. Outgrowth of fibroblast-like cells was observed as early as day 4 of culture and was visible on dishes of all time points including 56 h by day 10. The number of outgrowing cells decreased with increasing time interval between animal slaughter and culture initiation. Secondary cultures were successfully established for all the time points. All cultures proliferated well and were apparently normal. Passage 2 cultures of 2 h and 56 h interval for one of the three sheep were compared for their growth pattern and proliferation rates. The population doubling time of 2 h and 56 h intervals was 33.12 and 34.8 h, respectively, and both the lines exhibited similar cell morphology and an "S"-shaped growth curve. These results suggest that skin tissues of sheep and perhaps other animal species with superior traits are effectively preserved at cellular level at least for 56 h at normal refrigerating conditions, without need of complicated cryopreservatives/cryotanks that are usually not available at small farms., (© The Society for In Vitro Biology 2011)

The prevalence of antibody to hepatitis C virus (HCV) in hemodialysis (HD) patients is high and variable. One hundred and thirty nine patients undergoing maintenance HD at three different renal units in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were studied for prevalence of anti-HCV antibody. The overall prevalence in the group examined was 52.5% (73/139). There was a significant correlation between prevalence of anti-HCV and duration of HD; 53/ 74 (71.6%) in patients on HD for > 3 years as against 20/65 (30.8%) for patients on HD for < 3 years (P< 0.05). We were unable to demonstrate a correlation of anti-HCV positivity with history of blood transfusions, previous exposure to hepatitis-B virus, sex, age, or ethnic group. The very high prevalence of anti-HCV found in patients on maintenance HD and the positive correlation between anti-HCV reactivity and duration on dialysis suggest that factors within the dialysis unit might contribute to the spread of the virus.

Pregnancies have occurred in a few patients with end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis. The presence of significant residual renal function has normally been required for successful outcome. We report a pregnancy in a patient with complete anuria. Although birth occurred prematurely, fetal growth remained normal throughout gestation.