• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.257-265
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• 2000

Harderian glands are the unique organs in several mammals, which human and non-human primates do not have. We report the ultrastructural changes in the postnatal developmental periods of Harderian glands in Mongolian gerbil(Meriones unguiculatus). Male and female Mongolian gerbils were sacrificed on days 3, 10, 30 and 60 after birth and their Harderian glands were observed by transmission electron microscope. The obtained results were summarized as follows; 1. In 3-day-old Mongolian gerbils, Harderian gland was composed of one excretory duct and immature tubules which have two type cells, dark and light cells, identified electron-dense and electron-lucent respectively. 2. In 10-day-old Mongolian gerbils, small lipid vacuoles began to be found in the cytoplasm of the secretory cells of the Harderian gland. Mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, polysomes and slash were more abundant in the cytoplasm of dark cells than those of light cells. The arrangement of tubules in the gland was much more condensed than that of 3-day-old Mongolian gerbils. 3. In 30-day-old Mongolian gerbils, the secretory cells of the tubule were typically columnar in shape and there was one type cell in the tubule. Most of the columnar secretory cells contained various size vacuoles. 4. In 60-day-old Mongolian gerbils, the Harderian gland possessed the typical structural characteristics of adults. The mature glandular structures were more significant than those of 30-day-old animals.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.331-333
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• 2010

Mongolian gerbils and Wistar rats were inoculated orally with 240 and 2,500 Toxocara cati embryonated eggs, respectively, to evaluate the larval recovery in different tissues and organs, such as the liver, lungs, heart, kidney, and skeletal muscles after 5, 30, 49, 70, and 92 days post-infection (PI). Larval recovery rates were 1.7-30.0% in Mongolian gerbils on days 5-92 PI and 0.2-3.8% in rats on the same days. These results indicate that Mongolian gerbils and Wi star rats are suitable experimental paratenic hosts for the study of neurological toxocariasis as well as visceral toxocariasis.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.607-613
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• 2004

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-infection is an important pathogen of stomach cancer after chronic gastritis and ulceration in the stomach and duodenum. However, the virulences of H. pylori strains have not been well-defined between clinical isolates. This study was designed to establish water-immersion-restraint stress (WIRS) model in mongolian gerbil for comparison of pathogenicity of H. pylori strains. To determine an optimal duration time for WIRS model in gerbil, 5-week-old Mongolian gerbils were divided into different groups by WIRS duration time. After graded duration of WIRS, the macroscopic ulcer index (UI) was measured with the stomach and duodenum of sacrificed animal. There were no significant differences between male and female in same duration group. However, the UI increased significantly in a time-dependent fashion. The group of 6 hours-WIRS animals showed severe hemorrhage and ulceration in their stomach and duodenum. On the other hand, the very mild lesions induced in 2 hours-treated animals. Therefore, we determined an optimal duration time for WIRS model in gerbil as 4 hours. Thereafter, we evaluated whether this WIRS model in gerbil could be used as an useful tool for in vivo comparison of pathogenicity of H. pylori strains by enhancement of pathological severity in H. pylori-infected gerbils. Mongolian gerbils were divided into H. pyloriinfected and PBS-inoculated groups. Thereafter, they were divided again into 4 hours-WIRS and no WIRS subgroups. After treatment, the severity of pathological changes was evaluated in a same manner with previous duration-determining experiment. When the animals were exposed to WIRS, the UI was significantly higher in the infected group than in the uninfected group. These results suggested that the established gerbil-WIRS model in this study enhanced effectively the severity of pathogenic changes in the H. pylori-infected Mongolian gerbils and could be used as an useful tool for in vivo comparison of pathogenicity of H. pylori strains.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.225-230
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• 2016

Inflammation from chronic and acute infections of distal organs and tissues such as periodontitis is a risk factor for atherosclerotic vascular processes. Recently, a new model of atherosclerosis with vascular pathologies was developed in the Mongolian gerbil. In this study, we attempted to develop a model of ligature-induced periodontitis in gerbils and compared the characteristics of that periodontitis model with that in rats and mice. Each gerbil, rat, and mouse was randomly assigned to groups of control and periodontitis. A thread was placed around the cervix of the right and left first molars in the mandible with knots placed on the mesial side of each molar. At day 14 after the ligation, the animals were sacrificed and their mandibles were dissected. To measure alveolar bone loss along with inflammation, histopathological and micro-CT analyses were carried out. Gerbils showed tooth characteristics of deeper gingival crevice, longer cusp, longer root trunk and shorter root than those of rats and mice. The increased CEJ-ABC distance in distal and PDL area in furcation was also observed in ligated gerbils. An inflammatory response in the connective tissue under the junctional epithelium was also shown in all the animals. As a result, we confirmed the induction of periodontitis by ligature in the gerbils. We therefore consider the gerbil to be a useful model for investigating relationship between periodontitis and vascular disease in the same animal.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2007

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important bacterial pathogen that causes chronic gastritisand is associated with gastroduodenal ulcer disease, adenocarcinoma of the distal stomach, and gastricH. pylori infection associated with host agehave not been well-defined in human. To evaluate the difference in host susceptibility to infection in relationto age of acquisition of H. pylori infection, we designed an experiment involving inoculation of H. pyloriATC 43504 at different ages of Mongolian gerbils. H. pylori was inoculated at 5 weeks and 18 monthsof age, as representatives of early and late infection, respectively. Animals were sacrificed 1 week and 4weeks after challenge, and the stomach was removed from each animal for bacterial culture, histologicalexamination, and polymerase chain reaction test. 5 week-old gerbils revealed infection andmaintained continuously its infection until 4 weeks. However, old gerbils did not maintained H. pyloriinfection. These data suggest the insusceptibility of H. pylori in old Mongolian gerbils and the importanceof animal ages for successful animal experimental infection. Also, the results demonstrated that earlyinfection of H. pylori increases its host susceptibility, as compared to the case with later infection, possiblybecause of differences in host gastric mucosal factors and imunologic responses.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.181-186
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• 2002

To examine the fate of Strongyloides venezuelensis, Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguicalatus) were orally infected with 1,000 $L_{3}$ larvae per animal. Altogether, 50 gerbils divided into 5 groups of 10 each were monitored for a period of 570 days to document the kinetics of faecal egg output, adults worm population, morphological development, fecundity, and hematological changes including peripheral blood eosinophilia. This study chronicled a life long parasitism of S. venezuelensis in the gerbil host, and showed that S. venezuelensis infection was quite stable throughout the course of infection and the worms maintained their normal development as evidenced by their body dimension. A progressive loss of body condition of the infected gerbils was observed as the level of infection advanced. However, no detectable pathological changes were observed in the gastrointestinal tract. The present findings indicate that an immunocompetent host, such as the Mongolian gerbil, can serve as a life long carrier model of S. venezuelensis if the worms are not expelled within 570 days after infection.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.26-33
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• 2013

The effect of lycopene supplementation on the antioxidant system was investigated by analyzing lipid peroxide levels, glutathione contents, and antioxidant enzyme activities in Mongolian gerbils fed a high fat diet. Gerbils were fed on each experimental diet for 6 weeks; normal diet (NC), normal diet with 0.05% lycopene (NL), high fat diet (HF), and a high fat diet with 0.05% lycopene (HFL). Dietary supplementation of lycopene increased hepatic lycopene level in gerbils fed a normal or high fat diet (P < 0.05). Liver and erythrocyte concentrations of lipid peroxide increased in gerbils fed a high fat diet, whereas lycopene supplementation decreased liver and erythrocyte concentrations of lipid peroxide (P < 0.05). Hepatic total glutathione content was higher in the NL group than that in the NC group (P < 0.05). Total antioxidant status in plasma increased following lycopene supplementation compared with that of the non-lycopene supplemented groups (P < 0.05). Hepatic catalase activity increased following dietary lycopene supplementation (P < 0.05). Superoxide dismutase activity in liver remained unchanged with lycopene supplementation, but erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activity increased in NL group compared with NC group (P < 0.05). Glutathione-S-transferase activity increased in the NL group compared to NC group (P < 0.05). Liver and erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase activity increased significantly in the NL group compared to that in the HF group (P < 0.05). Liver glutathione reductase activity was higher in the NL group than that in the NC group (P < 0.05). These results suggest that lycopene supplementation may be efficient for preventing chronic diseases induced by oxidative stress related to high fat diet.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2000

This study investigated whether propofol, an intravenous, non-barbiturate anesthetic, could reduce brain damage following global forebrain ischemia. Transient global ischemia was induced in gerbils by occlusion of bilateral carotid arteries for 3 min. Propofol (50 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally 30 min before, immediately after, and at 1 h, 2 h, 6 h after occlusion. Thereafter, propofol was administered twice daily for three days. Treated animals were processed in parallel with ischemic animals receiving 10% intralipid as a vehicle or with sham-operated controls. In histologic findings, counts of viable neurons were made in the pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampal CA1 area 4 days after ischemia. The number of viable neurons in the pyramidal cell layer of CA1 area was similar in animals treated with a vehicle or a subanesthetic dose of propofol. In terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay, semiquantitative analysis of dark-brown neuronal cells was made in the hippocampal CA1 area. There was no significant difference in the degree of TUNEL staining in the hippocampal CA1 area between vehicle-treated and propofol-treated animals. These results show that subanesthetic dose of propofol does not reduce delayed neuronal cell death following transient global ischemia in Mongolian gerbils.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.30-47
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• 1995

The ultrastructural changes of adrenal chromaffin cells and ganglion cells in the adrenal gland of vacor-induced diabetic Mongolian gerbils were studied by electron microscopy. After one month of vacor-induced diabetes, some chromaffin cells were filled with dense bodies and large cytosomes with formy contents. Most of degenerating axon terminals were observed on chromaffin cells. A few macrophages were found among chromaffin cells at one month after induction. Several of these macrophages were filled with numerous phagosomes. After one month of vacor-induced diabetes, the ganglion cells showed increase in numbers of dense bodies and degenerating dendrites compared with the normal ganglion cells. Both electron dense and lucent types of degenerating axon terminals were found in interstitial space of the ganglion cells. Degenerating unmyelinated and myelinted axons contained dense and lamellar bodies. The satellite cells and macrophages with engulfed degenerated axon terminals were observed. After three months of vacor-induced diabetes, the unmyelinated and myelinated axons showed degenerative changes, whereas no structural changes could be demonstrated in adrenal ganglion and chromaffin cells. The satellite cells and macrophages containing partially digested debris were still commonly observed in the interstitial space of adrenal medulla. These results suggest that the degenerative changes occur in the adrenal ganglion cells as well as adrenal chromaffin cells of vacor-induced diabetic Mongolian gerbils.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.107-123
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• 1993

The ultrastructural changes of the cardiac ganglion and granule-containing cells in the heart of vacor-induced diabetic Mongolian gerbils were studied by electron microscopy. After one month of vacor-induced diabetes the ganglion cells showed increase in numbers of dense bodies and mitochondria compared with the normal cardiac ganglion. Most of the satellite cells were filled with numerous phagosomes containing digested debris. Both electron-dense and lucent types of degenerating axon terminals were observed. The former was characterized by clusters of agranular vesicles and numerous mitochondria. The electron lucent type of degenerating axon terminal contained a few agranular vesicles and swollen mitochondria. Degenerating unmyelinated and myelinated axons contained large numbers of dense bodies, lamellar bodies, and mitochondria. Numerous macrophages containing phagosomes were reveled in the interstitial spaces. Some of the granule-containing cells in the heart showed a variety of degenerative changes and a decreased number of dense-cored vesicles. After three months of vacor-induced diabetes the unmyelinated and myelinated axons showed degenerative changes, whereas no structure changes could be demonstrated in intraatrial ganglion and granule containing cells. The satellite cells containing engulfed debris were observed in the cardiac ganglion cells. These results suggest that the degenerative changes occur in the cardiac ganglion cells of vacor-induced diabetic Mongolian gerbils as well as atrial granule-containing cells.