Materials and methods: A total of 200 pigs (129 gilts and 71 barrows) were subjected to two different lairage times at the slaughterhouse, short lairage (3 hours) and long lairage (12 hours), after a short journey (15 km, 20 minutes) by road from farm to abattoir. Blood samples were collected at the beginning of the slaughter line to determine stress markers: acute phase proteins (haptoglobin, ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of storage under various conditions on the concentrations of major bovine acute phase protein-serum amyloid A, and its mammary isoform. Blood samples were taken from seven clinically healthy calves, and milk samples from six clinically healthy dairy cows. The harvested blood serum and the milk samples were fractioned into aliquots. One aliq...

BACKGROUND Haptoglobin and serum amyloid A are major acute phase proteins in cattle. Dairy cattle often develop pathologic conditions in the peripartum period; acute phase proteins may be useful in their diagnosis. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of serum haptoglobin (Hp) and serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations with clinical health status for diagnosing disea...

The acute phase response is characterized by changes in the serum concentrations of many proteins. A 1000-fold increase in the concentration of serum amyloid A (SAA) protein occurs within 24 hours of LPS injection in the mouse. We have isolated a cDNA clone and its corresponding genomic phage for a third, previously unreported SAA protein. The sequence of the cDNA, the gene's exons and neighbor...

The spectral absorption, optical rotatory dispresion, and circular dichroism associated with interaction of Congo red dye with partly purified suspensions of amyloid fibril fragments were examined. A set of phenomena consistent with a Cotton effect was found. A nearly identical set of phenomena was obtained with poly-L-lysine in its alpha-helical form. The dichroism seen when Congo red binds to...

The human cerebral and systemic amyloidoses and prion-associated spongiform encephalopathies are acquired or inherited protein folding disorders in which normally soluble proteins or peptides are converted into fibrillar aggregates. This is a nucleation-dependent process that can be initiated or accelerated by fibril seeds formed from homologous or heterologous amyloidogenic precursors that ser...

Serum amyloid P-component (SAP) is a normal plasma constituent in man with a circulating concentration of approximately 40 micrograms/ml. Supraphysiological amounts of SAP (150-300 micrograms/ml) have been reported to affect coagulation. We have investigated this further by studying the effect of SAP upon clot times in both the absence and presence of heparin, a suggested ligand for SAP and its...