Application of minimally invasive surgeries are increasing in veterinary medicine. Joint disorders are among the most important cause for lameness in small animals, especially dogs. Arthroscopy is one of the techniques for diagnosing, treating and managing of joint injuries. Arthroscopy has advantages over arthrotomy. Arthroscopic surgery is used for management of different injuries in shoulder (glenohumeral), coxofemoral (hip), elbow, carpal and tarsal joints in small animals. Arthroscopy provides the best access to intra-articular structures. Also, postoperative cares, recovery, pain and infection are less than arthrotomy. The goal of this article is to review the uses of arthroscopy in small animals.

Determination of animal unit, is one of the essential requirements for calculating the grazing capacity. For the purpose of this study, 24 breeds of sheep, significantly dominant and well distributed across the climatic regions, were identified. Two herds were selected from available flocks in each region. Randomly, 30 livestock from each herd at different ages and sex were selected and weighed in different seasons. Using cluster analysis, and on the basis of the average adult weight of races, animal unit size was determined. From the ratio of metabolic weight of sheep breeds to metabolic weight of livestock unit the conversion factor (equivalent of animal units) of each breed was calculated. Then on based of puberty weight breeds were put into three separate weight groups (light, medium and heavy). The average weight of races was found to be 50 kg. Accordingly, an animal unit for small grazing dry and non-pregnant livestock is reported as 50 kg. The conversion coefficient of 0. 7, 1 and 1. 3, were used to calculate the light, medium and heavy body size classes of animals compared to the animal unit weight respectively. The daily requirement for an animal unit estimated as 6. 80 MJ. using MAFF (1984) equation. A value of 30-80 percent must be added to the calculated value considering the topographic conditions, distance from water sources and animal daily orbit to/from resting area which requires more energy, in various climate conditions.

In critical care, and/or in the perioperative setting, pain is often a major component of the clinical picture. It is often of inflammatory origin, because all the chemical mediators of inflammation stimulate or sensitize the nociceptors. It can also be of mechanical origin, for example when it is associated with dilatation of a hollow organ or with compression, laceration or destruction of tissue. In such cases, intensive pain appears soon after the injury and is amplified later when inflammation sets in. Finally, pain can arise from the brain stem, through direct excitation of the pain-transmitting spinal neurons. When pain is poorly managed it is a source of complications that make the prognosis more uncertain. Multimodal analgesia is based on a concept that is also used in general anesthesia and in cancer therapy. The principle is simple: when tackling a complex and multifactorial process, the benefit/risk ratio is improved by using a combination of different approaches. Their beneficial effects are additive, and each one is used more sparingly to limit their individual adverse effects. For a long time, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids were used alone singly, and it was proposed to use one or other type depending on the intensity of the pain. The problem is no longer put in these terms. A combination of several molecules is used in all cases and the analgesic protocol changes depending on the type of pain.

Bone fractures in dogs and cats are usually see and we concern with those in the clinic. Usually, fractures occur after a traumatic accident such as being hit by a car or falling from a height, some fractures occur following pathological bone weakening, which is seen with some neoplastic conditions such as osteosarcoma. The main goals of fracture stabilization; Immobilization of broken parts, quick repair of the damaged bone, return of primary mobility, full function and stability to weight bearing of the bruise limb. All internal and external fixation methods that allow significant intersegmental motion under weight bearing are considered flexible fixation. The best important point in the stabilization of fractures is that a possibility of repair, that is, the blood supply to the place is maintained and the fixation is not so tight that it leads to a delay in bone fusion. Open fixation and internal fixation have been used to restore bone anatomy and original mobility and to overcome the limitations encountered when treating fractures with skeletal traction or cast immobilization. The main goal of internal fixation is to achieve rapid and, if possible, full function of the affected limb with rapid rehabilitation of the patient. The selection of the internal fixation method is based on the classification of the fracture, break bone, synchronize injuries, open fracture, and of course the forces that are neutralized by the fixation method. Internal stabilization implants are made of stainless steel and include; There are intramedullary pins, orthopedic wire, plates and screws.

Veterinary anesthesia is a relatively new science that uses different drugs and techniques to provide optimal conditions (analgesia, immobility, muscle relaxation and amnesia) to perform various medical, diagnostic and surgical procedures in domestic, exotic and wild animals. In order to perform a safe sedation, analgesia, local and general anesthesia, adequate scientific knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pharmacology of the species are required. The most common species referred for surgical procedures are small animals (cats and dogs) and horses. Although surgical procedures are also performed on ruminants, general anesthesia is not common in these species due to some specific reasons (economic costs, bloat, regurgitation and easily performed standing surgeries in cattle). There are several anatomical, physiological and pharmacological differences as well as difference in body weight and temperament between small animals and horses that should be considered before anesthesia. The present paper discusses the major differences that require appropriate preoperative preparation when conducting anesthesia in small animals and horses.

Background: Biosurfactants or microbial surfactants are surface-active biomolecules that are produced by a variety of microorganisms. They are a structurally diverse group of surface-active molecules and are highly sought after biomolecules for both present and future applications.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify biosurfactant producing bacteria from the ear canal and inguinal areas (oily skin areas) of dogs and cats.Materials and Methods: Eighty inguinal area and ear canal samples were collected from stray and owned dogs and cats (10 animals each, 20 samples) and screened for biosurfactant-producing bacteria using criteria such as hemolysis, oil spreading and E 24 emulsification index tests. The isolated strains were identified at genus level.Results: 42 hemolytic bacterial strains (20 from dogs and 22 from cats) were isolated.The owned animal’s samples had a higher population of positive strains than the stray ones. In total 11 isolates (26.2%) were positive for all examinations, out of these 9 (21.1%) isolates belonged to owned animals.9 isolates (out of 11) (82%) were gram positive of which 4 (44.4%) were Bacillus spp. and 3 (27.2%) Lactobacillus spp.Conclusions: The results showed that biosurfactant producing bacteria are distributed in the oily skin areas of both dogs and cats. Further investigation into the composition of the biosurfactants and phylogenetic determination of biosurfactant producing bacteria is suggested.

Tendons are soft connective tissues composed of parallel collagen fibers embedded in an extracellular matrix. This organized structure allows the tendons to bear and transfer large forces between the muscle and the bone. Tendons contain 86% collagen, 1-5% proteoglycan ,and 2% elastin, which are calculated as dry weight, and water is responsible for 60-80% of the wet weight of the whole tendon. Tendon healing can be generally divided into 3 phases; the repair, inflammation, and remodeling phases. Although the tensile strength of the healed tendon improves over time, it does not reach the level of uninjured tissue.

Introduction: Skeletal muscles account for about 40% of the total body weight. Every year, hundreds of people lose at least part of their muscle tissue due to illness, war, and accidents. This can lead to disruption of activities such as breathing, movement, and social life. To this end, various therapeutic strategies such as medication therapy, cell therapy and tissue transplantation have been used or studied in muscle regeneration. However, there is no effective and well-defined clinical approach for treatment of muscle injuries and the severity of muscle injuries increase with age in most cases. Therefore, investigation for finding new and effective clinical approach for muscle regeneration is one of the most important issues in basic and clinical researches. Tissue engineering is considered as one of the promising and newest approach for skeletal muscle tissue regeneration and provides an appropriate model for personalized medicine and basic researches that can be used in personalized medicine and basic research. Besides biomaterials and cells, inducing factors are another element of tissue engineering. These factors influence epigenetic mechanisms and signaling pathway, thereby inducing proliferation, differentiation, and migration of cells used in muscle tissue engineering, and accelerates muscle formation in vitro. Recently, small molecules have been used as alternatives to growth factors or along with other inducing factors in muscle tissue engineering. Since they do not induce an immune reaction, penetrate easily to the cells and have a specific molecular target, therefore they have attracted much attention as the cost-effective inducing factors in tissue engineering. Conclusion: Taken together, the effective small molecules in muscle tissue engineering can be used with different biomaterial conditions (e. g. hydrogel, decellularized tissue, and synthetic scaffolds) in both in vivo and in vitro, resulting to production of cost effective and highly efficient engineered muscle tissues that help to achieve therapeutical goals of muscle tissue engineering. Herein, we describe tissue engineering and review the small molecules used in skeletal muscle tissue engineering.

X-ray Computed Tomography (CT), e. g. clinical CT scanners, basically provides Linear Attenuation Coefficients (LACs) of objects under study by the means of algorithmic reconstruction of acquired views of attenuated X-ray passing through the samples in different angles around the imaged sample. Micro Computed Tomography (micro-CT) basically works the same as clinical CT. It provides volumetric information representing the inner structure of objects with a resolution in the micron range. LOTUS-inVivo is a micro-CT scanner dedicated to imaging of small animals and ex-vivo biological samples. In the present study the spatial resolution and Low Contrast Detectability (LCD) of LOTUS-inVivo scanner were evaluated using standard phantoms. We aimed to prove the capability of LOTUS-inVivo for small animal and ex-vivo biological samples imaging using the measured image quality parameters, i. e. spatial resolution and low contrast detectability. By the means of analysis of bar and LCD phantom images, the limiting resolution of LOTUS-inVivo micro-CT scanner was measured about 2. 7 μ m and has been shown that it’ s capable of resolving sizes greater than 12. 5 μ m. Also, we concluded that LOTUS-inVivo is capable of discriminating tissues with 3% differences in contrast relative to the background, for 1 mm bar size. Thus, the provided technical characteristics in this study have made LOTUS-inVivo as a suitable tool for small animal imaging.