Influence of rearing system on sows' prolificacy during gestation.
In females reared inindividual crates until early control of gestation and in common crates (8-16heads), prolificacy did not reach values that differ depending on the rearingsystem: there is a statistically insignificant difference in t-test(p>0.05). In gestating sows reared in individual crates, the difference wassignificant during the entire gestation period compared to group rearing:11.51±0.85 compared to only 11.13±0.68 in collective rearing. Though there arebetter results from the point of view of sows’ prolificacy when reared inindividual crates during the entire gestation, this rearing system is notrecommendable because of the high financial efforts caused by technology andbecause separation has negative influences on sows’ behaviour depending on reproductionand health state of gestating females.
Influence of pregnancy, lactation, litter size and diet energy density on the stomach and intestine of sows.
In the first experiment, 52 sows, each having raised one litter, were randomly assigned to the five following groups: control (nongravid) for pregnancy (CP), 110 d pregnancy (P110), control (nongravid) for lactation (CL), 4-wk lactation with 8 (L8) and with 12 (L12) piglets. In a second experiment, 36 sows, each having raised three litters, were randomly assigned to the following groups: control group (nongravid) fed a low-energy-density, 1% tallow diet (CLED) and two lactating groups, one fed the low-energy-density diet (LLED) and one fed a high-energy-density, 10% tallow diet (LHED). At slaughter, the stomach, small and large intestine and cecum were excised, emptied and freed from fat. Lengths and pre- and post-defatting weights were measured. Portions of tissues were homogenized and analyzed for protein, pepsin, maltase, RNA and DNA. Pregnancy had no effect on the weights of the different components of the gastrointestinal tract. Liver and small intestine weights were larger in lactating sows than in the CL group. Sows nursing 12 piglets had heavier livers than those nursing 8. The fundic mucosa of the latter had higher total pepsin activity and total protein and RNA contents than that of L12 sows. LHED sows had heavier small intestine and lower total pepsin content of the fundic mucosa than LLED sows.
Use of a specific antiserum for renin detection in human kidney.
The use of anti-human renin antibodies made possible the intrarenal localization of renin in human kidney by immunofluorescence. In normal kidney, only some juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) were fluorescent. In these JGA, granular or diffuse fluorescence was only seen in afferent arterioles and was not present in all cells. In the ischemic areas of partially infarcted kidney, fluorescence was seen in all JGA and in interlobular arteries. In these arteries the most eccentric cells were often the most positive. In the nonischemic areas of the same kidneys, fluorescence was not seen in JGA, but was observed in proximal tubular cells, suggesting the reabsorption of filtered renin at this site.