In the veterinary sector, many papers deal with the relationships between inflammation and oxidative stress. However, few studies investigate the mechanisms of action of oxidised molecules in the regulation of immune cells. Thus, authors often assume that these events, sometime leading to oxidative stress, are conserved among species. The aim of this review is to draw the state-of-the-art of the current knowledge about the role of oxidised molecules and dietary antioxidant compounds in the regulation of the immune cell functions and suggest some perspectives for future investigations in animals of veterinary interest.

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are worldwide distributed RNA-viruses affecting several species, including humans, and causing a broad spectrum of diseases. Historically, they have not been considered a severe threat to public health until two outbreaks of COVs-related atypical human pneumonia derived from animal hosts appeared in 2002 and in 2012. The concern related to CoVs infection dramatically rose after the COVID-19 global outbreak, for which a spill-over from wild animals is also most likely. In light of this CoV zoonotic risk, and their ability to adapt to new species and dramatically spread, it appears pivotal to understand the pathophysiology and mechanisms of tissue injury of known CoVs within the “One-Health” concept. This review specifically describes all CoVs diseases in animals, schematically representing the tissue damage and summarizing the major lesions in an attempt to compare and put them in relation, also with human infections. Some information on pathogenesis and genetic diversity is also included. Investigating the lesions and distribution of CoVs can be crucial to understand and monitor the evolution of these viruses as well as of other pathogens and to further deepen the pathogenesis and transmission of this disease to help public health preventive measures and therapies.

Screening of candidate G-quadruplex ligands for the human c-KIT promotorial region and their effects in multiple in-vitro models

Histology, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) have been used to diagnose feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), but no information regarding the comparison of their diagnostic performances on the same organ is available. The aims of this study were to determine the concordance among these tests and to evaluate which combination of tests and organs can be used in vivo. Histology, IHC, and nested RT-PCR (RT-nPCR) for feline coronavirus (FCoV) were performed on spleen, liver, mesenteric lymph node, kidney, large and small intestine, and lung from 14 FIP and 12 non-FIP cats. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratios, and concordance were calculated. IHC and RT-nPCR had the highest concordance in lung and liver, histology and IHC in the other organs. The sensitivity of histology, IHC, and RT-nPCR on the different organs ranged from 41.7 to 76.9%, 46.2 to 76.9%, and 64.3 to 85.7%, respectively, and their specificity ranged from 83.3 to 100.0%, 100% and 83.3 to 100.0%. Therefore, IHC is recommended when histology is consistent with FIP. If RT-nPCR is performed as the first diagnostic approach, results should always be confirmed with IHC. Lung or liver provide accurate information regardless of the method, while IHC is preferred to RT-nPCR to confirm FIP in the kidney or intestine.

The term “acute phase response” (APR) is referred to a nonspecific and complex reaction of an organism that occurs shortly after any tissue damage, such as infection, trauma, neoplasia, inflammation, and stress. The APR can be identified and monitored with some laboratory tests, such as the concentration of several plasma proteins, the acute phase proteins (APPs). The APPs are components of the non-specific innate immune response, and their plasma concentration is proportional to the severity and/or the extent of tissue damage. The evaluation of health status of marine mammals is difficult because the classical clinical signs of illness used for human and domestic animals are difficult to recognize and understand. For this reason, in the past years, several efforts were done to identify laboratory markers of disease in these animals. The APPs have demonstrated their role as early markers of inflammation in veterinary medicine, thus several APPs were tested in marine mammals, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid-A (SAA), and Haptoglobin (Hp). However, the difficulty to extrapolate the knowledge about APPs in one species to another, the lack of specie-specific reagents, the absence of data about negative APPs have hampered their extent use in marine mammals. Herein, the state of art of APPs in marine mammals is reviewed, with particular attention to pre-analytical and analytical factors that should be taken into account in validation and interpretation of APPs assays. Moreover, the current application, potential utility and the future developments of APPs in marine mammals is highlighted and discussed.