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Biomedical subjects

C A Ford

Publications and source records attributed to C A Ford.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Vaccination with Anaplasma centrale: response after an experimental challenge with Anaplasma marginale.

The haematological and clinical responses to vaccination with Anaplasma centrale and to subsequent challenge with Anaplasma marginale were evaluated. Twenty Holstein steers 14 to 16 months of age were divided into two groups of 12 and eight animals respectively (groups I and II). Group I was inoculated on day zero with 10(7) A. centrale-infected erythrocytes and group II was kept as a control. On day 125 both groups were challenged with 5 X 10(7) A. marginale-infected erythrocytes. A. centrale inoculation produced low parasitaemias (maximum mean 2.7%), moderate packed cell volume (PCV) falls (minimum mean 20.5%) and no clinical symptoms. After the challenge group I had significantly lower parasitaemia (maximum mean 2.3%) and higher PCV (minimum mean 20.1%) than group II (7.5% and 14.5% respectively). Four steers from group II developed acute anaplasmosis and required treatment.

Anaplasma↗

Somatostatin and altered medium osmotic pressure elicit rapid changes in prolactin release from the rostral pars distalis of the tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus, in vitro.

Prolactin (PRL) cells in the rostral pars distalis of the tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus respond to somatostatin (SRIF) and reduced medium osmotic pressure within 10-20 min of exposure during perifusion incubation. Pieces of rostral pars distalis tissue were removed from freshwater-adapted tilapia and were preincubated in [3H]leucine in static culture (355 m phi smolal) for 48 hr. Following preincubation, they were placed in the perifusion apparatus and baseline release was established for 3 hr in hyperosmotic medium (355 m phi smolal). Exposure to hyposmotic medium (280 m phi smolal) resulted in a rapid and steep rise in the release of [3H]PRL, which remained elevated for more than 2 hr. When SRIF was added simultaneously with hyposmotic medium, the rise in PRL release normally initiated by reduced osmotic pressure was prevented. Somatostatin also quickly reduced release that had been previously elevated by exposure to hyposmotic medium. The time course of these changes suggests that SRIF and altered osmotic pressure act on PRL secretion in at least partial independence of effects which they may have on PRL synthesis in the tilapia pituitary.

Animals↗

The thyroid gland of the Hawaiian parrotfish and its use as an in vitro model system.

Thyroid tissue in the Hawaiian parrotfish, Scarus dubius, is organized into two discrete lobes, one anterior to the first pair of afferent branchial arteries and the other between the first and second pairs. Lobes or pieces of thyroid lobes from S. dubius were incubated in static or perifusion culture using a simple defined medium. In static culture, this thyroid tissue releases thyroxine (T4) responding to bovine thyrotropin (bTSH) in a dose-related manner during 4- and 24-hr incubations. At 24 hr, however, substantially lower concentrations of bTSH are required to evoke a significant elevation of T4 than at 4 hr. Exposure to bTSH also elicits morphological changes within 4 hr, which include colloid resorption and an increase in the height of the follicular epithelium. During perifusion culture, T4 release rises rapidly within 20 to 30 min following the initiation of exposure to bTSH and remains elevated for between 4 and 8 hr thereafter. In spite of high plasma triiodothyronine (T3) concentrations, the parrotfish thyroid releases no detectable T3 during in vitro culture. This is the first direct evidence in support of the notion that plasma T3 in a teleost fish may be derived principally, perhaps exclusively, from the peripheral monodeiodination of T4.

Animals↗

The role of calcium in prolactin release from the pituitary of a teleost fish in vitro.

The release of PRL from the pituitary of a teleost fish, the tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), has been previously shown to be dependent on calcium. However, the source(s) and specific action(s) of calcium in the secretory process have not been identified. Also undefined are the mechanisms by which regulators of PRL cell function may alter calcium distribution. In the present investigation, the elevation of medium K+ concentration during static incubations to a depolarizing concentration (56 mM) produced no change in cumulative PRL release over control levels during the 18-20 h of incubation. During perifusion incubation, exposure to high K+ concentrations briefly stimulated (less than or equal to 10 min) and then depressed PRL release. In contrast, reduced medium osmotic pressure elicited a rapid elevation in PRL release that was sustained for 2 h or more. D600, a calcium entry blocker, at 10(-5) M diminished the K+-induced pulses of PRL release. The same concentration, however, did not alter the release of PRL evoked by reduced osmotic pressure. In contrast, CoCl2, which blocks a range of calcium-mediated processes in addition to calcium influx, suppressed PRL release during perifusion and static incubations in hyposmotic medium. These findings suggest that while PRL secretion from the tilapia pituitary is calcium dependent, calcium entry through voltage-regulated plasmalemma channels may not be a prerequisite to the actions of reduced osmotic pressure.

Animals↗

Hemodiafiltration.

Four patients have been studied with maintenance hemodiafiltration. The predominant finding to date has been better control of blood pressure. The mechanism(s) for this improved blood pressure control are under study.

Humans↗

Kinetics of hemodiafiltration. I. In vitro transport characteristics of a hollow-fiber blood ultrafilter.

The transport characteristics of a hollow-fiber blood ultrafilter were studied in vitro to provide an understanding of the factors which control solute removal rate and to permit design of a full-scale clinical device. The dependence of ultrafiltrate flux on transmembrane pressure difference, protein concentration, flow rate, and fiber geometry was correlated in terms of available theoretical analyses. Solute rejection was 1.0 for albumin and decreased to nearly zero for solutes of several thousand molecular weight. An analysis of overall hemodiafilter behavior showed that blood and ultrafiltrate flow rates of 200 ml. per minute can be attained with a device of reasonable size which would provide an inulin whole blood clearance of about 100 ml. per minute.

Blood Proteins↗

Kinetics of hemodiafiltration. II. Clinical characterization of a new blood cleansing modality.

Hemodiafiltration, a process in which whole blood is first diluted with a physiologic electrolyte solution and then ultrafiltered across a membrane to convectively remove solutes and excess water, has been applied clinically for the first time. Six-hour hemodiafiltration with a 1.6 m.2 hollow-fiber ultrafilter was applied intermittently to an anephric patient as an alternative to 6-hour hemodialysis using a 1.45 m.2 coli. A quantitative basis for evaluating clinical hemodiafiltration kinetics was developed, and the results were compared with data from prototype devices. With blood, diluting fluid, and ultrafiltrate flow rates of 200 ml. per minute, removal rates of urea and creatinine by both hemodiafiltration and dialysis were comparable, but for solutes of larger molecular weight (uric acid, phosphate, and inulin) removal rate was significantly greater for hemodiafiltration. The observed ultrafiltrate flux was similar to values predicted from in vitro studies. With the present membrane formulation the measured sieving coefficients for inulin, creatinine, and urea were not significantly different from one, and whole blood clearances for these solutes were 117, 108, and 101 ml. per minute, respectively. This solute clearance pattern is very similar to the human kidney and in sharp contrast to standard coil hemodialysis.

Bicarbonates↗

Geographic variation of chlorinated hydrocarbons in burbot (Lota lota) from remote lakes and rivers in Canada.

The variation in levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (sigma PCBs), chlorobenzenes and chlorinated pesticides was studied in burbot (Lota lota) from eight remote locations along a northwesterly transect from northwestern Ontario to the Mackenzie River delta in Canada. Significant declines in concentrations of PCB congeners, DDT isomers (sigma DDT), lindane, dieldrin, and mirex in burbot liver were found with increasing north latitude. Mean sigma PCB concentrations ranged from 1,290 ng/g (lipid wt) at Lake 625, a remote lake in northwestern Ontario, to 301 ng/g in samples from the Mackenzie River at Arctic Red River, N.W.T. No significant differences in mean concentrations of toxaphene, alpha-HCH, tri- and tetrachlorobiphenyls were observed between southern and northern sampling sites. Toxaphene was the predominant organochlorine residue in northern fish samples averaging 1,400 ng/g (lipid wt) at the three most northerly sites and 1,723 ng/g at Lake 625. Airborne contamination was the only likely source of organochlorines for most of the locations surveyed. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that inputs of semi-volatile organochlorines to northern aquatic ecosystems decrease with increasing north latitude and distance from North American sources.

Animals↗