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The purpose of the present studies was to evaluate the effects of some commercially available cage beddings on rat liver microsomal cytochrome P-450-dependent drug-metabolizing enzyme, ethylmorphine N-demethylase, and the carcinogen-metabolizing enzyme, benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase. Sprague-Dawley rats were housed in cages containing cedar chip, corncob or heat-treated pinewood bedding for 3 weeks. Control rats were housed in cages on wire bottom floors containing no bedding material. Rats housed in cages containing cedar chip showed 18, 46 and 49% increases in liver cytochrome P-450 content, ethylmorphine N-demethylase and benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase activities, respectively. The liver enzyme activities of rats housed in cages containing corncob bedding were similar to those obtained with control rats. In contrast, the pinewood-bedded rats showed a 21% decrease in ethylmorphine N-demethylase activity without affecting cytochrome P-450 content and benzo(a)pyrene hydroxylase activity. Hexobarbital-induced sleep times of the variously bedded rats were similar to those of control animals. These data suggest that the commercial bedding materials differ in their abilities to affect liver microsomal enzymes. Thus, interlaboratory variability in basal enzyme activities reported in the literature may be partly due to bedding materials used in the animal's cages.

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Non-ophthalmologists must know how to detect, diagnose, and initially manage acute eye and ocular adnexal injuries in order to minimize their morbidity. Such instruction can be provided medical students in part from dog eyes and lids injured so as to produce models of common forms of ocular trauma. We describe the generation of such models and the format of instruction employed at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

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On the basis of methods used to prepare human anatomic specimens, 2 Yucatan miniature pigs were embalmed over 4 years ago. Results obtained suggest that specimens commonly used in the teaching of veterinary gross anatomy may be fixed in this manner. Advantages include no requirement for refrigeration, superior long-term preservation, less offensive odor, and better tissue texture qualities, including less evidence of dehydration.

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A confinement unit was developed for use with miniature swine (45-140 Kg) for procedures which required restriction of movement without total immobilization. The light-weight unit was constructed largely of aluminum. It could be moved by one person, and it was easy to clean. Provision also was made for the collection of urine and feces from animals involved in metabolic studies. Ramps at both ends of the unit insured easy entry and exit of the animals and prevented unnecessary stress. A detachable side panel facilitated the removal of animals under anesthesia. Although intended for use with swine, these units have proven satisfactory for sheep.

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Two fingerling fish and 50 embryonated eggs of (Fundulus heteroclitus) were flown aboard Skylab 3 in a plastic bag aquarium. Videographic picutres were taken with the on-board color-TV camera on flight Days 3 and 22 and video tapes were made for later evaluation on the ground. When observed first after 3 d in orbital weightlessness, both fish swam in tight circles for a considerable fraction of the observed time resembling the "looping behavior" as observed in previous studies with goldfish in parabolic aircraft flight. The frequency of looping diminished slowly after the third day until normal swimming was prevalent. At flight Day 22, both fish swam normally with their backs turned toward the light source. Looping episodes could still be provoked at this time by gentle shaking of the bag aquarium. Of the fish eggs carried aboard, 96% hatched during the mission. The hatch fry displayed normal swimming behavior.

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Pocket mice are facultative homoiotherms with the ability to drop their metabolic rate dramatically while at rest or in response to environmental stresses. Under these conditions, they characteristically enter a state of prolonged torpor. These animals require no drinking water and they can live in darkness for many months without apparent ill effect. They tolerate a wide range of ambient temperature, ralative humidity, and oxygen pressure and have survied without food for a mean of 14 d at an ambient temperature of 20 degrees C (68 degrees F). Studies carried out on the pocket mouse colony used for the Apollo XVII flight revealed, in the animals tested, no serological evidence of viral disease, no pathogenic enterobacteria or respiratory Mycoplasma on culture, a 25% incidence of sarcosporidiosis, and a 2% incidence of chronic meningitis or meningoencephalitis. The conclusion reached is that the pocket mouse is a highly adaptive animal and very well suited for space flight.

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Histopathological findings in the lungs, livers, bone marrows, small intestines, gonads, kidneys, and other tissues of the four pocket mice (Perognathus longimembris) that survived the Apollo XVII flight were evaluated in the light of their immediate environment and as targest of HZE cosmic ray particles. Results of this study failed to disclose changes that could be ascribed to the HZE particle radiation. Decreased numbers of erythropoietic cells in the bone marrow of the flight mice were probably related to the increased oxygen pressure. The small intestine showed no changes. Ovaries and tests appeared normal. Two of the three surviving male flight mice displayed early stages of spermatogenesis, just as ground-based controls did at the same season. Abnormalities were also not found in the thyroid, parathyroids, adrenals, or kidneys. The status of the juxtaglomerular apparatus could not be evaluated. The lungs exhibited nonspecific slight rections. A variety of incidental lesions were noted in the livers of both the flight mice and their controls. The heart muscle showed nothing that could be regarded as pathological. Sections of skeletal muscle examined were free from significant change.

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The final phase to fly five pocket mice in the Apollo XVII command module was carried out at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. Upon completion of the 13-d space flight, the package was removed from the spacecraft and, after having been purged with an oxygen-helium gas mixture, was flown to American Samo. Four of the five mice were recovered alive from the package. Analysis of the mouse that died during the flight revealed several factors that could have contributed to its death, the chief of which was massive hemorrhage in its middle ear cavities.

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In the five pocket mice flown on Apollo XVII, no evidence was found that the inner ear had been damaged, though poor fixation precluded detailed study. On the other hand, the middle ear cavity was involved in all the mice, hemorrhage having occurrred in response to excursions in pressure within the canister that housed the mice during their flight. The same occurred in flight control mice which had been subjected to pressure excursions of much the same magnitude. A greater degree of exudation into air cells and greater leukotaxis were noted in the flight animals than in the control animals. There was no increase in leukocyte population along the paths of the 23 cosmic ray particles registered in the subscalp dosimeters that traversed the middle ear cavities of the flight mice. The increased exudation and the greater response by leukocytes in the flight mice may have been causally related to the lesions found in their olfactory mucosa but there were no data in support of this possibility.

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