Transplantation in Small Animals

Bacterial Isolates from Urinary Tract Infection in Dogs and Cats in Portugal, and Their Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern: A Retrospective Study of 5 Years (2017-2021)

There are growing concerns regarding the rise of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in companion animals. This study aimed to bring new insights into the current scenario of Portugal's antimicrobial resistance bacteria isolated from companion animals with urinary tract infections and is the first to be performed during a long period on a large scale. Of a total of 17472 urine samples analyzed, 12,166 (69.6%) (CI 12,200-12,200) were negative for bacterial growth, and 5306 (30.4%) (95% CI 5310-5310) had bacterial growth. Of the culture-positive samples, 5224 (96.6%) (95% CI 5220-5220) were pure cultures and 82 (3.2%) (95% CI 81.9-82.1) had mixed growth. Escherichia coli was the most frequently isolated bacteria (n=2360, 44.5%) (95% CI 2360-2360), followed by Proteus mirabilis (n=585, 11%) (95% CI 583-583), Enterococcus faecium (n=277, 5.2%) (95% CI 277-277) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (n=226, 4.3%) (95% CI 226-226). The overall susceptibility rates were low for erythromycin (45.3%) and clindamycin (51.3%), and high for aminoglycosides (96.3%), carbapenems (92.4%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (81.2%), and quinolones (79.9%). E. coli also showed considerable resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. The rates of multidrug-resistant bacteria are still high compared to the northern countries of Europe. This study's findings show the emergence of antibiotic resistance in the antibiotic agents commonly used in the treatment of UTIs in dogs and cats in Portugal.

Latest Advances on Bacterial Cellulose-Based Materials for Wound Healing, Delivery Systems, and Tissue Engineering

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a nanocellulose form produced by some nonpathogenic bacteria. BC presents unique physical, chemical, and biological properties that make it a very versatile material and has found application in several fields, namely in food industry, cosmetics, and biomedicine. This review overviews the latest state-of-the-art usage of BC on three important areas of the biomedical field, namely delivery systems, wound dressing and healing materials, and tissue engineering for regenerative medicine. BC will be reviewed as a promising biopolymer for the design and development of innovative materials for the mentioned applications. Overall, BC is shown to be an effective and versatile carrier for delivery systems, a safe and multicustomizable patch or graft for wound dressing and healing applications, and a material that can be further tuned to better adjust for each tissue engineering application, by using different methods.

Bacterial cellulose and bacterial cellulose/polycaprolactone composite as tissue substitutes in rabbits' cornea

ABSTRACT: In order to test the performance of bacterial cellulose/polycaprolactone composite (BC/PCL) and pure bacterial cellulose (BC) as tissue substitutes in rabbits' cornea, a superficial ulcer containing 5mm in diameter and 0.2mm deep was made in the right cornea of 36 rabbits, then a interlayer pocket was created from the basis of this ulcer. Twelve rabbits received BC/PCL membrane and 12 were treated with BC membranes, both membranes with 8mm in diameter. The remaining rabbits received no membrane constituting the control group. The animals were clinically followed up for 45 days. Three animals of each group were euthanized at three, seven, 21, and 45 days after implantation for histological examination of the cornea along with the implant. Clinical observation revealed signs of moderate inflammatory process, decreasing from day 20th in the implanted groups. Histology showed absence of epithelium on the membranes, fibroplasia close to the implants, lymph inflammatory infiltrate with giant cells, collagen disorganization, with a predominance of immature collagen fibers in both groups with implants. Although inflammatory response is acceptable, the membranes used does not satisfactorily played the role of tissue substitute for the cornea during the study period.

Subjective and objective observation of skin graft recovery on Indonesian local cat with different periods of transplantation time

Aim:

The success of a skin graft in a cat is highly dependent on the granulation formed by the base of recipient bed. Granulation by the base of recipient bed will form after several days after injury. This research aimed to observe subjective and objective profile of skin graft recovery on forelimb of cats with different periods of donor skin placement.

Materials and Methods:

Nine male Indonesian local cats aged 1-2 years old, weighing 3-4 kg were divided into three groups. The first surgery for creating defect wound of 2 cm×2 cm in size was performed in the whole group. The wound was left for several days with the respective interval for each group, respectively: Group I (for 2 days), Group II (for 4 days), and Group III (for 6 days). In the whole group, the second surgery was done by the harvesting skin of thoracic area which then applied on recipient bed of respective groups.

Result:

The donor skin on Group II was accepted faster compared to Group I and Group III. The donor skin did not show color differences compared to surrounding skin, painless, bright red in bleeding test had faster both hair growth and drug absorption. Test toward the size of donor skin and the effect of drugs did not show a significant difference between each group.

Conclusion:

The observe subjective and objective profile of skin graft recovery on forelimb of cats on Group II were accepted faster compared to Group I and III.