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Biomedical subjects

Jerald Silverman

Publications and source records attributed to Jerald Silverman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Decerebrate mammalian preparations: unalleviated or fully alleviated pain? A review and opinion.

In experimental decerebration of mammals, the cerebral cortex and thalamus are surgically or otherwise inactivated under traditional (pharmacologic) general anesthesia. Once the effects of the pharmacologic anesthesia have dissipated, the animal remains alive, but there is neither pain sensation nor consciousness. Because the Animal Welfare Act and its regulations recognize drugs as the only means to alleviate pain, it is unclear whether a decerebrate animal should be placed in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pain and distress category D (pain or distress alleviated by drugs) or E (unalleviated pain or distress). We present a rationale for including decerebrate animals in USDA category D. We also provide a general review of decerebration and suggestions for institutional animal care and use committees having to evaluate decerebration protocols.

Animal Care Committees↗
PubMed2005

Clinical linoleic acid deficiency in Dahl salt-sensitive (SS/Jr) rats.

Male SS/Jr rats were placed on a specially formulated, high-cholesterol, low-sodium diet at 3 weeks of age. Of the 50 animals on the diet, 40 developed skin lesions ranging from focal areas of alopecia to diffuse areas of moist dermatitis on the head, face, ear pinnae, and neck. Similar lesions were noted later in 17 of 36 SS/Jr rats in a second study group. Histopathologic findings from two affected animals revealed diffuse, hyperplastic, ulcerative dermatitis, with bacterial colonies of cocci in superficial crusts, as well as chronic hepatic inflammation with hepatocellular glycogen and sinusoidal macrophage aggregates suggestive of lipidosis. Results of a fatty-acid profile of the affected rats showed serum linoleic acid levels of 931 to 1566 micromol/liter, whereas those for control (SS/Jr) samples ranged from 2711 to 3145 micromol/liter. Dietary analysis of the specially formulated diet showed that it contained only 0.225% linoleic acid, which is below the recommended level of 0.3 to 0.6%. In light of the clinical and dietary findings, a diagnosis of linoleic acid deficiency was made. The food manufacturer revised its dietary formulation to increase the linoleic acid content to 1.05%, and no further cases of dermatitis developed in any subsequent groups of rats maintained under the same study protocol.

Animals↗