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Biomedical subjects

T Watari

Publications and source records attributed to T Watari.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

A case of feline cryptococcosis treated with itraconazole.

We successfully treated a feline case of cryptococcosis with itraconazole (ITZ) at a lower dosage. The patient was a 2-year-old castrated male Abyssinian cat weighing 4.1 kg and with two masses on the head. Clinical signs were sneezing and nasal discharge. The plasma cryptococcal antigen titer measured by the latex agglutination test was proved to be high (512). The biopsy specimen from the masses disclosed yeast cells which were cultured and identified to be Cryptococcus neoformans. The cat was treated with ITZ 5 mg kg-1 given orally once a day with food. After 4 weeks, treatment of ITZ discontinued, because the cat was clinically normal and the antigen titer was low (128). However, about 7 months later, a subcutaneous nodule was detected on the same area. The nasal discharge appeared again, and the cryptococcal antigen titer was 256. ITZ treatment was continued again at the same dosage for 3 months until the antigen titer was negative (< 8). Four months after discontinuation of ITZ, the cat did not relapse and the antigen titer was in the negative range. No side-effects of ITZ were detected by physical and laboratory examination.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Structure and function of the long terminal repeats of feline leukemia viruses derived from naturally occurring acute myeloid leukemias in cats.

Long terminal repeats of feline leukemia viruses cloned from feline acute myeloid leukemias frequently contained direct repeats of 40 to 74 bp in the upstream region of the enhancer (URE). The repetitive URE conferred an enhancer function upon gene expression in myeloid cells, suggesting its association with tumorigenic potential in myeloid cells.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1997

A proposed nomenclature of the domestic cat karyotype.

High-resolution G- and Q-band patterns of cat (Felis catus) prometaphase chromosomes with more than 450 numbered bands are presented. This number represents approximately twice the number of bands per haploid set exhibited by feline chromosomes at mid-metaphase. A diagrammatic representation of G-banded cat chromosomes has already been described (O'Brien and Nash, 1982); however, precise numbering of bands and landmarks, as in the human karyotype and in the karyotypes of other domestic and laboratory animals, has not yet been available for the domestic cat karyotype, except for the RBG-banded ideograms constructed by Shibasaki et al. (1987) and Rønne and Storm (1995). In this report, we propose a numbering system for the G-banded ideogram reported previously (O'Brien and Nash, 1982) and an extended ideogram at the high-resolution level (473 numbered bands) as a contribution to the future standardization of the feline karyotype.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Apoptosis enhanced by soluble factor produced in feline immunodeficiency virus infection.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cells have been shown to undergo apoptosis by treatment with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). This study detected a soluble factor which enhanced the apoptosis induced by TNF-alpha treatment. The sensitivity to TNF-alpha in the induction of apoptosis in a feline fibroblastoid cell line (CRFK) cells was significantly enhanced when the culture supernatant of FIV-infected CRFK cells or plasma samples from FIV-infected cats was added to the culture. These findings suggested that FIV infection induces production of a soluble factor which enhances CRFK cells sensitivity to TNF-alpha induction of apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. This factor may contribute to the loss of lymphocytes in cats infected with FIV.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Establishment of a sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay for canine interleukin-8.

To estimate canine interleukin-8 (cIL-8) levels in blood plasma samples, a sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established. For the development of the sandwich ELISA, polyclonal anti-cIL-8 (capturing), biotinylated anti-cIL-8 (developing) antibodies and glutathione-S-transferase/cIL-8 (GST/cIL-8) fusion protein as an antigen were used. cIL-8 in the fusion protein of GST/cIL-8 was detected in a dose dependent manner. The lowest limit of GST/cIL-8 detectable by this method was 2 ng/ml of GST/cIL-8 (containing; 0.470 ng/ml of cIL-8). IL-8 levels in the plasma samples from apparently healthy dogs were less than 0.470 ng/ ml. Higher levels of IL-8 were detected in the plasma samples of dogs with cystitis, dermatitis, and gastric cancer. These results suggest that the determination of cIL-8 by the sandwich ELISA is useful in diagnosis of inflammatory diseases in dogs.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Plasma thymidine kinase activity in dogs with lymphoma and leukemia.

Plasma thymidine kinase (TK) activity was evaluated as a plasma marker for canine lymphoma and leukemia. A tentative "cut-off" value was set at 6.0 U/l as the upper level of plasma TK based on the mean + 2SD of plasma TK activity in 13 clinically healthy dogs. The levels of plasma TK activity in all of the 20 dogs with lymphoma and leukemia were higher than the cut-off value, whereas those in dogs with lymphoma decreased in parallel with the reduction of the tumor mass after chemotherapy. These findings suggested that estimation of plasma TK activity can be used as a plasma marker for lymphoma and leukemia in the dog.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Regulation of gene expression directed by the long terminal repeats of feline leukemia viruses.

Repetitive structure of enhancer elements in the long terminal repeat (LTR) has been identified in feline leukemia viruses (FeLVs) integrated in lymphoid tumor cells in cats. In this study, promoter activities of the FeLV LTRs were measured in lymphoid and non-lymphoid cell lines in transient expression assays using plasmids containing the viral LTRs linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene. Promoter activity of the LTR with 3 enhancer repeats (pFTLTR) was significantly higher than that of the LTR with 1 enhancer (Glasgow-1 LTR) in feline (FT-1) and human (Jurkat) T-lymphoblastoid cell lines. Promoter activity of the pFTLTR was also significantly higher than that of its mutant (pFTLTR1E) in which 2 of the 3 enhancers were deleted in FT-1 and Jurkat cells. Both of these differences were not observed in a feline fibroblastic cell line (CrFK). Moreover, mutations affecting the consensus motifs for LVb, SV40, NF-1, GRE and FLV-1 resulted in decreased basal activity of the FeLV LTR (pFTLTR1E) in FT-1, Jurkat and CRFK cells. The decrease of the promoter activity was especially remarkable in FT-1 cells. The present study revealed the strong promoter activity of the FeLV LTR with 3 enhancer repeats and its modular enhancer elements positively regulating the transcription in a relatively tissue-specific manner.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Cloning of feline p21WAF1 and p27Kip1 cDNAs and search for their aberration in leukemias and lymphomas in cats.

For investigation of the relation of cell cycle regulation with tumorigenesis in cats, we cloned feline p21WAF1 and p27Kip1 cDNAs and searched for their aberration in feline spontaneous leukemias and lymphomas. The feline p21WAF1 cDNA (pCFW.31) clone obtained from the PCR amplified product appeared to cover approximately 75% of the open reading frame, and showed 81.6% and 76.8% sequence similarities with those of human and mouse counterparts, respectively. The pHFK.5 clone isolated by plaque hybridization contained the whole open reading frame of cat p27Kip1 cDNA encoding 198 amino acids, showing 93.4% and 90.4% sequence similarities with those of human and mouse counterparts, respectively. Southern-blot analyses using these clones as probes did not show any deletion or rearrangement of both the p21WAF1 and p27Kip1 genes in 19 feline spontaneous cases of leukemias and lymphomas examined. RT-PCR/SSCP (single strand conformation polymorphism) analysis of p27Kip1 cDNA indicated that there was no mutation resulting in amino-acid substitution in 10 feline leukemia and lymphoma cases.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Identification of an alternatively spliced transcript of equine interleukin-1 beta.

Using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated equine peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cDNA as a template, we performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification with equine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) specific primers. Electrophoresis of the PCR product on agarose gel revealed an additional smaller fragment that hybridized with an equine IL-1 beta cDNA probe. Sequencing of this fragment demonstrated that it was shorter than normal equine IL-1 beta cDNA by 162 nucleotides, which corresponded to exon 5 of the human and murine IL-1 beta genes. The deletion of 162 nucleotides did not result in a frame shift but spliced out the putative exon 5 of the IL-1 beta gene which includes the cleavage site for the IL-1 beta converting enzyme (ICE) in human and murine IL-1 beta. Expression of the alternatively spliced IL-1 beta transcript in PBMC was also detected after stimulation with other compounds. These results clearly indicate the existence of an alternatively spliced IL-1 beta transcript in equine PBMC.

Alternative Splicing↗
PubMed1996

Molecular characterization of feline immunodeficiency virus genome obtained directly from organs of a naturally infected cat with marked neurological symptoms and encephalitis.

Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) was first isolated from cats with immunodeficiency syndrome. Recently, neurological abnormalities and brain lesions were shown in cats infected with FIV. To investigate the FIV genome associated with central nervous system (CNS) lesions, proviral DNA sequences from the V3-V6 region of the FIV env gene were directly amplified from uncultured necropsy tissues of a 2-year-old naturally FIV-infected cat with marked neurological symptoms and encephalitis. By in situ hybridization, FIV RNA was detected mainly in the astrocytes. Fifteen clones isolated from cerebrum, bone marrow and lymph node samples showed only a small number of mutations or deletions in this region. A representative clone, JN-BR1, was distantly related to the previous Japanese strain (TM2) belonging to the subtype B. However, it was relatively close to the Petaluma strain which is known to infect feline brain-derived culture cells and induce brain lesions in inoculated cats. By phylogenetic analysis, the JN-BR1 strain was placed in subtype A that included Petaluma strain and several other American and European strains. The JN-BR1 strain derived from brain with encephalitis in this study and the Petaluma strain may share a common genetic structure that is related to their neuropathogenicity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Detection of apoptosis induced in peripheral blood lymphocytes from cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) were examined for the occurrence of apoptosis after short-term culture. In the PBL from FIV-infected cats, changes in flow-cytometry scattergram, morphological characteristics of apoptosis and nucleosomal DNA fragmentation were observed. Percentages of apoptotic cells by flowcytometry analysis in PBL from FIV-infected cats (22.4% +/- 9.4%) were significantly higher than those in PBL from uninfected control cats (9.2% +/- 3.5%). The lymphocytes which underwent apoptosis included CD5+, CD4+ and sIgM+ cells, indicating that induction of apoptosis was not restricted to a special subset of lymphocytes. These findings provide evidence of the apoptotic state of PBL in cats with FIV infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Molecular cloning of bovine mb-1 cDNA.

Ig-alpha of the B-cell antigen receptor complex forms a heterodimeric structure with Ig-beta on the plasma membrane of B-lymphocytes and is apparently involved in signal transduction during the activation of B-cells. Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is predominantly a B-cell tropic retrovirus, which induces persistent lymphocytosis and leukemia/lymphoma of B-cell lineage in cattle. To understand the mechanisms of proliferation and tumorigenesis of bovine B-cells that are associated with BLV infection, we investigated the B-cell antigen receptor complex, especially bovine mb-1 encoding the bovine Ig-alpha protein. We isolated a full-length bovine mb-1 cDNA clone encoding 223 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of the bovine mb-1 showed extensive homology with those of human and murine mb-1. The cytoplasmic tail of the bovine mb-1 also contained a consensus motif (D/E-X7-D/E-X2-L/I-X7-Y-X2-L/I) that may interact with the SH2 domain of src-type kinase. Interestingly, a similar consensus sequence motif was found in the BLV gp30env, although the overall sequence similarity between bovine mb-1 and BLVgp30 was not significant. Furthermore, elevated levels of mb-1 transcript were detected in various bovine leukemia/lymphoma cell lines. These results indicated that the proliferation of B-cells associated with BLV-infection may be related to abnormal signal transduction through the B-cell antigen receptor complex.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Elevation of serum G-CSF level in horses with transportation-induced fever.

Levels of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in the blood of horses were measured before and after a long-distance transportation to clarify the pathogenesis of transportation-induced fever. The serum G-CSF level was measured by its ability to stimulate growth in a mouse myeloblastic cell line, NFS-60. Of 26 horses transported for a long distance, 9 had fever more than 39.0 degrees C during or after transportation. After transportation, the serum G-CSF level significantly increased in horses with transportation-induced fever but not in those without fever, and the serum G-CSF level correlated positively with the peak body temperature and with an increase in peripheral white blood cell count. These data indicate that microbial infection, which is closely related to the elevation of the serum G-CSF levels, is the causative factor of transportation-induced fever.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Epidemiological observations on recent outbreaks of canine distemper in Tokyo area.

Recent outbreaks of canine distemper virus (CDV) infection in Tokyo area were investigated on the basis of clinical features and serological test. The affected dogs were clinically classified into two groups; dog with respiratory and gastrointestinal signs associated with central nervous system (CNS) signs, and those with CNS signs alone. Of 62 dogs examined, 34 belonged to the former and 28 to the latter. In immunoperoxidase assay, anti-Onderstepoort strain of CDV serum reacted at a low level against 2 field isolates of CDV. These results suggested the presence of different types of CDV population in the field.

Animals↗