Usefulness of the ultrasongraphical device (USD) for early diagnosis of pregnancy and for observation of fetal growth was examined in the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fas-cicularis) . Firstly, 50 females, each of which was mated for 24 hours in an individual cage, were used. They were diagnosed for pregnancy by the use of USD 15 to 29 days and 35 days after mating. Then, 20 of them were judged to be pregnant. The early pregnancy diagnosis was based on the detection of gestational sac (GS) in the uterus. The GS was detected 20.0±1.8 days of tes mating. The duration from the day on which GS was first detected to the day on which the heart beat of embryo (HBE) was detected averaged 5.6±1.5 days. In 17 of these 20 pregnancies, GS was detected 17 to 23 days after mating. As regards the remaining three pregnant cases, GS and HBE were simultaneously detected on the 28 th day of pregnancy in two cases, and on the 35 th day in one case. Secondly, 225 females who were mated by the routine 3 day-mating system were used. Pregnancy diagnosis by USD was conducted on the 21 st, 28th and 35 th day after mating. Ninety-six of the 225 females were judged to be pregnant. In 33 (34.1%) of the 96 pregnant cases, GS was detected on the 21 st day of pregnancy. In 57 females (59.4%), GS was detected on the 28 th day of pregnancy, and in the re-maining 6 (6.2%) cases GS was detected on the 35 th day. Furthermore, it was able to judge conditions of fetal growth by measuring the size of GS and biparietal diameter. In conclusion, USD is a useful means for the early diagnosis of pregnancy and the observation of conditions of fetal growth in the cynomolgus monkey.

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Bacteria from the subcutaneous abscesses which appeared in a laboratory colony of DS mouse since October of 1977 were identified as Pasteurella pneumotropica by various biological examinations. The abscess formation was limited to multiparous female mice over 100 day-age, but virgin females were free from the disease. The MIC of various antibacterial substances showed that potassium tellurite, kanamycin and bacitracin were effective to isolate the organism selectively from various infection sites harboring many other species of bacteria. A novel NKBT medium was prepared by adding these antibacterial substances to the heart infusion agar (HIA) supplemented by 10% Fildes digested blood. A fluid culture medium, TGN broth was prepared for multiplication of the organism by adding 10% Fildes digested blood and potassium tellurite to GN broth. To isolate the organism from the pharyngo-larynx a direct application of mucus wiped off the infection site onto the culture medium was sufficient, but pre-multiplication in the TGN broth was required for isolation of the organism from gut contents before inoculation onto the NKBT medium. The pre-cultivation in the TGN broth vastly improved the recovery of the organism especially from feces. Thereby we could easily detect the latent infection of this bacterium without sacrificing animals.

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The inactivation of Tyzzer's organism (Bacillus piliformis) spore isolated from rats by heat and various chemical disinfectants was studied. The spores were from B. pili-formis-infected rat liver tissues. The spore suspension (10⁴ 50% of rat liver lesion producing dose with prednisolone treatment/ml) was treated with heart or disinfectants. Inactivation of the spores was examined in experimentally infected rats. Rats were inoculated perorally with a treated spore suspension and injected subcutaneously with prednisolone. On the sixth day after inoculation, rats were examined grossly for liver lesions. Spores were inactivated at 80°C for 15 min but not at 60°C for 30 min. Spores were inactivated by 0.4 % peracetic acid, 0.015 % sodium hypochrolite, 1 % iodophol, 5 % phenol. Alcide^TM and 0.37 % formaldehyde solution, but not by 0.037% formaldehyde solution, 70 % ethanol, 0.3 % benzethonium chroride solution, 3 % cresol and soap solution, or 4 % chlorhexidine digluconate. These findings suggest that B. piliformis spores are relatively sensitive to heat and certain chemical disinfectants.

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The data on hematological and serum biochemical properties of laboratory-bred cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) at different ages were analyzed by discriminant analysis. All the animals had been bred and reared under uniform environmental conditions at Tsukuba Primate Center for Medical Science, N.I.H., Japan. The items used were as follows: red blood cell count (RBC), hematocrit value (Ht), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), white blood cell count (WBC), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase activity (GOT), glutamic pyruvic transaminase activity (GPT), total protein concentration (TP), albumin concentration (ALB), albumin-globulin ratio (A/G), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), glucose concentration (GLU), total cholesterol concentration (TCHO), free cholesterol concentration (FCHO), triglyceride concentration (TG) and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) . In total, 1086 animals in 10 age groups were examined. Data analyses were done with respect to the difference of sex. Dis-crimination was possible by Mahalanobis' generalized distance between centroids of groups. In canonical discriminant analysis (discriminant analysis with reduction of dimentionality), age was highly correlated to the value of the first canonical variate. From the approximate relative value of the eigenvector of the first canonical variate, the most discriminant variables are WBC, TP, ALB, A/G, TCHO, FCHO, TG, and ALP. It can be concluded that periodic measurement of these 8 parameters is necessary and sufficient to monitor the physiological conditions of growing monkeys.

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To establish a unique laboratory line of the musk shrew with different genetic properties from previously developed laboratory lines, 49 male and 49 female shrews were captured in the campus of Bangladesh Agricultural University from October through November in 1983 and from December in 1985 to January in 1986. The shrews collected were of various ages. They had light gray coats, with slight variations in color. Except for the 12 shrews introduced into our laboratory, the total length and body weight of the shrews ranged from 17.2 to 31.9 cm and 32.5 to 147.0g in males, and 21.1 to 26.6 cm and 40.8 to 110.0g in females, respeetively. Pregnant females were found throughout the trapping period, and the average fetal litter size was 3.54 (11 cases) . Five males and 7 females of the shrews captured in 1983 were transported to our laboratory. After more than 100 days of laboratory rearing, their total length and body weight averaged 27.6 cm and 147.3g in males, and 24.6 cm and 81.7g in females. Their body weight was more than double that of Japanese shrews. The shrews introduced (except for one male) produced a total of 59 offspring, which were regarded as the first generation of the laboratory line (BAN Line) . Gestation period and average litter size were between 28 and 30 days (10 cases) and 3.47 (17 cases), respectively. The BAN line has consisted of about 60 individuals at each generation and has been maintained as a closed breeding colony.

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Malformations of fetuses obtained from Wistar rat dams treated with trypan blue during gestation were studied. Fetuses were examined on day 20 of gestation. One hundred and twenty-seven fetuses showed abnormalities of the external features, skeleton and internal organs, separately or in combination. External malformations were found in 108 fetuses. The most frequent external malformation was anomaly of tail. Spina bifida, club foot, exencephaly and anal atresia were also observed frequently. Skeletal malformations were detected in 48 fetuses. Deformity of vertebrae in the lumbar, sacral and/or caudal regions was found in 46 fetuses. Internal malformations were observed in 27 fetuses. Anomaly of heart and/or great vessels, hydrocephaly and micro-or anophthalmia were observed frequently. About 90% of the fetuses with skeletal malformations also showed some external malformations. In contrast, about 48% of the fetuses with internal malformations also had some external malformations. These results suggest that, for teratological study, internal examination is more important in detecting malformations of fetuses than skeletal examination.

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Only two types of pepsinogens, which are products of the Pg-1 locus, are present in rat urine. In gastric mucosa, however, additional pepsinogen isozymes are expressed. We have found a polymorphism for rat gastric mucosa pepsinogen using agarose gel electrophoresis. Some inbred rat strains expressed a pepsinogen band, while others did not. The trait was found to be controlled by a single autosomal locus. We tentatively designated the locus as Pg-2 with two alleles, Pg-2^a for the one controlling presence of the band and Pg-2^o for the one controlling absence. Linkage analysis using BN and TM strains revealed that Pg-2 was closely linked to Pg-1 (3.7±1.8cM), and that it did not belong to LG I (Hbb and p), LG II (Aeon-1 and Mup-1), LG IV (Hao-1 and Svp-1), LG V (Es-1 and Es-3), LG VI (Gc and h), LG IX (RT1), LG X (Fh and Pep-3), nor a LG containing Ahd-2 (as yet undetermined) .

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Changes in coprophagy with age were investigated in male ICR mice during their life span. Sucklings showed coprophagy at 17 to 18 days old, i.e., a few days after they began to excrete feces autonomously. The number of fecal pellets ingested peaked at 5 to 6 weeks old (13 pellets/day) and gradually decreased, thereafter (2.1 pellets at 78 weeks old, 1.5 pellets at 104 weeks old) . The diurnal pattern of coprophagy also changed with age. Growing mice showed vigorous coprophagous activity in both light and dark phases, whereas animals over 30 weeks old exhibited less activity in both phases, especially in the dark phase. Feces proved to be abundant in vitamin B₁₂ and folic acid throughout the life span. These results suggest that the frequency of coprophagy changes in association with the nutritional requirements of mice during the process of growth or aging.

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Granulomatous appendicitis was observed in all of the 45 Japanese white rabbits examined. Histologically, multiple microgranulomas were accompanied with foreign body giant cells and focal calcifications in lymph nodules of appendix. Foreign body giant cells contained hair coat and larvae of Passalurus ambiguus. In addition, the sacculus rotundus and mesenteric lymph nodes were affected with the same lesions. PAS- and Gram- positive bacilli were phagocytized in the microgranulomas and macrophages. They were also stained positively with the immunoperoxidase method for the auto-sera of rabbits. Isolation of these bacilli in pure culture has not yet been accomplished. The occurrence of granulomatous lesions due to tuberculosis, pseudotuberculosis, tularemia and actinomycosis seems unlikely in the present cases because none of these organisms nor characteristic lesions were detected. It was suggested that the Gram-positive bacilli appeared to play a role in granulomatous appendicitis.

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To establish an efficient rearing system for weaned cynomolgus infants, 51 groups composed of 4 weanlings each were formed. Of them each of thirty-eight groups had an adult female“nurse” monkey, who had no kinship with any of the 4 weanlings. The nurse was present during the first 4 weeks after weaning. The daily incidence of watery diarrhea was analyzed to assess the usefulness of the nurse monkey for stabilizing physiological conditions of the weanlings. Diarrheal incidence was significantly lower in the 38 groups with a nurse than in the 13 control groups without a nurse throughout the 4-week period of observation. This trend continued for more than 5 weeks after removal of the nurse. Thus, the time and manpower necessary for treating infant diarrhea were greatly reduced in this rearing system.

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