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Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) has been shown to be due to an inherited disorder in cellular membrane systems, which also seem to be affected by halothane. With the erythrocyte osmotic fragility test we tried to find out if the erythrocyte membrane can serve as a diagnostic tool in malignant hyperthermia and as a model for halothane effects on membranes. We obtained MH susceptible and MH resistant pigs and their crossbreeds. The MH susceptible pigs showed the greatest degree of haemolysis in the erythrocyte osmotic fragility test. Furthermore, halothane increased haemolysis more in the erythrocytes of MH susceptible pigs. The MH resistant pigs were only slightly affected in both and the crossbreeds showed intermediate results. The variance occurring within one halothane group could be used to add a further distinguishing characteristic apart from the discrete halothane challenge test and so enable selection within a pure halothane group. Zusammenfassung Die osmotische Fragilität von Erythrozyten bei Maligner Hyperthermie und Effekte von Halothan Die Maligne Hyperthermie (MH) ist eine hereditäre Störung zellulärer Membransysteme, welche auch durch Halothan beeinflußbar sind. Durch die Bestimmung der osmotischen Resistenz wollten wir herausfinden, ob die Erythrozytenmembran dazu dienen kann, den Halothaneffekt auf Membranen zu simulieren und als diagnostisches Mittel zur Aufdeckung von maligner Hyperthermie zu fungieren. Wir untersuchten MH-empfindliche und MH-resistente Schweine sowie deren reziproke Kreuzungen. Die MH-empfindlichen Schweine zeigten nicht nur die höchste Hämolyserate im Test, sondern auch die höchste Empfindlichkeit gegenüber Halothan. Die MH-resistenten Schweine zeigten nur geringe Hämolyse und Halothanempfindlichkeit, während sich die Kreuzungstiere intermediär verhielten. Durch die relativ weite Streuung innerhalb einer Gruppe von Halothan-Reagenten kann die Bestimmung der osmotischen Fragilität ein kontinuierliches Merkmal zum qualitativen Halothantest hinzufügen und somit eine Selektion auch innerhalb einer Halothan-Gruppe ermöglichen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete porcine c-fos proto-oncogene (FOS) with flanking regions was cloned and sequenced. FOS consists of four exons at amino acids 1–47, 48–131, 132–167, and 168–380 and includes all the typical motifs of the fos proto-oncogene. The promoter contains consensus sequences for CRE, SRE, CaRE, and the E-Box, as well as an AP-1 site. Homologies between human and swine were between 89.7% and 96.3% in the exons. Based on somatic cell hybrid panel screening and known homologies between swine chromosome 7 and human chromosome 14, the porcine c-fos gene was assigned to chromosome 7q23. Copyright © 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study on 29 growing female Deutsche Landrasse (DL) and Pietrain (Pi) pigs the relationship between endogenous carnitine content in plasma, in the blood lymphocytes and in the sceletal muscles with weight gain and carcass and meat quality is analysed. Significant correlations between carnitine content from rearing pigs to fattening pigs ((r)plasma rearing pig--plasma fattening pig = 0.48, (r)lymphocytes rearing pig--plasma fattening pig = 0.69) reveal that indiviual differences in the endogenous carnitine content sustain over the growth phase. The aforementioned correlation reflects a moderate reproducibility reflecting a heritability in a wider sense. Over all breeds a negative relation between the carnitine content and the weight gain was detected.These correlations within the breeds Pi and DL are different. The correlations between weight gain and carnitine in lymphocytes for fattening pigs within DL (r = -0.53 to -0.68) are significantly different from zero. Furthermore correlations between the carnitine content of lymphocytes or plasma of fattening pigs and in the sceletal the endogen fatty acid transport system had a small effect on the weight gain and a moderate effect on the carcass and meat quality of pigs.

The German Regulation on Fowl plague which is in force since 1994 laid down that any chicken of all races and all hybrids must be vaccinated against Newcastle disease (ND) in a mode that an adequate immunity is achieved. Onset, duration, and resistance to challenge of immunity induced by vaccination is well documented in the scientific literature for hybrid chicken of the layer and meat types. These data prove also innocuity and efficacy of the registered vaccines. In contrast, only a few and incomplete data exist on the development of ND directed immunity in fancy chickens. The present study describes vaccinations of chickens of 14 different hobby breeds with live LaSota vaccine (conjunctival application of 10(6) embryo-infective dose50 per bird) and with an inactivated oil-emulsion vaccine (intramuscular application of 0.5 ml per bird) and subsequent intramuscular challenge infections using the highly virulent NDV strain Herts 33/66. Chickens of all 14 breeds tolerated the application of both vaccines. All fancy chickens reacted with the production of serum antibodies which were measured in the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) and virus neutralisation (VN) tests. According to the scientific literature, maximal antibody levels are reached in hybrid chickens between day 10 and 20 post vaccination. In contrast, in fancy chickens the antibody maxima are delayed to the seventh to eighth week post vaccination. All fancy chickens vaccinated either once with live LaSota virus or with live and inactivated vaccines resisted challenge with the highly virulent Herts 33/66 strain of NDV and did not develop any signs of disease. There are indications for gradual differences in susceptibility of different breeds of fancy chickens. The levels of non-specific neutralisation as measured in the virus neutralisation test differ between breed. Also, the viral content in tissues obtained from non-vaccinated but challenged birds differ markedly. It is concluded from the results of this study that fancy chickens can also successfully protected against Newcastle disease by using live and inactivated vaccines which are licensed for hybrid chickens. However, the optimal time for the detection of maximal antibody levels in fancy chickens is reached seven to eight weeks post vaccination.