Intestinal Tract Of Animals Research Articles

Intestinal microflora of deep-sea animals: a taxonomic study

Eleven genera of fish and invertebrates were collected during two cruises to the Puerto Rico Trench. Seventy-nine bacterial isolates were obtained from the intestinal tracts of the animals and 59 from adjacent sediments, organic detritus, and other non-intestinal sources. Using a newly developed taxonomic scheme, a comparative taxonomic study of the 138 cultures indicated few differences in phenotypic characteristics or in generic distribution between the two groups with pseudomonads predominating from both environments. It was concluded that the animal intestinal environment, and not a unique bacterial population contained therein, may be the significant factor in allowing microbial activity in the deep sea. The role the animal intestinal tract may play in this activity is discussed.

Food borne illness fromclostridium perfringens

Large numbers of Clostridium perfringens in food are frequently the cause of a mild form of food illness. The organism if widespread in the environment and occurs normally in soil and in the intestinal tract of animals. Sperulation of large numbers of cells in the intestinal tract of animals results in the release of an enterotoxin that produces abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Animals and serological techniques are used to assay for the enterotoxin. Several selective media and confirmatory tests have been developed for quantitative and qualitative recovery of the organism from foods. Proper sanitation and temperature control can limit occurrence and growth in foods.

Effect of Cupric Sulfate on the Prophylactic Efficacy of Three Arsonic Acid Compounds Against Histomoniasis in Young Turkeys

THE addition of cupric sulfate (copper sulfate or bluestone) to poultry diets has been a common practice for many years. Only limited research data have been published relative to this practice.Hinshaw and Lloyd (1929) reported that 0.125 and 0.25 percent cupric sulfate solutions inhibited growth of various micro-organisms which contaminated the drinking water of turkeys. Underwood et al. (1956) reported that cupric sulfate in feed and water was ineffective in treating or preventing crop mycosis in chicks and poults. Bierer et al. (1965) reported that growth of several micro-organisms was inhibited by cupric sulfate. Growth of E. coli, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, and Citrobacter was inhibited on Sabouraud plates, with a 1:100 cupric sulfate solution was added to the media. This indicated that certain pathogenic micro-organisms might likewise be reduced or inhibited in the intestinal tract of animals. Thus, cupric sulfate may act much like an antibiotic in the inhibition…

Cobalt Levels in Foods and Livers of Pheasants

From 83 cobalt analyses of four foods of pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)--corn, rose hips (Rosa spp.), foxtail (Setaria spp.) seeds, and ragweed (Ambrosia spp.) seeds-and from analyses of 95 pheasant livers it is concluded that cobalt is not a limiting nutritional factor for pheasants in southern Minnesota. Average concentrations of cobalt in ppm were: corn, 0.040; rose hips, 0.069; foxtail, 0.084; ragweed, 0.228; and pheasant livers, 0.23. Concentration of cobalt in foods varied considerably locally and there was no statistically provable difference in concentrations in the four foods or in the livers from glaciated and nonglaciated areas. No seasonal trend in cobalt concentrations in the livers was noted. This study was designed to determine whether cobalt might be deficient in the diet of pheasants in the low density range of Minnesota. Cobalt comprises about 4.5 percent by weight of vitamin B12 (cobalamin), an essential ingredient in the nutrition of warm-blooded animals. For this reason, animals raised on soils very low in cobalt or fed food deficient in cobalt or vitamin B12 may suffer a deficiency. Cobalt is apparently not necessary in the metabolism of higher plants. However, such plants absorb cobalt from the soil and it is used for synthesis of vitamin B12 by some bacteria in the intestinal tract of animals that have eaten the plants. Vitamin B12 is also synthesized by certain soil and aquatic microorganisms. Vitamin B12 deficiency has been noted most often in ruminants (Bourne and Kidder 1953:449, Smith et al. 1956:365). Studies of the diets of ruminants, including deer (Odocoileus virginianus), suggest that forage, to be adequate, should contain at least 0.07 ppm cobalt, expressed as dry weight of the forage. Ruminants have a high demand for vitamin B12 but can store little. It is excreted in both feces and urine. Among other mammals, vitamin B12 is known to be necessary for several species including rat, hog, mouse, fox, mink, and man. The effects of a deficiency are usually anemia and a wasting away of the animals with symptoms similar to starvation. Knowledge of the role of cobalt in the diet of birds is apparently limited to experimental findings for domestic chickens. In the Handbook of Biological Data (Spector 1956:197), the daily allowance of vitamin B12 for chickens is listed as 1.2 micrograms per kilogram of body weight for growth and 0.2 stg for breeding. These values are equivalent to about 0.05 and 0.01 tg cobalt contained in the vitamin per kg of body weight. Hawk et al. (1954:1208) state that chickens on a vitamin B12 deficient diet show a lessened hatchability of eggs, slow growth, and high mortality of newly hatched chicks. The present study was undertaken because it was postulated that knowledge of cobalt concentrations might provide a clue a to why pheasant populations are much lower in the driftless area of southeastern Minnesota than in the glaciated area of south central and western Minnesota which is our principal pheasant range. There is little information on the cobalt content of seeds and other parts of wild plants that are eaten by pheasants and other wild birds. Most cobalt analyses reported, such as those cited by Spector (1956:188189), are for commercial feed products.

SYNTHESIS OF INOSITOL IN MICE

It has been shown that mice are able to synthesize inositol. This synthesis was not observed when pantothenic acid was absent from the diet. Cultures from the intestinal tract of animals which exhibited spontaneous cure of alopecia yielded microorganisms which synthesized much more inositol than did organisms isolated in the same fashion from the tracts of mice that had become hairless. Some observations on the distribution of free and combined inositol have been made and it has been shown that several biological materials contain combined inositol. It has been found that deficiency of inositol can develop even when inositol is present in the diet if pantothenic acid is omitted.