Showing papers on "Mink published in 1971"

Effects of feeding coho salmon and other Great Lakes fish on mink reproduction.

Abstract: Feeding experiments were conducted to investigate reproductive problems attributed to the feeding of Great Lakes coho salmon to mink. Several other species of fish were fed for comparison. Whole, raw, sexually mature coho salmon taken from tributaries of Lake Michigan were ground, mixed into a diet at a 30% level, and fed to mink before breeding and during gestation. This diet caused reproductive failure and (or) very early kit mortality. Feeding canning by-products of coho salmon from the same source and at the same level to adult mink for 3 months resulted in mortality. Reduced reproductive performance and (or) excessive kit mortality were observed in mink which were fed diets that contained Lake Michigan bloater chub, Lake Michigan yellow perch, and mature coho from the Lake Erie system. Mink rations which contained West Coast coho salmon and Lake Erie yellow perch did not impair reproduction nor result in excessive mortality.No correlation was found between the degree of oxidative rancidity or mercury...

Susceptibility of Mink to Sheep Scrapie

Abstract: A progressive, fatal spongiform polioencephalopathy was induced in mink intracerebrally inoculated with a suspension of brain from a Suffolk sheep with naturally acquired scrapie. The clinical signs and pathological lesions of the experimental disease were indistinguishable from transmissible mink encephalopathy, a disease of undetermined origin that occurs in mink.

Aleutian Disease of Mink: Detection of Large Quantities of Complement-Fixing Antibody to Viral Antigen

Abstract: A number of proposals have been suggested to explain the mechanism of plasmacytosis and hypergammaglobulinemia in mink infected with Aleutian disease (AD) virus. That the virus induces a myeloma-like proliferation of plasma cells and the production of immunoglobulins not directed toward specific antigens was suggested by several workers (1–5). The transition from polyclonal to monoclonal gammopathies in 10% to 20% of the infected mink with genotypes Aa and AA (non-Aleutian mink) supports this suggestion (2). However, detection of anti-virus antibody in the form of infectious virus-antibody complexes (6) and by direct and indirect immunofluorescence on infected tissue (7; J. B. Henson and T. B. Crawford, manuscript in preparation) demonstrates that some of the hypergammaglobulinemia represents antibody to AD viral antigens. A previous attempt by other investigators to demonstrate complement-fixation (CF) between AD-affected sera and infectious organ homogenates was unsuccessful (1).

Pregnancy-associated serum protein in mink.

Abstract: Summary A new serum protein was found in pregnant mink. The protein is more basic than immunoglobulin, is 1.6S, and appears to be made by the dam.

Cellular and humoral antibody responses of normal pastel and sapphire mink to goat erythrocytes.

Abstract: This study was undertaken to determine whether normal sapphire and royal pastel mink differ immunologically at the cellular and humoral levels. Two days after primary intraperitoneal (ip) inoculation of goat erythrocytes (GE), essentially no 19 or 7S plaque-forming cells (PFC) per 106 cells were detected in spleen or in abdominal and peripheral lymph nodes of either color phase. On the 4th day, more 19S PFC were detected in pastel than in sapphire tissues; pastel tissues also contained 7S PFC, whereas essentially none was present in sapphires until the 6th day. After an ip booster inoculation, the number of PFC was markedly different between the two color phases. These differences were most apparent in spleen and peripheral lymph nodes. In parallel with differences observed in PFC responses between the color phases, total hemolysin and 2-mercaptoethanol-resistant hemolysin titers of pastels exceeded those of sapphires in all but one interval after the primary, and at every interval after the booster, inoculation. These data indicate that sapphire mink are not immunological cripples, nor are they immunologically hyperactive, but that differences do exist between sapphire and royal pastel mink, especially in the response to booster injections of GE.

Termination of pregnancy in mink by repeated injections during the period preceding implantation.

Abstract: When given a series of 5 sequential daily injections of luteinizing hormone or salene, pregnancies were terminated in 13 of 14 animals. The same effect was not observed in animals injected singly. The observed results may be interpreted as a response to the stress of handling and treatment.

A genetically controlled lactate dehydrogenase variant at the B locus in mink.

Abstract: Erythrocytes of 119 mink, and tissue extracts of three mink, were examined for electrophoretic patterns of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). A variant was detected at the B locus. There are two alleles, LDH-Ba and LDH-Bb; three phenotypes, LDH-Ba, LDH-Bab, and LDH-Bb; and three genotypes, LDH-Ba/LDH-Ba, LDH-Ba/LDH-Bb, and LDH-Bb/LDH-Bb. The inheritance as observed in 24 families agrees with an autosomal, codominant, two-allele system at the LDH B locus.

Influence of dienestrol diacetate on reproductive performance of female mink (Mustela vision).

Abstract: The effects of feeding 5 10 or 20 mcg per day of dienestrol diacetate during reproduction were determined in 3 groups of 15 female mink. A group of 20 mink served as controls. The amount of dienestrol diacetate that mink might obtain from viscera of poultry given dienestrol diacetate was also determined following withdrawal periods of 0 24 and 48 hours. Mink given 20 mcg/day of dienestrol failed to whelp despite having mated normally to fertile males. A significant (p<.05) decrease in kits produced was seen in females given 10 mcg/day. The dose of 5 mcg/day seemed to decrease litter size but the difference was not significant at the 5% level. Viscera containing the ingesta from broilers fed .0023% dienestrol diacetate for 5 weeks and up to the time of slaughter contained 160 ppb. Removing ingesta from the viscera reduced the concentration to 22.7 ppb. After the 24-hour withdrawal period it dropped to 17.07 ppb and removal of the ingesta reduced the concentration to control values. None was in the viscera after 48 hours of withdrawal. It was suggested that estrogen be suspected in diagnosing the cause of decreased fecundity.

Effect of the mink’s furring process on feed consumption and nitrogen retention

Abstract: A series of seven nitrogen balance studies was conducted, with 12 one-year-old male mink, to examine the metabolic effect of furring in mink. The balance studies, each of two days duration, were carried out on July 14–15 and then semi-monthly until October 15–16, inclusive. Feed consumption increased (P < 0.05) a total of 97% during the furring process. Nitrogen retention changed, but not in a manner parallel to feed consumption. Two peaks were observed for nitrogen retention, one occurring on August 18–19 and the second on October 1–2. The October 1–2 nitrogen retention peak coincided with the initiation of hair growth (September 25). No change was noted in dry matter or protein digestibility over the entire test period.

Effect of Freund's adjuvant on standard dark and pastel mink.

Abstract: Following a long series of injections of homologous immunoglobulin in complete and incomplete Freund's adjuvant into mink, a moderate elevation in the level of gammaglobulin in the serum was observed in a few animals. Relatively mild pathological changes also were seen in liver, spleen, lymph nodes, lungs and kidney. It is concluded that the injection of Freund's adjuvant, under the experimental conditions described, produced lesions which were readily distinguishable from the lesions characteristic of aleutian disease of mink.