Is brain prostaglandin synthesis involved in responses to cold?

1. Experiments with rats have suggested that prostaglandin synthesis in the C.N.S. may mediate thermoregulatory reactions to cold. This possibility was investigated in cats using two types of experiment. 2. In one series of experiments, c.s.f. collected from the cisterna magna of conscious cats exposed to a cold and a hot environment was assayed for prostaglandin-like activity. During cold exposure there was a slight increase in activity which persisted after return to neutral ambient temperature. There was no correlation between prostaglandin-like activity and rectal temperature. During the heat exposure there was no demonstrable change in activity. 3. In the second series, conscious cats were exposed to cold conditions and given intravenous injections of salicylate, paracetamol, or indomethacin, all of which inhibit prostaglandin synthesis. Indomethacin salicylate nor paracetamol caused any significant change in rectal temperature. 4. The results do not support a role for C.N.S. prostaglandin synthesis in thermoregulatory reactions to cold in cats.

Convergence in a thermal afferent pathway in the rat

1. In anaesthetized rats, unit activity was recorded in the afferent somatosensory pathway leading from the scrotum. Recording sites were in the dorsal horn near the entry zone of the scrotal nerve, in the ventrobasal complex of the thalamus and in the somatosensory (SI) cortex. During recording, the temperatures of the left and right sides of the scrotum were varied independently. 2. Almost all (64/67) the units in dorsal horn, thalamus and cortex responding specifically to scrotal temperature were equally affected by temperature changes on either side of the scrotum. The receptive fields of these units were bilateral and large, implying a massive convergence of fibres from thermoreceptors on to each central unit. In contrast, mechanosensitive units responded only to unilateral stimulation. 3. As a consequence of the convergence in the thermal pathway, the firing rate of each central unit was a function of an additive combination, often simply the sum, of the temperatures of the two sides of the scrotum. 4. The relationship between firing rate and the temperature of one side of the scrotum was sigmoid, the position, but not the shape, of the curve depending on the temperature at which the opposite side was maintained. An increase in the maintained temperature shifted the sigmoid response curve towards lower temperatures and vice versa. 5. The convergence which this pathway exhibits would be well suited to integration of the temperature of the scrotal skin, but not to spatial discrimination.

Effects of neophobia and habituation on the poison-induced avoidance of exteroceptive stimuli in the rat

Two experiments on the role of neophobia in poison-induced aversions to exteroceptive stimuli are reported. In Experiment 1, rats were given either 10 or 25 days of habituation to the test situation prior to conditioning. Those animals with the longer habituation period avoided a complex of novel exteroceptive stimuli while those with the shorter habituation period did not. In Experiment 2 rats initially avoided the more novel of two containers, but gradually came to eat equal amounts from both. A single pairing of toxicosis with consumption from either the novel or the familiar container reinstated the avoidance of the novel container in both cases. The results were discussed in terms of an interaction between habituation and conditioning procedures. It was suggested that previously reported differences between interoceptive and exteroceptive conditioning effects may have been influenced by the differential novelty of the two classes of stimuli in the test situation. It was further suggested that non-contingently poisoned control groups should routinely be included in poison avoidance conditioning studies.

Vibriosis: demonstration of Vibrio fetus and Vibrio bubulus organisms in preputial fluid by immunofluorescence and cultural techniques

Fluorescent conjugates were prepared from the sera of calves immunized with four Vibrio fetus strains and one Vibrio bubulus strain. The fluorescent antibody technique (FAT) was then used to detect vibrio organisms in preputial fluid collected from 67 bulls belonging to a Canadian artificial insemination (AI) unit. The V. fetus conjugates reacted with both V. fetus var venerealis and V. fetus var intestinalis. V. fetus was found in 20 animals (29.9%), 13 of which also harboured V. bubulus. In two cases, the FAT failed to detect V. fetus which was isolated by concurrent bacteriological examinations. It was concluded that the FAT can be a rapid method of detecting some carrier bulls but more reliable results are obtained when a combination of FAT and bacteriological methods is employed. It was found that a single sample giving negative results is inconclusive and additional tests are required before making a final diagnosis. The FAT can also be used to differentiate V. fetus isolates from V. bubulus.

Physiological reactions of men using microclimate cooling in hot humid environments

van Rensburg, A. J., Mitchell, D., van der Walt, W. H., and Strydom, N. B. (1972).Brit. J. industr. Med.,29, 387-393. Physiological reactions of men using microclimate cooling in hot humid environments. This paper describes the laboratory testing of a water-cooled vest and of a pre-frozen jacket on men working in hot humid environments. The work rate used in the tests was comparable with that of moderately hard industrial work. Three measures of strain were used, namely, rectal temperature, heart rate, and sweat rate. The tests showed that the water-cooled vest provided protection physiologically equivalent to removing the entire environmental heat stress, even at wet bulb temperatures of 33·9°C. The pre-frozen jackets provided better protection at 32·2°C wet bulb than at 33·9°C wet bulb. The garments have the potential to restore the loss in productivity caused by heat stress.

The fluorescent antibody technique in the diagnosis of equine rhinopneumonitis virus abortion

Using two known positive equine viral rhinopneumonitis (EVR) sera, conjugates were prepared with fluorescein isothiocyanate and tested for specificity using EVR infected tissue culture cells. The conjugate was then applied to selected tissues from 32 aborted fetuses and foals submitted during a natural outbreak of EVR. Antigen was detected in various tissues by immunofluorescence in 20 cases (62.5%). In 24 cases bovine fetal kidney cell monolayers were inoculated with a pool of lung and liver and EVR virus was isolated from 15 (62.5%). Histological examination of various tissues from 29 cases resulted in the diagnosis of EVR in 19 (65.5%), based upon the presence of focal areas of necrosis and intranuclear inclusion bodies. Correlation of results was not obtained in two cases. One was diagnosed positive histologically and negative on fluorescence, the other was negative histologically and by virus isolation but showed fluorescence. The distribution of fluorescence in various infected fetal tissues indicated that the combined examination of lung and thymus gland was most likely to provide a positive diagnosis.