| animal models of adrenocortical tumorigenesis. | this comparative review highlights animal models of adrenocortical neoplasia useful either for mechanistic studies or translational research. three model species-mouse, ferret, and dog-are detailed. the relevance of each of these models to spontaneous and inherited adrenocortical tumors in humans is discussed. | 2015 | 26038202 |
| sexual dimorphism of sulcal morphology of the ferret cerebrum revealed by mri-based sulcal surface morphometry. | the present study quantitatively assessed sexual dimorphism of cortical convolution and sulcal morphology in young adult ferrets by mri-based sulcal surface morphometry. ex vivo t1-weighted (short tr/te) mri of the ferret cerebrum was acquired with high spatial resolution at 7-tesla. the degree of cortical convolution, evaluated quantitatively based on 3d mri data by sulcation index (si), was significantly greater in males (0.553 ± 0.036) than in females (0.502 ± 0.043) (p < 0.001). the rostroca ... | 2015 | 25999821 |
| the role of spectral cues in timbre discrimination by ferrets and humans. | timbre distinguishes sounds of equal loudness, pitch, and duration; however, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying timbre perception. such understanding requires animal models such as the ferret in which neuronal and behavioral observation can be combined. the current study asked what spectral cues ferrets use to discriminate between synthetic vowels. ferrets were trained to discriminate vowels differing in the position of the first (f1) and second formants (f2), inter-formant d ... | 2015 | 25994714 |
| discrete domains of gene expression in germinal layers distinguish the development of gyrencephaly. | gyrencephalic species develop folds in the cerebral cortex in a stereotypic manner, but the genetic mechanisms underlying this patterning process are unknown. we present a large-scale transcriptomic analysis of individual germinal layers in the developing cortex of the gyrencephalic ferret, comparing between regions prospective of fold and fissure. we find unique transcriptional signatures in each germinal compartment, where thousands of genes are differentially expressed between regions, includ ... | 2015 | 25916825 |
| ferret wellness management and environmental enrichment. | the domestic ferret is a commonly kept companion animal. knowledge of proper husbandry of companion ferrets and their common disease processes by veterinarians assists pet owners in providing the healthiest environment possible. attentiveness to the environmental needs of pet ferrets results in physically and psychologically healthy animals and a positive, enriched relationship with owners. | 2015 | 25902271 |
| retrocaval ureter in a ferret. | | 2015 | 25819617 |
| ferret models of viral pathogenesis. | emerging and well-known viral diseases remain one the most important global public health threats. a better understanding of their pathogenesis and mechanisms of transmission requires animal models that accurately reproduce these aspects of the disease. here we review the role of ferrets as an animal model for the pathogenesis of different respiratory viruses with an emphasis on influenza and paramyxoviruses. we will describe the anatomic and physiologic characteristics that contribute to the na ... | 2015 | 25816764 |
| coevolution of radial glial cells and the cerebral cortex. | radial glia cells play fundamental roles in the development of the cerebral cortex, acting both as the primary stem and progenitor cells, as well as the guides for neuronal migration and lamination. these critical functions of radial glia cells in cortical development have been discovered mostly during the last 15 years and, more recently, seminal studies have demonstrated the existence of a remarkable diversity of additional cortical progenitor cell types, including a variety of basal radial gl ... | 2015 | 25808466 |
| epibatidine blocks eye-specific segregation in ferret dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus during stage iii retinal waves. | the segregation and maintenance of eye-specific inputs in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dlgn) during early postnatal development requires the patterned spontaneous activity of retinal waves. in contrast to the development of the mouse, ferret eye-specific segregation is not complete at the start of stage iii glutamatergic retinal waves, and the remaining overlap is limited to the c/c1 lamina of the dlgn. to investigate the role of patterned spontaneous activity in this late segregation, ... | 2015 | 25794280 |
| optimization of recombinant adeno-associated virus-mediated expression for large transgenes, using a synthetic promoter and tandem array enhancers. | the packaging capacity of recombinant adeno-associated viral (raav) vectors limits the size of the promoter that can be used to express the 4.43-kb cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (cftr) cdna. to circumvent this limitation, we screened a set of 100-mer synthetic enhancer elements, composed of ten 10-bp repeats, for their ability to augment cftr transgene expression from a short 83-bp synthetic promoter in the context of an raav vector designed for use in the cystic fibrosis ( ... | 2015 | 25763813 |
| single-cell analysis reveals transcriptional heterogeneity of neural progenitors in human cortex. | the human cerebral cortex depends for its normal development and size on a precisely controlled balance between self-renewal and differentiation of diverse neural progenitor cells. specialized progenitors that are common in humans but virtually absent in rodents, called outer radial glia (org), have been suggested to be crucial to the evolutionary expansion of the human cortex. we combined progenitor subtype-specific sorting with transcriptome-wide rna sequencing to identify genes enriched in hu ... | 2015 | 25734491 |
| single-unit analysis of somatosensory processing in the core auditory cortex of hearing ferrets. | the recent findings in several species that the primary auditory cortex processes non-auditory information have largely overlooked the possibility of somatosensory effects. therefore, the present investigation examined the core auditory cortices (anterior auditory field and primary auditory cortex) for tactile responsivity. multiple single-unit recordings from anesthetised ferret cortex yielded histologically verified neurons (n = 311) tested with electronically controlled auditory, visual and t ... | 2015 | 25728185 |
| ferret and pig models of cystic fibrosis: prospects and promise for gene therapy. | large animal models of genetic diseases are rapidly becoming integral to biomedical research as technologies to manipulate the mammalian genome improve. the creation of cystic fibrosis (cf) ferrets and pigs is an example of such progress in animal modeling, with the disease phenotypes in the ferret and pig models more reflective of human cf disease than mouse models. the ferret and pig cf models also provide unique opportunities to develop and assess the effectiveness of gene and cell therapies ... | 2015 | 25675143 |
| interkinetic nuclear migration generates and opposes ventricular-zone crowding: insight into tissue mechanics. | the neuroepithelium (ne) or ventricular zone (vz), from which multiple types of brain cells arise, is pseudostratified. in the ne/vz, neural progenitor cells are elongated along the apicobasal axis, and their nuclei assume different apicobasal positions. these nuclei move in a cell cycle-dependent manner, i.e., apicalward during g2 phase and basalward during g1 phase, a process called interkinetic nuclear migration (inm). this review will summarize and discuss several topics: the nature of the i ... | 2014 | 25674051 |
| your kid could not have done that: even untutored observers can discern intentionality and structure in abstract expressionist art. | can people with no special knowledge about art detect the skill, intentionality, and expressed meanings in non-representational art? hawley-dolan and winner (2011) showed participants without training in art images of abstract expressionist paintings paired with superficially similar works by children or animals and asked them which they preferred and which was a better work of art. participants selected the works by artists in response to both questions at a rate above chance. in study 1, we us ... | 2015 | 25659538 |
| histochemical and immunohistochemical characterization of chordoma in ferrets. | chordomas of the tip of the tail in 6 ferrets were examined using histopathological, histochemical and immunohistochemical procedures. histopathologically, round neoplastic cells containing numerous cytoplasmic vacuoles of varying sizes, categorized as "physaliphorous cells", were observed in the amorphous eosinophilic or pale basophilic myxoid stroma. physaliphorous cells were arranged in lobules and in a "chordoid" or "cobblestone" manner. the neoplasms were diagnosed as benign chordoma withou ... | 2015 | 25648567 |
| auditory and visual interactions between the superior and inferior colliculi in the ferret. | the integration of visual and auditory spatial information is important for building an accurate perception of the external world, but the fundamental mechanisms governing such audiovisual interaction have only partially been resolved. the earliest interface between auditory and visual processing pathways is in the midbrain, where the superior (sc) and inferior colliculi (ic) are reciprocally connected in an audiovisual loop. here, we investigate the mechanisms of audiovisual interaction in the ... | 2015 | 25645363 |
| evaluation of a ferret-specific formula for determining body surface area to improve chemotherapeutic dosing. | to use ct-derived measurements to create a ferret-specific formula for body surface area (bsa) to improve chemotherapeutic dosing. | 2015 | 25629911 |
| studies on influenza virus transmission between ferrets: the public health risks revisited. | | 2015 | 25616377 |
| reply to "studies on influenza virus transmission between ferrets: the public health risks revisited". | | 2015 | 25616376 |
| the development of cortical circuits for motion discrimination. | stimulus discrimination depends on the selectivity and variability of neural responses, as well as the size and correlation structure of the responsive population. for direction discrimination in visual cortex, only the selectivity of neurons has been well characterized across development. here we show in ferrets that at eye opening, the cortical response to visual stimulation exhibits several immaturities, including a high density of active neurons that display prominent wave-like activity, a h ... | 2015 | 25599224 |
| loss of cftr function leads to pancreatic destruction in larval zebrafish. | the development and function of many internal organs requires precisely regulated fluid secretion. a key regulator of vertebrate fluid secretion is an anion channel, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (cftr). loss of cftr function leads to defects in fluid transport and cystic fibrosis (cf), a complex disease characterized by a loss of fluid secretion and mucus buildup in many organs including the lungs, liver, and pancreas. several animal models including mouse, ferret and ... | 2015 | 25592226 |
| complementary adaptive processes contribute to the developmental plasticity of spatial hearing. | spatial hearing evolved independently in mammals and birds and is thought to adapt to altered developmental input in different ways. we found, however, that ferrets possess multiple forms of plasticity that are expressed according to which spatial cues are available, suggesting that the basis for adaptation may be similar across species. our results also provide insight into the way sound source location is represented by populations of cortical neurons. | 2015 | 25581359 |
| chf6001 ii: a novel phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor, suitable for topical pulmonary administration--in vivo preclinical pharmacology profile defines a potent anti-inflammatory compound with a wide therapeutic window. | chf6001 [(s)-3,5-dichloro-4-(2-(3-(cyclopropylmethoxy)-4-(difluoromethoxy)phenyl)-2-(3-(cyclopropylmethoxy)-4-(methylsulfonamido)benzoyloxy)ethyl)pyridine 1-oxide] is a novel phosphodiesterase 4 (pde4) inhibitor designed for use in pulmonary diseases by inhaled administration. intratracheal administration of chf6001 to ovalbumin-sensitized brown-norway rats suppressed the antigen-induced decline of lung functions (ed50 = 0.1 µmol/kg) and antigen-induced eosinophilia (ed50 = 0.03 µmol/kg) when ad ... | 2015 | 25576073 |
| rhythmic 3-4hz discharge is insufficient to produce cortical bold fmri decreases in generalized seizures. | absence seizures are transient episodes of impaired consciousness accompanied by 3-4 hz spike-wave discharge on electroencephalography (eeg). human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri) studies have demonstrated widespread cortical decreases in the blood oxygen-level dependent (bold) signal that may play an important role in the pathophysiology of these seizures. animal models could provide an opportunity to investigate the fundamental mechanisms of these changes, however they have so far ... | 2015 | 25562830 |
| ferret and pig models of cystic fibrosis: prospects and promise for gene therapy. | large animal models of genetic diseases are rapidly becoming integral to biomedical research as technologies to manipulate the mammalian genome improve. the creation of cystic fibrosis (cf) ferrets and pigs is an example of such progress in animal modeling, with the disease phenotypes in the ferret and pig models more reflective of human cf disease than mouse models. the ferret and pig cf models also provide unique opportunities to develop and assess the effectiveness of gene and cell therapies ... | 2014 | 25549055 |
| isolation, characterization, and functional analysis of ferret lymphatic endothelial cells. | the lymphatic endothelium (le) serves as a conduit for transport of immune cells and soluble antigens from peripheral tissues to draining lymph nodes (lns), contributing to development of host immune responses and possibly dissemination of microbes. lymphatic endothelial cells (lecs) are major constituents of the lymphatic endothelium. these specialized cells could play important roles in initiation of host innate immune responses through sensing of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (pamps) ... | 2015 | 25540877 |
| frequency-band signatures of visual responses to naturalistic input in ferret primary visual cortex during free viewing. | neuronal firing responses in visual cortex reflect the statistics of visual input and emerge from the interaction with endogenous network dynamics. artificial visual stimuli presented to animals in which the network dynamics were constrained by anesthetic agents or trained behavioral tasks have provided fundamental understanding of how individual neurons in primary visual cortex respond to input. in contrast, very little is known about the mesoscale network dynamics and their relationship to mic ... | 2015 | 25498982 |
| toying with fate: redirecting the differentiation of adrenocortical progenitor cells into gonadal-like tissue. | cell fate decisions are integral to zonation and remodeling of the adrenal cortex. animal models exhibiting ectopic differentiation of gonadal-like cells in the adrenal cortex can shed light on the molecular mechanisms regulating steroidogenic cell fate. in one such model, prepubertal gonadectomy (gdx) of mice triggers the formation of adrenocortical neoplasms that resemble luteinized ovarian stroma. transcriptomic analysis and genome-wide dna methylation mapping have identified genetic and epig ... | 2015 | 25498963 |
| differential hypoglycaemic, anorectic, autonomic and emetic effects of the glucagon-like peptide receptor agonist, exendin-4, in the conscious telemetered ferret. | rodents are incapable of emesis and consequently the emetic potential of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (glp-1r) agonists in studies designed to assess a potential blood glucose lowering action of the compound was missed. therefore, we investigated if the ferret, a carnivore with demonstrated translation capability in emesis research, would identify the emetic potential of the glp-1r agonist, exendin-4, and any associated effects on gastric motor function, appetite and cardiovascular homeostas ... | 2014 | 25491123 |
| decision criterion dynamics in animals performing an auditory detection task. | classical signal detection theory attributes bias in perceptual decisions to a threshold criterion, against which sensory excitation is compared. the optimal criterion setting depends on the signal level, which may vary over time, and about which the subject is naïve. consequently, the subject must optimise its threshold by responding appropriately to feedback. here a series of experiments was conducted, and a computational model applied, to determine how the decision bias of the ferret in an au ... | 2014 | 25485733 |
| somatotopic organization of ferret thalamus. | the stereotaxic reference marks of ferret skull have large variability and the reference point for stereotaxic experiments in ferret brain is difficult to define. here, using extracellular single-unit recordings, we studied the somatotopic organization of cutaneous receptive fields in the ventroposterior medial (vpm) and the ventral posterolateral (vpl) nuclei of the ferret thalamus. the mechanical stimulation of the skin was done through air puffs. the skull was positioned according to horsley- ... | 2014 | 25484859 |
| repeated threat (without harm) in a living environment potentiates defensive behavior. | children exposed to neighborhood violence have higher rates of aggression, but it is unclear whether aggression is associated with threat, harm or the combination of factors. all animals, including humans, experience threat as they leave the safety of home and risk harm to gather resources (foraging). to better understand how selective environmental variables drive behavioral tendencies, we developed a semi-naturalistic living environment that includes the need to navigate across space to obtain ... | 2015 | 25446759 |
| animal models for influenza viruses: implications for universal vaccine development. | influenza virus infections are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the human population. depending on the virulence of the influenza virus strain, as well as the immunological status of the infected individual, the severity of the respiratory disease may range from sub-clinical or mild symptoms to severe pneumonia that can sometimes lead to death. vaccines remain the primary public health measure in reducing the influenza burden. though the first influenza vaccine preparation was l ... | 2014 | 25436508 |
| eye-specific retinogeniculate segregation proceeds normally following disruption of patterned spontaneous retinal activity. | spontaneous retinal activity (sra) is important during eye-specific segregation within the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dlgn), but the feature(s) of activity critical for retinogeniculate refinement are controversial. pharmacologically or genetically manipulating cholinergic signaling during sra perturbs correlated retinal ganglion cell (rgc) spiking and disrupts eye-specific retinofugal refinement in vivo, consistent with an instructive role for sra during visual system development. parad ... | 2014 | 25377639 |
| the effects of gamma and proton radiation exposure on hematopoietic cell counts in the ferret model. | exposure to total-body radiation induces hematological changes, which can detriment one's immune response to wounds and infection. here, the decreases in blood cell counts after acute radiation doses of γ-ray or proton radiation exposure, at the doses and dose-rates expected during a solar particle event (spe), are reported in the ferret model system. following the exposure to γ-ray or proton radiation, the ferret peripheral total white blood cell (wbc) and lymphocyte counts decreased whereas ne ... | 2013 | 25356435 |
| dependence of cardiac transverse tubules on the bar domain protein amphiphysin ii (bin-1). | transverse tubules (t-tubules) regulate cardiac excitation-contraction coupling and exhibit interchamber and interspecies differences in expression. in cardiac disease, t-tubule loss occurs and affects the systolic calcium transient. however, the mechanisms controlling t-tubule maintenance and whether these factors differ between species, cardiac chambers, and in a disease setting remain unclear. | 2014 | 25332206 |
| sequence and phylogenetic analysis identifies a putative novel gyrovirus 3 genotype in ferret feces. | the genomic sequence of a novel gyrovirus (gyv) 3 strain was detected from the fecal sample of a pet ferret. the length (2,359 nt) and the basic genomic structure of this strain was very similar to that of the single known gyv3 reference strain, whereas the genome sequence identity between the two strains was only 76 %. similarly, moderate sequence homology was found within the predicted protein coding regions, vp1 (nt, 72 %; aa, 76 %), vp2 (nt, 84 %; aa, 85 %), and vp3 (nt, 85 %; aa, 73 %). seq ... | 2015 | 25319533 |
| defective innate immunity and hyperinflammation in newborn cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator-knockout ferret lungs. | mucociliary clearance (mcc) and submucosal glands are major components of airway innate immunity that have impaired function in cystic fibrosis (cf). although both of these defense systems develop postnatally in the ferret, the lungs of newborn ferrets remain sterile in the presence of a functioning cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene. we evaluated several components of airway innate immunity and inflammation in the early cf ferret lung. at birth, the rates of mcc did not di ... | 2015 | 25317669 |
| mixed germ cell-sex cord-stromal tumor with a concurrent interstitial cell tumor in a ferret. | a 5-year-old male ferret presented with an enlarged canalicular testis in the left inguinal region. microscopically, the enlarged testis consisted of a diffuse intimately admixed proliferation of c-kit-positive germ cell-like and wilms tumor-1 protein-positive sertoli cell-like components, but no call-exner body was detected. in addition, the compact proliferation of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein-intense positive interstitial cells was identified in a separate peripheral area of the mas ... | 2015 | 25311985 |
| establishment of an experimental ferret ocular hypertension model for the analysis of central visual pathway damage. | glaucoma optic neuropathy (gon) is a condition where pathogenic intraocular pressure (iop) results in axonal damage following retinal ganglion cell (rgc) death, and further results in secondary damage of the lateral geniculate nucleus (lgn). therapeutic targets for glaucoma thus focus on both the lgn and rgc. however, the temporal and spatial patterns of degeneration and the mechanism of lgn damage have not been fully elucidated. suitable and convenient ocular hypertension (oh) animal models wit ... | 2014 | 25308730 |
| novel markers of gonadectomy-induced adrenocortical neoplasia in the mouse and ferret. | gonadectomy (gdx) induces sex steroid-producing adrenocortical tumors in certain mouse strains and in the domestic ferret. transcriptome analysis and dna methylation mapping were used to identify novel genetic and epigenetic markers of gdx-induced adrenocortical neoplasia in female dba/2j mice. markers were validated using a combination of laser capture microdissection, quantitative rt-pcr, in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemistry. microarray expression profiling of whole adrenal mrna fro ... | 2015 | 25289806 |
| [immunoallergic skin manifestations associated with new pets: three cases]. | the number of household pets increased greatly during the twentieth century, with numbers of new pets (np, i.e. any pets other than cats and dogs) rising especially sharply over the last decade. | 2014 | 25288061 |
| memory trace and timing mechanism localized to cerebellar purkinje cells. | the standard view of the mechanisms underlying learning is that they involve strengthening or weakening synaptic connections. learned response timing is thought to combine such plasticity with temporally patterned inputs to the neuron. we show here that a cerebellar purkinje cell in a ferret can learn to respond to a specific input with a temporal pattern of activity consisting of temporally specific increases and decreases in firing over hundreds of milliseconds without a temporally patterned i ... | 2014 | 25267641 |
| plant expression systems for production of hemagglutinin as a vaccine against influenza virus. | many examples of a successful application of plant-based expression systems for production of biologically active recombinant proteins exist in the literature. these systems can function as inexpensive platforms for the large scale production of recombinant pharmaceuticals or subunit vaccines. hemagglutinin (ha) is a major surface antigen of the influenza virus, thus it is in the centre of interests of various subunit vaccine engineering programs. large scale production of recombinant ha in trad ... | 2014 | 25203219 |
| evidence of disseminated intravascular coagulation in a porcine model following radiation exposure. | recent evidence has suggested that disseminated intravascular coagulation (dic) plays an integral role in death at the ld50 dose of either gamma or solar particle event (spe)-like proton radiation in ferrets. in these studies, yucatan minipigs were evaluated to determine whether they were susceptible to the development of radiation induced dic. yucatan minipigs were exposed to a dose of 2.5 gray (gy) with x-rays and monitored over the course of 30 days. evidence of dic was evaluated by way of th ... | 2014 | 25197627 |
| activity dependent mechanisms of visual map formation--from retinal waves to molecular regulators. | the refinement of neural connections requires activity-dependent mechanisms in addition to the genetic program initially establishing wiring diagrams. the well-understood organization of the visual system makes it an accessible model for analyzing the contribution of activity in the formation of connectivity. prior to visual experience, patterned spontaneous activity in the form of retinal waves has an important role for the establishment of eye-specific and retinotopic maps by acting on the ref ... | 2014 | 25152335 |
| changes in complex spike activity during classical conditioning. | the cerebellar cortex is necessary for adaptively timed conditioned responses (crs) in eyeblink conditioning. during conditioning, purkinje cells acquire pause responses or "purkinje cell crs" to the conditioned stimuli (cs), resulting in disinhibition of the cerebellar nuclei (cn), allowing them to activate motor nuclei that control eyeblinks. this disinhibition also causes inhibition of the inferior olive (io), via the nucleo-olivary pathway (n-o). activation of the io, which relays the uncond ... | 2014 | 25140129 |
| congenital abnormalities of the vertebral column in ferrets. | vertebral column pathologies requiring surgical intervention have been described in pet ferrets, however little information is available on the normal vertebral formula and congenital variants in this species. the purpose of this retrospective study was to describe vertebral formulas and prevalence of congenital vertebral anomalies in a sample of pet ferrets. radiographs of 172 pet ferrets (96 males and 76 females) were included in this retrospective study. in 143 ferrets (83.14%), five differen ... | 2015 | 25124147 |
| multisensory training improves auditory spatial processing following bilateral cochlear implantation. | cochlear implants (cis) partially restore hearing to the deaf by directly stimulating the inner ear. in individuals fitted with cis, lack of auditory experience due to loss of hearing before language acquisition can adversely impact outcomes. for example, adults with early-onset hearing loss generally do not integrate inputs from both ears effectively when fitted with bilateral cis (bicis). here, we used an animal model to investigate the effects of long-term deafness on auditory localization wi ... | 2014 | 25122908 |
| molecular detection and characterization of human gyroviruses identified in the ferret fecal virome. | the recently described novel gyroviruses may infect chickens and/or humans; however, their pathogenic potential is unknown. in our metagenomic investigation, we detected many of the novel gyroviruses in the fecal viromes of ferrets with lymph node and organ enlargement. the complete genomic sequences of selected gyrovirus strains showed 90.7-99.4 % similarity to homologous reference gyrovirus strains. this study did not demonstrate an association between gyrovirus shedding from ferrets and the o ... | 2014 | 25119678 |
| development and matching of binocular orientation preference in mouse v1. | eye-specific thalamic inputs converge in the primary visual cortex (v1) and form the basis of binocular vision. for normal binocular perceptions, such as depth and stereopsis, binocularly matched orientation preference between the two eyes is required. a critical period of binocular matching of orientation preference in mice during normal development is reported in literature. using a reaction diffusion model we present the development of rf and orientation selectivity in mouse v1 and investigat ... | 2014 | 25104927 |
| envelope enhancement increases cortical sensitivity to interaural envelope delays with acoustic and electric hearing. | evidence from human psychophysical and animal electrophysiological studies suggests that sensitivity to interaural time delay (itd) in the modulating envelope of a high-frequency carrier can be enhanced using half-wave rectified stimuli. recent evidence has shown potential benefits of equivalent electrical stimuli to deaf individuals with bilateral cochlear implants (cis). in the current study we assessed the effects of envelope shape on itd sensitivity in the primary auditory cortex of normal-h ... | 2014 | 25093417 |
| chimeric antibodies with extended half-life in ferrets. | ferrets have long been used as a disease model for the study of influenza vaccines, but a more recent use has been for the study of human monoclonal antibodies directed against influenza viruses. published data suggest that human antibodies are cleared unusually quickly from the ferret and that immune responses may be partially responsible. this immunogenicity increases variability within groups and may present an obstacle to long-term studies. | 2014 | 25074755 |
| an alternative to surgical desexing in ferrets. | | 2014 | 25034682 |
| the melanin-concentrating hormone receptors: neuronal and non-neuronal functions. | melanin-concentrating hormone (mch) is a cyclic peptide highly conserved in vertebrates and was originally identified as a skin-paling factor in teleosts. in fishes, mch also participates in the regulation of the stress-response and feeding behaviour. mammalian mch is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that displays multiple functions, mostly controlling feeding behaviour and energy homeostasis. transgenic mouse models and pharmacological studies have shown the importance of the mch system as a potenti ... | 2014 | 27152164 |
| histone-modifying genes as biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma. | hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc) is the world's fifth most common cancer and second leading cause of cancer-related death in taiwan. over 600,000 hcc patients die each year worldwide despite recent advances in surgical techniques and medical treatments. epigenetic regulations including dna methylation and histone modification control gene expressions and play important roles during tumorigenesis. this study evaluates association between histone-modifying genes and prognosis of hcc to ferret out ne ... | 2014 | 24966962 |
| prepuce and partial penile amputation for treatment of preputial gland neoplasia in two ferrets. | preputial tumours in ferrets are frequently malignant and therefore warrant prompt investigation. as many cases do not respond favourably to surgery, even in combination with radiation therapy, wide surgical resection has been recommended. such a procedure may necessitate partial or total penile resection but outcomes have thus far not been well described. the current case series describes two ferrets in which surgical resection, including penile amputation, was performed using 10 and 5 mm margi ... | 2014 | 24962052 |
| control of reproduction in ferrets, rabbits and rodents. | reproduction control of small mammals is challenging. the purposes are the control of fertility and the reduction of sexual behaviour, aggressiveness and odour. moreover, some species like ferret females need to be neutered to prevent bone marrow suppression caused by hyperoestrogenism. many methods of sterilization have been reported, including surgical and chemical techniques. this article describes the reproductive physiology of ferrets and the techniques used to control their reproduction. s ... | 2014 | 24947865 |
| the cholinergic basal forebrain in the ferret and its inputs to the auditory cortex. | cholinergic inputs to the auditory cortex can modulate sensory processing and regulate stimulus-specific plasticity according to the behavioural state of the subject. in order to understand how acetylcholine achieves this, it is essential to elucidate the circuitry by which cholinergic inputs influence the cortex. in this study, we described the distribution of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain and their inputs to the auditory cortex of the ferret, a species used increasingly in studies ... | 2014 | 24945075 |
| hearing in noisy environments: noise invariance and contrast gain control. | contrast gain control has recently been identified as a fundamental property of the auditory system. electrophysiological recordings in ferrets have shown that neurons continuously adjust their gain (their sensitivity to change in sound level) in response to the contrast of sounds that are heard. at the level of the auditory cortex, these gain changes partly compensate for changes in sound contrast. this means that sounds which are structurally similar, but have different contrasts, have similar ... | 2014 | 24907308 |
| gonadectomy-related adrenocortical tumors in ferrets demonstrate increased expression of androgen and estrogen synthesizing enzymes together with high inhibin expression. | the 2 objectives of this study were to (1) measure by quantitative polymerase chain reaction the expression of genes involved in steroid and inhibin synthesis in adrenocortical tumors of gonadectomized ferrets and (2) localize by immunohistochemistry several proteins that are key to adrenal steroidogenesis. relative to the control adrenals, expression of the messenger rnas encoding star (steroidogenic acute regulatory protein; p = 0.039), cyp11a (p = 0.019), cyp21 (p = 0.01), and 3β-hsd (p = 0.0 ... | 2014 | 24906927 |
| apremilast is a selective pde4 inhibitor with regulatory effects on innate immunity. | apremilast, an oral small molecule inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 (pde4), is in development for chronic inflammatory disorders, and has shown efficacy in psoriasis, psoriatic arthropathies, and behçet's syndrome. in march 2014, the us food and drug administration approved apremilast for the treatment of adult patients with active psoriatic arthritis. the properties of apremilast were evaluated to determine its specificity, effects on intracellular signaling, gene and protein expression, and in ... | 2014 | 24882690 |
| taqman real time rt-pcr assays for detecting ferret innate and adaptive immune responses. | the ferret is an excellent model for many human infectious diseases including influenza, sars-cov, henipavirus and pneumococcal infections. the ferret is also used to study cystic fibrosis and various cancers, as well as reproductive biology and physiology. however, the range of reagents available to measure the ferret immune response is very limited. to address this deficiency, high-throughput real time rt-pcr taqman assays were developed to measure the expression of fifteen immune mediators as ... | 2014 | 24797460 |
| mucociliary clearance and submucosal gland secretion in the ex vivo ferret trachea. | in many species submucosal glands are an important source of tracheal mucus, but the extent to which mucociliary clearance (mcc) depends on gland secretion is unknown. to explore this relationship, we measured basal and agonist-stimulated mcc velocities in ex vivo tracheas from adult ferrets and compared the velocities with previously measured rates of ferret glandular mucus secretion (cho hj, joo ns, wine jj. am j physiol lung cell mol physiol 299: l124-l136, 2010). stimulated mcc velocities (m ... | 2014 | 24793168 |
| use of a gnrh agonist implant as alternative for surgical neutering in pet ferrets. | in the current study, the duration of effectiveness, owner satisfaction and side effects of a gonadotrophin releasing hormone-agonist (deslorelin) implant were investigated during a two-year follow-up study in which 61 male and 69 female entire pet ferrets were given a 4.7 mg deslorelin implant as alternative to surgical neutering. in 27 participating non-oestrous jills, a double-blind placebo controlled study was performed to investigate whether a single low dose of medroxyprogesterone (2 mg or ... | 2014 | 24789851 |
| ferret-mouse differences in interkinetic nuclear migration and cellular densification in the neocortical ventricular zone. | the thick outer subventricular zone (osvz) is characteristic of the development of human neocortex. how this region originates from the ventricular zone (vz) is largely unknown. recently, we showed that over-proliferation-induced acute nuclear densification and thickening of the vz in neocortical walls of mice, which lack an osvz, causes reactive delamination of undifferentiated progenitors and invasion by these cells of basal areas outside the vz. in this study, we sought to determine how vz ce ... | 2014 | 24780233 |
| first survey of endoparasites in pet ferrets in italy. | endoparasites are infrequently reported in ferrets. a cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites in pet ferrets in southern italy. fresh fecal samples were randomly collected from 50 ferrets housed in pet shops or privately owned. all fecal samples were processed using the flotac pellet technique to identify and count helminthic eggs/larvae and protozoan cysts/oocysts. in addition, the samples were analyzed also by the remel xpectgiardia/cryptosporid ... | 2014 | 24768317 |
| microinjection of membrane-impermeable molecules into single neural stem cells in brain tissue. | this microinjection protocol allows the manipulation and tracking of neural stem and progenitor cells in tissue at single-cell resolution. we demonstrate how to apply microinjection to organotypic brain slices obtained from mice and ferrets; however, our technique is not limited to mouse and ferret embryos, but provides a means of introducing a wide variety of membrane-impermeable molecules (e.g., nucleic acids, proteins, hydrophilic compounds) into neural stem and progenitor cells of any develo ... | 2014 | 24762784 |
| mechanisms of noise robust representation of speech in primary auditory cortex. | humans and animals can reliably perceive behaviorally relevant sounds in noisy and reverberant environments, yet the neural mechanisms behind this phenomenon are largely unknown. to understand how neural circuits represent degraded auditory stimuli with additive and reverberant distortions, we compared single-neuron responses in ferret primary auditory cortex to speech and vocalizations in four conditions: clean, additive white and pink (1/f) noise, and reverberation. despite substantial distort ... | 2014 | 24753585 |
| automated analysis of delayed emesis in the telemetered ferret: detection of synergistic effects of aprepitant and ondansetron. | nausea and vomiting are common side effects of cancer chemotherapy. we have previously described a model in the ferret where delayed emesis can be measured automatically using telemetry. this study was designed to examine the sensitivity of this automated emesis model for detecting moderate and/or additive pharmacological effects by investigating low-dose effects of aprepitant alone or in combination with ondansetron. ferrets implanted with telemetry devices (data sciences international) were or ... | 2014 | 24750138 |
| emergent selectivity for task-relevant stimuli in higher-order auditory cortex. | a variety of attention-related effects have been demonstrated in primary auditory cortex (a1). however, an understanding of the functional role of higher auditory cortical areas in guiding attention to acoustic stimuli has been elusive. we recorded from neurons in two tonotopic cortical belt areas in the dorsal posterior ectosylvian gyrus (dpeg) of ferrets trained on a simple auditory discrimination task. neurons in dpeg showed similar basic auditory tuning properties to a1, but during behavior ... | 2014 | 24742467 |
| prevalence of deafness and association with coat variations in client-owned ferrets. | to evaluate the prevalence of congenital sensorineural deafness (csd) and its association with phenotypic markers in client-owned ferrets. | 2014 | 24739114 |
| brainstem auditory-evoked response (baer) in client-owned pet ferrets with normal hearing. | the objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of brainstem auditory-evoked response (baer) testing in pet ferrets in a clinical setting, and to describe a routine method and baseline data for normal hearing ferrets for future investigation of deafness in this species. twenty-eight clinically normal client-owned ferrets were included. baer measurements were recorded under general anaesthesia (isoflurane delivered by mask), from subcutaneously placed needle electrodes. a 'click' stim ... | 2014 | 24714054 |
| low dose influenza virus challenge in the ferret leads to increased virus shedding and greater sensitivity to oseltamivir. | ferrets are widely used to study human influenza virus infection. their airway physiology and cell receptor distribution makes them ideal for the analysis of pathogenesis and virus transmission, and for testing the efficacy of anti-influenza interventions and vaccines. the 2009 pandemic influenza virus (h1n1pdm09) induces mild to moderate respiratory disease in infected ferrets, following inoculation with 106 plaque-forming units (pfu) of virus. we have demonstrated that reducing the challenge d ... | 2014 | 24709834 |
| retinal ganglion cells projecting to the accessory optic system in optokinetic blind albinotic rats are direction-selective. | the optokinetic deficits in albinotic rats and ferrets are caused by the loss of direction selectivity in the accessory optic system (aos). however, the underlying mechanisms for this loss are still not clear. here we tested the hypothesis that, in albino rats, the retinal input to the aos lacks direction selectivity and, as a consequence, neurons in the aos are direction non-selective. we investigated on-center direction-selective retinal ganglion cells, the major input to the aos, in pigmented ... | 2014 | 24698401 |
| use of spectroscopy for assessment of color discrimination in animal vision. | animals use color vision for a number of tasks including food localization, object recognition, communication, and mate selection. for these and other specific behaviors involving the use of color cues, models that quantify color discriminability have been developed. these models take as input the photoreceptor spectral sensitivities of the animal and radiance spectra of the surfaces of interest. these spectra are usually acquired using spectroscopic instruments that collect point-by-point data ... | 2014 | 24695182 |
| quantitative measurement of influenza virus replication using consecutive bronchoalveolar lavage in the lower respiratory tract of a ferret model. | the ferret is an established animal model of influenza virus infection. although viral replication in the upper respiratory tract is usually measured with consecutively collected nasal washes, daily evaluation of viral replication in the lung is limited because a large numbers of ferrets need to be sacrificed at consecutive time points. to overcome this limitation, we performed a virus quantification assay using bronchoalveolar lavage (bal) fluid. this non-invasive bal technique allows consecuti ... | 2014 | 24690606 |
| histologic examinations of teeth treated with 2 scaffolds: a pilot animal investigation. | a growing body of evidence is building a case for the possibility of tissue regeneration within the root canal of necrotic teeth, allowing for continued root development. however, it remains unknown what type of tissue is produced after regenerative endodontics. the purpose of this study was to use blood clots and platelet-rich plasma (prp) as scaffolds in regenerative endodontics under ideal conditions in a ferret model to examine the tissues generated within the root canals. | 2014 | 24666902 |
| a data repository and analysis framework for spontaneous neural activity recordings in developing retina. | during early development, neural circuits fire spontaneously, generating activity episodes with complex spatiotemporal patterns. recordings of spontaneous activity have been made in many parts of the nervous system over the last 25 years, reporting developmental changes in activity patterns and the effects of various genetic perturbations. | 2014 | 24666584 |
| developmental remodeling of corticocortical feedback circuits in ferret visual cortex. | visual cortical areas in the mammalian brain are linked through a system of interareal feedforward and feedback connections, which presumably underlie different visual functions. we characterized the refinement of feedback projections to primary visual cortex (v1) from multiple sources in juvenile ferrets ranging in age from 4-10 weeks postnatal. we studied whether the refinement of different aspects of feedback circuitry from multiple visual cortical areas proceeds at a similar rate in all area ... | 2014 | 24665018 |
| functional imaging of auditory cortex in adult cats using high-field fmri. | current knowledge of sensory processing in the mammalian auditory system is mainly derived from electrophysiological studies in a variety of animal models, including monkeys, ferrets, bats, rodents, and cats. in order to draw suitable parallels between human and animal models of auditory function, it is important to establish a bridge between human functional imaging studies and animal electrophysiological studies. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri) is an established, minimally invasiv ... | 2014 | 24637937 |
| the claustrum of the ferret: afferent and efferent connections to lower and higher order visual cortical areas. | the claustrum, a subcortical telencephalic structure, is known to be reciprocally interconnected to almost all cortical regions; however, a systematic analysis of claustrocortical connectivity with physiologically identified lower and higher order visual cortical areas has not been undertaken. in the current study we used biotinylated dextran amine to trace the connections of the ferret claustrum with lower (occipital areas 17, 18, 19 and 21) and higher (parietal and temporal areas posterior par ... | 2014 | 24616671 |
| the precedence effect and its buildup and breakdown in ferrets and humans. | although many studies have examined the precedence effect (pe), few have tested whether it shows a buildup and breakdown in nonhuman animals comparable to that seen in humans. these processes are thought to reflect the ability of the auditory system to adjust to a listener's acoustic environment, and their mechanisms are still poorly understood. in this study, ferrets were trained on a two-alternative forced-choice task to discriminate the azimuthal direction of brief sounds. in one experiment, ... | 2014 | 24606278 |
| emerging feed-forward inhibition allows the robust formation of direction selectivity in the developing ferret visual cortex. | the computation of direction selectivity requires that a cell respond to joint spatial and temporal characteristics of the stimulus that cannot be separated into independent components. direction selectivity in ferret visual cortex is not present at the time of eye opening but instead develops in the days and weeks following eye opening in a process that requires visual experience with moving stimuli. classic hebbian or spike timing-dependent modification of excitatory feed-forward synaptic inpu ... | 2014 | 24598528 |
| quantifying insulin sensitivity and entero-insular responsiveness to hyper- and hypoglycemia in ferrets. | ferrets are an important emerging model of cystic fibrosis related diabetes. however, there is little documented experience in the use of advanced techniques to quantify aspects of diabetes pathophysiology in the ferret. glycemic clamps are the gold standard technique to assess both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in humans and animal models of diabetes. we therefore sought to develop techniques for glycemic clamps in ferrets. to assess insulin sensitivity, we performed euglycemic hype ... | 2014 | 24594704 |
| short-term outcome following partial or complete liver lobectomy with a commercially prepared self-ligating loop in companion animals: 29 cases (2009-2012). | to evaluate the clinical use of a self-ligating loop (sll) for partial or complete liver lobectomy in a variety of companion animal species. | 2014 | 24568111 |
| effects of l-type calcium channel antagonists verapamil and diltiazem on fkv1.4δn currents in xenopus oocytes. | the goal of this study was to determine the effects of the l-type calcium channel blockers verapamil and diltiazem on the currents of voltage-gated potassium channel (fkv1.4δn), an n-terminal-deleted mutant of the ferret kv1.4 potassium channel. measurements were made using a two electrode voltage clamp technique with channels expressed stably in xenopus oocytes. the fkv1.4δn currents displayed slow inactivation, with a half-inactivation potential of -38.38 mv and slow recovery from inactivation ... | 2013 | 24523765 |
| diverse behaviors of outer radial glia in developing ferret and human cortex. | the dramatic increase in neocortical size and folding during mammalian brain evolution has been attributed to the elaboration of the subventricular zone (svz) and the associated increase in neural progenitors. however, recent studies have shown that svz size and the abundance of resident progenitors do not directly predict cortical topography, suggesting that complex behaviors of the progenitors themselves may contribute to the overall size and shape of the adult cortex. using time-lapse imaging ... | 2014 | 24523546 |
| assessment of a blood preservation protocol for use in ferrets before transfusion. | blood transfusion has been described in ferrets as a treatment for oestrus-associated anaemia and as a life-saving therapy following trauma, iatrogenic (usually surgery-induced) anaemia, autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and pure red cell aplasia. although blood banking is a common method for storage of feline and canine blood it is not currently done with ferret blood. the aim of this study was to determine the shelf-life of ferret blood using the anticoagulant citrate-phosphate-dextrose-solution w ... | 2014 | 24523302 |
| survey of zoonotic dermatoses in client-owned exotic pet mammals in southern italy. | several 'exotic' mammalian species (e.g. rabbits, rodents, ferrets and hedgehogs) live in close proximity to humans as companion pets. skin diseases (sd) are frequent causes of morbidity in exotic pet mammals, and most of those sds have a zoonotic potential. the purpose of this study was to determine the frequencies and types of zoonotic dermatosis (zd) in client-owned, exotic pet mammals in southern italy. six-hundred and fifty-five medical records of exotic pet mammals examined between 2011 an ... | 2015 | 24506806 |
| evidence for radiation-induced disseminated intravascular coagulation as a major cause of radiation-induced death in ferrets. | the studies reported here were performed as part of a program in space radiation biology in which proton radiation like that present in solar particle events, as well as conventional gamma radiation, were being evaluated in terms of the ability to affect hemostasis. | 2014 | 24495588 |
| antiemetic effect of a potent and selective neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist, fk886, on cisplatin-induced acute and delayed emesis in ferrets. | the antiemetic effect of a potent and selective neurokinin-1 (nk1) receptor antagonist, fk886 ([3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl][(2r)-2-(3-hydroxy-4-methylbenzyl)-4-{2-[(2s)-2-(methoxymethyl)morpholin-4-yl]ethyl}piperazin-1-yl]methanone dihydrochloride), on cisplatin-induced acute and delayed emesis in ferrets was studied. intravenous administration of fk886 dose-dependently inhibited cisplatin (10 mg/kg)-induced acute emesis with a minimum effective dose (med) of 0.32 mg/kg. in the same study, o ... | 2014 | 24492720 |
| meloxicam pharmacokinetics using nonlinear mixed-effects modeling in ferrets after single subcutaneous administration. | this study was designed to investigate the pharmacokinetics of meloxicam, an oxicam class, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (nsaid), in ferrets. we determined the pharmacokinetic properties of a single subcutaneous dose of meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg) in nine male and nine female ferrets. blood samples were collected by venipuncture of the cranial vena cava into heparinized syringes. plasma meloxicam concentrations were determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography (hplc). pharmacokinetic variab ... | 2014 | 24483951 |
| shrinkage of x cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus after monocular deprivation revealed by foxp2 labeling. | the parallel processing of visual features by distinct neuron populations is a central characteristic of the mammalian visual system. in the a laminae of the cat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dlgn), parallel processing streams originate from two principal neuron types, called x and y cells. disruption of visual experience early in life by monocular deprivation has been shown to alter the structure and function of y cells, but the extent to which deprivation influences x cells remains less c ... | 2014 | 24480423 |
| bidirectional plasticity of purkinje cells matches temporal features of learning. | many forms of learning require temporally ordered stimuli. in pavlovian eyeblink conditioning, a conditioned stimulus (cs) must precede the unconditioned stimulus (us) by at least about 100 ms for learning to occur. conditioned responses are learned and generated by the cerebellum. recordings from the cerebellar cortex during conditioning have revealed cs-triggered pauses in the firing of purkinje cells that likely drive the conditioned blinks. the predominant view of the learning mechanism in c ... | 2014 | 24478355 |
| genetic characterization of coronaviruses from domestic ferrets, japan. | we detected ferret coronaviruses in 44 (55.7%) of 79 pet ferrets tested in japan and classified the viruses into 2 genotypes on the basis of genotype-specific pcr. our results show that 2 ferret coronaviruses that cause feline infectious peritonitis-like disease and epizootic catarrhal enteritis are enzootic among ferrets in japan. | 2014 | 24447852 |
| fight like a ferret: a novel approach of using art therapy to reduce anxiety in stroke patients undergoing hospital rehabilitation. | the holistic aspect of stroke rehabilitation to include psychological well-being is currently neglected, with more emphasis placed on physical recovery despite anxiety and depression being common poststroke. from the limited amount of current literature, it seems that creative strategies such as art therapy (at) can be beneficial in reducing isolation and anxiety among stroke patients. | 2014 | 24429732 |
| [attempt to objectify of coronary vessels course variability on the standard arteriograms by using original image processing algorithm]. | the aim of paper: the analysis of standard angiograms of the left coronary artery was done in this paper in purpose of performing the uniform mathematical description of the coronary branches (both proximal and distal) course. the changes the coronary branches underwent depending the phase of cardiac cycle (diastole, isovolumic systole and tonic systole) were examined as well. the examined material consists of sequences of standard angiograms of the left coronary artery (lca) obtained from 10 pa ... | 2014 | 25782214 |
| neural and behavioral investigations into timbre perception. | timbre is the attribute that distinguishes sounds of equal pitch, loudness and duration. it contributes to our perception and discrimination of different vowels and consonants in speech, instruments in music and environmental sounds. here we begin by reviewing human timbre perception and the spectral and temporal acoustic features that give rise to timbre in speech, musical and environmental sounds. we also consider the perception of timbre by animals, both in the case of human vowels and non-hu ... | 2013 | 24312021 |