The patterns of expression of sugar residues in the olfactory epithelium and vomeronasal organ of the common marmoset were studied lectin-histochemically. Eight lectins including DBA, BSL-I, RCA-I, s-WGA, PNA, ECL, UEA-I and Con A bound to the free border of the olfactory epithelium, and 6 lectins including DBA, RCA-I, s-WGA, PNA, ECL and UEA-I bound to that of the vomeronasal organ. UEA-I bound to all dendrites of the olfactory receptor cells, and 6 lectins including BSL-I, RCA-I, s-WGA, PNA, ECL and Con A bound to only a part of dendrites of the olfactory receptor cells. ECL and UEA-I bound to all dendrites of the vomeronasal receptor cells, and s-WGA, PNA and Con A bound to only a part of dendrites of the vomeronasal receptor cells. Seven lectins including RCA-I, s-WGA, BSL-II, PNA, ECL, UEA-I and Con A bound to all the olfactory receptor cell bodies, and BSL-I bound to only a part of them. Six lectins including RCA-I, s-WGA, PNA, ECL, UEA-I and Con A bound to all the vomeronasal receptor cell bodies, and BSL-II bound to only a part of them. These results showed that a smaller number of lectins bound to the free border, dendrites and cell bodies of the receptor cells in the vomeronasal organ than those in the olfactory epithelium, suggesting that the vomeronasal organ is less active in some physiological functions with which sugar residues are associated than the olfactory epithelium in the common marmoset.

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Anomalous arrangements of the conical colon were found in 38 cases out of 731 swine. These anomalies divided into the following five types: 1) additional loop running perpendicular to the turns (8 cases), 2) two or four changes in the centripetal turns (6 cases), 3) two changes in the centrifugal turns (2 cases), 4) one to three changes in both the centripetal and centrifugal turns (21 cases), and 5) two independent conical colons (1 case). The double conical colon (Type 5) was the only one case and seems to be rare. The total of the anomalous types made up approximately 5.2% and not appear to be rare.

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The sexual difference in blood chemical tests and the correlation among these tests were investigated in 40 male and 40 female quails. Significant intersex differences were observed in serum total protein, total cholesterol, triglyceride, calcium, phosphorus, uric acid and glucose levels but not in alkaline phosphatase and aspartate aminotransferase levels. In the female quails, many of the blood chemicals that showed a significant sexual difference were strongly correlated with each other.

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Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae is the causative agent of swine erysipelas. Although an attenuated vaccine is used in Japan, recent increases in disease occurrence have cast doubts on its efficacy. We investigated the similarity between the vaccine strain and E. rhusiopathiae field isolates by the analysis of acriflavine resistance (the vaccine strain marker), serotype, DNA fingerprinting and pathogenicity to mice. Although 7 acriflavine resistant E. rhusiopathiae isolates were separated from arthritic lesions of slaughter pigs, we were unable to prove that they were identical to the vaccine strain.

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In order to evaluate the usefulness of liposomes, which are stable in acidic solution, bile and pancreatin solution (stable liposomes), as vehicle for oral vaccines, the intestinal IgA antibody responses of mice to liposome-associated antigen after oral administration were examined. The intestinal IgA antibody responses against ganglioside GM1 were detected after the oral immunization of ganglioside GM1-containing stable liposomes. When monophosphoryl lipid A was incorporated into stable liposomes containing ganglioside GM1, further augmentation of IgA responses to ganglioside GM1 was observed. On the other hand, the oral administration with ganglioside GM1 alone was unable to induce any detectable intestinal anti-ganglioside GM1 IgA antibody response. These results suggest that liposomes which are stable in acidic solution, bile, and pancreatin solution would serve effectively as an oral delivery vehicle for inducing mucosal immune responses.

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Mitogen blastogenic responses of lymphocytes from dogs infested with adult Rhipicephalus sanguineus and the effects of salivary gland extracts (SGE) of the tick on the blastogenic responses of lymphocytes from normal dogs were studied. Infestation by R. sanguineus significantly suppressed concanavalin A, phyto-hemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen responses of lymphocytes from dogs. The inhibition of lymphocyte responses of dogs in the first infestation was greater than that in the second infestation. SGE from R. sanguineus also suppressed all mitogen blastogenic responses of lymphocytes from healthy dogs in vitro. These suppressive effects of SGE on the blastogenic responses of PBL to mitogens were significantly inhibited by trypsin digestion. It is suggested that some proteins in SGE contribute to the suppressive effects of SGE on the blastogenic responses of peripheral blood lymphocytes from dogs.

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The circadian variation of urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG, EC 3.2.1.30) and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GTP, EC 2.3.2.2) was evaluated in cats. Urine and blood were collected at 4-hr intervals from adult cats (3 males, 9 females) weighing between 2.6 and 5.0 kg. There was no circadian variation in the urine volume, creatinine clearance, creatinine excretion, NAG excretion or γ-GTP excretion. The average NAG and γ-GTP indices in the 4-hr urine were similar to those for the 24-hr urine. However, the variance for the 4-hr urine samples was higher than that of 24-hr urine. In conclusion, although 4-hr urine samples can be used to estimate 24-hr urinary enzyme excretion, short-term spot urine samples may cause increased variation in the enzyme index.

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A serological survey with latex agglutination test to detect anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies was conducted on 800 serum samples collected from domiciled cats at animal hospitals in various areas of Japan. The overall prevalence was 6.0% (48/800). Among 48 positive individuals, there was no specific distribution of strength of antibody titers; the titers were 1:64 in 8 cats, 1:128 in 12, 1:256 in 8, 1:512 in 10, 1:1,024 in 8 and 1:2,048 in 2. The maximum prevalence was 15.4% in 13 cats at 17-23 yrs old group, whereas all were negative in 58 cats aged 12-16 yrs. The age groups in the order of higher prevalence were 8, 4, 10, 5, 3, and 7 yrs, showing no aging effect to the prevalence. In terms of rearing conditions of those cats, they were classified into 4 groups, i. e., indoor, free, outdoor, and others. The prevalence in the outdoor group (11.1%) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that in the free group (4.8%). Epidemiological aspects observed in the domiciled cats were different from those reported in the stray cats.

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From June 1993 to September 1997, a survey was carried out for the prevalence of larval Gnathostoma nipponicum infection in several kinds of frogs, toads, and their tadpoles collected from an endemic area of this nematode in Aomori Prefecture. Two frog species, one of 436 (0.2%) Rana nigromaculata and 51 of 147 (34.7%) R. catesbeiana were infected, and a total of 446 advanced third-stage larvae (AdL3) of G. nipponicum were recovered. These results confirmed that two frog species which can serve as the second intermediate and/or paratenic hosts in the life cycle of G. nipponicum exist in nature. This report is the first record of spontaneous infection of frogs with AdL3 of G. nipponicum.

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Histochemical and lectinhistochemical examinations were carried out on nasal mucosa of pigs with or without respiratory diseases. As the results, both acid and neutral mucins coexisted in nasal mucosa of normal pigs while acid sialomucins were mainly observed in nasal mucosa of pigs infected with Bordetella bronchiseptica and/or Pasteurella multocida. Lectinhistochemistry revealed that the nasal epithelial cells of normal pigs were rich in N-acetylgalactosamine, fucose and N-acetyl-glucosamine residues which showed a tendency to disappear in porcine cytomegalovirus infection and to increase in atrophic rhinitis, respectively.

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An immature seal, about one-year-old, died a natural death. At autopsy, a large number of Contracaecum osculatum and Pseudoterranova decipiens, as well as some of Anisakis simplex were found in the stomach together with numerous Corynosoma strumosum in the small intestine and colon. Histopathological examination revealed epithelial desquamation, congestion and hemorrhage in the mucosa. There were cellular infiltration and fibroplasia around the nematodes, collapsed nematodes and molted nematode cuticules in the stomach wall. The small intestine and colon underwent severe epithelial desquamation, catarrhal inflammation, and slight inflammatory response consisting mainly of lymphocytes. To the best of our knowledge, this may be the first report on Corynosoma strumosum in Japan.

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The antigenic determinants (or epitopes) of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) were analyzed using synthetic peptides and rabbit antibodies to their corresponding peptides. Of 12 different synthetic peptides tested, peptides A-1 (corresponding to the amino acid sequence 1-20), A-5 (81-100), and A-8 (141-160) were reactive with anti-SEA antibodies. However, all synthetic peptides were found to elicit antibodies reactive with native SEA molecule. These findings suggest that native SEA molecule contains at least 3 different antigenic determinants.

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Seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae and Toxoplasma gondii was investigated among 471 pet cats obtained from seven private animal hospitals in Kanagawa and Saitama Prefectures during the period from May 1994 to June 1995. Furthermore, 67 randomly selected from the 471 serum samples were examined for the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) antibody and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) antigen. The antibody to B. henselae was examined by an indirect immunofluorecent antibody test. T. gondii, FIV and FeLV infections in cats were detected with respective commercial kits. Of the cat serum samples tested, 43 (9.1%) were found to be seropositive for B. henselae and 41 (8.7%) for T. gondii. The B. henselae-positive rate (12.9%) of male cats was significantly higher than that (5.2%) of female cats. On the other hand, T. gondii-positive rate was 9.1% in male and 8.7% in female cats and there was no significant difference in the positivity between sexes. The positive rate in each hospital varied from 0 to 19.5% for B. henselae and 4.9 to 18.8% for T. gondii. The ages of B. henselae- and T. gondii-positive cats were distributed from <1-year-old to 14-year-old and the seropositivity increased with age of cats. Of the 67 cat serum samples, 16 and 6 cases were positive for FIV and FeLV, respectively. There was no relationship between these viral and B. henselae infections in cats.

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To examine antibodies against equine arteritis virus (EAV), an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using purified virus antigen was developed. The results of ELISA were compared with those of serum neutralization (SN) tests. The ELISA absorbance values and the SN titers in sera collected weekly from EAV-infected horses showed a similar pattern. The ELISA could detect antibody to EAV in horses experimentally infected with not only a homologous virus strain, which was used as the ELISA antigen, but also a heterologous strain. Using the ELISA, serum samples collected in 1996 from racehorses in three prefectures (Hokkaido, Ibaraki, and Shiga) were examined and there was no evidence of recent EAV infection among these racehorse populations in Japan. The ELISA should be a simple and highly specific method for rapid screening of EAV infection in racehorses.

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