Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and nitric oxide (NO) are important neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of bronchial tone and pulmonary blood tone. Published studies of the effects of VIP on airway mucus secretion have yielded conflicting results and the effects of VIP in airway mucus secretion still remain uncertain. The purpose of this study was to determine whether VIP and NO stimulate or inhibit mucus secretion in the ferret trachea and to investigate the interaction between VIP and NO on airway mucus secretion. We used a sandwich enzyme-linked lectin assay (ELLA) to measure mucin secretion and a turbidimetric assay to measure lysozyme secretion from isolated ferret tracheal segments. VIP stimulated mucin secretion in a dose-dependent fashion. At all concentrations tested, neither N-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase) nor S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP)(NO donor) had any significant effect on basal and VIP-induced mucus secretion. We conclude that VIP stimulates mucin and lysozyme secretion, and NO does not play as a stimulator or inhibitor in mucus secretion in the ferret trachea.
Ferrets* ; Mucins* ; Mucus ; Muramidase ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Nitric Oxide* ; Trachea ; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide*

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and nitric oxide (NO) are important neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of bronchial tone and pulmonary blood tone. Published studies of the effects of VIP on airway mucus secretion have yielded conflicting results and the effects of VIP in airway mucus secretion still remain uncertain. The purpose of this study was to determine whether VIP and NO stimulate or inhibit mucus secretion in the ferret trachea and to investigate the interaction between VIP and NO on airway mucus secretion. We used a sandwich enzyme-linked lectin assay (ELLA) to measure mucin secretion and a turbidimetric assay to measure lysozyme secretion from isolated ferret tracheal segments. VIP stimulated mucin secretion in a dose-dependent fashion. At all concentrations tested, neither N-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase) nor S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP)(NO donor) had any significant effect on basal and VIP-induced mucus secretion. We conclude that VIP stimulates mucin and lysozyme secretion, and NO does not play as a stimulator or inhibitor in mucus secretion in the ferret trachea.
Ferrets* ; Mucins* ; Mucus ; Muramidase ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Nitric Oxide* ; Trachea ; Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide*

This study provides information regarding vaccine research and the epidemiology of influenza virus in neglected hosts (horses and dogs). Equine influenza virus (EIV) causes a highly contagious disease in horses and other equids, and outbreaks have occurred worldwide. EIV has resulted in costly damage to the horse industry and has the ability of cross the host species barrier from horses to dogs. Canine influenza is a virus of equine or avian origin and infects companion animals that live in close contact with humans; this results in possible exposure to the seasonal epizootic influenza virus. There have been case reports of genetic reassortment between human and canine influenza viruses, which results in high virulence and the ability of transmission to ferrets. This emphasizes the need for vaccine research on neglected hosts to update knowledge on current strains and to advance technology for controlling influenza outbreaks for public health.
Animals ; Disease Outbreaks ; Dogs* ; Epidemiology ; Ferrets ; Horses* ; Humans ; Influenza A virus ; Influenza Vaccines ; Influenza, Human* ; Orthomyxoviridae* ; Pets ; Public Health ; Seasons ; Virulence

A chordoma is an uncommon tumor that originates from the remnants of the notochord and most commonly involves the cranial and caudal regions of the axial skeleton. Chordoma has been described in laboratory animals such as dogs, rats, minks, and ferrets. This report describes a case of a chordoma in the tail of a ferret. Grossly, a grayish-white, expansile, subcutaneous soft-tissue mass was observed in the tail. Histopathologically, the mass was a loosely placed, nodular, unencapsulated neoplasm within the dermis. In the mass, tumor lobules were intermingled with fibrous tissues. Fibrous tissues contained abundant extracellular basophilic material that was consistent with mucin. The tumor was composed of a close pack of adipocyte-like vacuolated cells (physaliferous cells). The cells were centrally or eccentrically located round nuclei and eosinophilic cytoplasm with large vacuoles. Immunohistologically, neoplastic cells were positive for vimentin and S-100 protein. Based on histopathologic findings and special staining characteristics, this case was diagnosed as chordoma.
Animals ; Animals, Laboratory ; Basophils ; Chordoma ; Cytoplasm ; Dermis ; Dogs ; Eosinophils ; Ferrets ; Mink ; Mucins ; Notochord ; Rats ; S100 Proteins ; Skeleton ; Tail ; Vacuoles ; Vimentin

The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of MB12662, a synthetic dunnione compound, on cisplatin-induced vomiting reflexes and intestinal, renal, immune system, and hematopoietic toxicities in ferrets and mice, respectively. Male ICR mice were orally administered MB12662 (5, 10, 25 or 50 mg/kg) for 10 days, during which intraperitoneally challenged with cisplatin (3.5 mg/kg) from day 4 to 7, and sacrificed on day 10 for the pathological examination. Male ferrets were orally administered MB12662 (25, 50 or 100 mg/kg) for 7 days, subcutaneously challenged with cisplatin (5 mg/kg), and monitored for vomiting reflexes and survival of the animals. Four-day injection of cisplatin (3.5 mg/kg) to mice caused body weight loss and degeneration and atrophy of intestinal villi, reducing villi/crypt ratio to a half level of control animals. Cisplatin also induced renal and hepatic toxicities, and depletion of splenocytes and bone marrow progenitor cells. The systemic toxicities including decreased villi/crypt ratio, immune system atrophy, splenocyte depletion, and decreased cellularity in bone marrow were improved by MB12662. Cisplatin (5 mg/kg) induced retching and emetic responses of ferrets, which were remarkably attenuated by MB12662 in a dose-dependent manner. All the ferrets pretreated with MB12662 survived the challenge of cisplatin, in comparison with 40% mortality in vehicle-treated animals, and blood parameters of nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity were markedly recovered. It is expected that MB12662 could be a candidate for the body protection against burden, including emesis, of chemotherapeutic agents.
Animals ; Atrophy ; Body Weight ; Bone Marrow ; Cisplatin ; Ferrets ; Humans ; Immune System ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Mortality ; Reflex ; Stem Cells ; Vomiting*

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 consecutive quantification of virus replication in the lungs of living ferrets. Our method can be used for the longitudinal evaluation of virus tropism in the lower respiratory tract.
Animals ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage/*veterinary ; Disease Models, Animal ; Female ; Ferrets/*virology ; Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype/*physiology ; Orthomyxoviridae Infections/*veterinary/virology ; Respiratory System/*virology ; Virus Replication/*physiology

This study was carried out in adult ferret cardiomyocytes to investigate the effects of the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on voltage-gated K(+) currents. We report that the two outward K(+) currents: the transient outward K(+) current (I(to)) and the delayed rectifier K(+) current (I(K)), are both inhibited by the n-3 PUFAs, while the inwardly rectifying K(+) current (I(K1)) is unaffected by the n-3 PUFAs. Docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6n-3, DHA) produced a concentration dependent suppression of I(to) and I(K) in adult ferret cardiomyocytes with an IC(50) of 7.5 and 20 micromol/L, respectively; but not I(K1). In addition, eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5n-3, EPA) had the effects on the three K(+) channels similar to DHA. Arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6, AA) at 5 or 10 micromol/L, after an initial inhibitory effect on I(K), caused an activation of I(K),AA which was prevented by pretreatment with indomethacin, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor. Monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids, which are not antiarrhythmic, lack the effects on these K(+) currents. Our results demonstrate that the n-3 PUFAs inhibit cardiac I(to) and I(K) with much less potency compared to their effects on cardiac Na(+) and Ca(2+) currents as we reported previously. This inhibition of the cardiac ion currents by the n-3 PUFAs may contribute to their antiarrhythmic actions.
Animals ; Arachidonic Acid ; pharmacology ; Docosahexaenoic Acids ; pharmacology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Eicosapentaenoic Acid ; pharmacology ; Ferrets ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated ; metabolism

The seat of human intelligence is the human cerebral cortex, which is responsible for our exceptional cognitive abilities. Identifying principles that lead to the development of the large-sized human cerebral cortex will shed light on what makes the human brain and species so special. The remarkable increase in the number of human cortical pyramidal neurons and the size of the human cerebral cortex is mainly because human cortical radial glial cells, primary neural stem cells in the cortex, generate cortical pyramidal neurons for more than 130 days, whereas the same process takes only about 7 days in mice. The molecular mechanisms underlying this difference are largely unknown. Here, we found that bone morphogenic protein 7 (BMP7) is expressed by increasing the number of cortical radial glial cells during mammalian evolution (mouse, ferret, monkey, and human). BMP7 expression in cortical radial glial cells promotes neurogenesis, inhibits gliogenesis, and thereby increases the length of the neurogenic period, whereas Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling promotes cortical gliogenesis. We demonstrate that BMP7 signaling and SHH signaling mutually inhibit each other through regulation of GLI3 repressor formation. We propose that BMP7 drives the evolutionary expansion of the mammalian cortex by increasing the length of the neurogenic period.
Animals ; Mice ; Humans ; Ependymoglial Cells/metabolism* ; Hedgehog Proteins/metabolism* ; Ferrets/metabolism* ; Cerebral Cortex ; Neurogenesis ; Mammals/metabolism* ; Neuroglia/metabolism* ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7/metabolism*

Cholangiocarcinoma is a relatively rare neoplasm in animals and humans. A four-year-old, neutered male ferret presented with depression, anorexia, cachexia, diarrhea, and icterus. Necropsy findings included ascites, multiple white nodules on the surface of the liver, stomach, and duodenum, gross enlargement of the bile duct and right atrium, hemorrhage of the gastric and duodenal mucosa, and icterus of the mesenteric fat. Infiltrative well-differentiated neoplastic biliary epithelial cells forming ducts and acini with a prominent collagenous stroma were observed on microscopic examination of neoplastic lesions within the liver, mesentery, and the serosa of the stomach and duodenum. This is a report on a rare case of obstructive jaundice due to cholangiocarcinoma in a ferret.
Animals ; Anorexia ; Ascites ; Bile Ducts ; Cachexia ; Cholangiocarcinoma* ; Collagen ; Depression ; Diarrhea ; Duodenum ; Epithelial Cells ; Ferrets* ; Heart Atria ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Liver ; Male ; Mesentery ; Mucous Membrane ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Serous Membrane ; Stomach

Based on sequencing the full-length genomes of four Chinese Ferret-Badger and dog, we analyze the properties of rabies viruses genetic variation in molecular level, get the information about rabies viruses prevalence and variation in Zhejiang, and enrich the genome database of rabies viruses street strains isolated from China. Rabies viruses in suckling mice were isolated, overlapped fragments were amplified by RT-PCR and full-length genomes were assembled to analyze the nucleotide and deduced protein similarities and phylogenetic analyses from Chinese Ferret-Badger, dog, sika deer, vole, used vaccine strain were determined. The four full-length genomes were sequenced completely and had the same genetic structure with the length of 11, 923 nts or 11, 925 nts including 58 nts-Leader, 1353 nts-NP, 894 nts-PP, 609 nts-MP, 1575 nts-GP, 6386 nts-LP, and 2, 5, 5 nts- intergenic regions(IGRs), 423 nts-Pseudogene-like sequence (psi), 70 nts-Trailer. The four full-length genomes were in accordance with the properties of Rhabdoviridae Lyssa virus by BLAST and multi-sequence alignment. The nucleotide and amino acid sequences among Chinese strains had the highest similarity, especially among animals of the same species. Of the four full-length genomes, the similarity in amino acid level was dramatically higher than that in nucleotide level, so the nucleotide mutations happened in these four genomes were most synonymous mutations. Compared with the reference rabies viruses, the lengths of the five protein coding regions had no change, no recombination, only with a few point mutations. It was evident that the five proteins appeared to be stable. The variation sites and types of the four genomes were similar to the reference vaccine or street strains. And the four strains were genotype 1 according to the multi-sequence and phylogenetic analyses, which possessed the distinct district characteristics of China. Therefore, these four rabies viruses are likely to be street viruses already existing in the natural world.
Animals ; China ; Deer ; Disease Reservoirs ; virology ; Dogs ; virology ; Ferrets ; virology ; Genome, Viral ; Humans ; Mice ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Rabies ; virology ; Rabies virus ; chemistry ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Viral Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics