Fuzheng Jiedu granule exhibits a number of health benefits and it is thought that the mechanisms involved in these effects are due to the modulation of immunity. In this article, we studied the effect of Fuzheng Jiedu granule on immunological function and the expression of immune-related cytokines in immune-suppressed mice. 72 mice were randomly divided into six groups, with 12 in each group. The control groups included an untreated group, a negative control group (Cyclophosphamide) and a positive control group (Astragalus polysaccharide). There were three treated groups, which were given different doses of Fuzheng Jiedu granule: a low dose (100 mg kg–1), a medium dose (400 mg kg–1) and a high dose (600 mg kg–1). With the exception of the untreated control animals, each group received an intraperitoneal injection of Cyclophosphamide (100 mg kg–1) for 3 days to establish the immune-suppressed model. Mice were then treated for 19 consecutive days and, 24 h after the last treatment, blood was taken for the eyeballs and serum separation was performed. Analysis was made of the levels of related cytokines (IgA, IgG, IgM, IL-6, IFN-γ, C3, C4 and TNF-α), the transformation of lymphocytes and the immune organ indexes. The results showed that Fuzheng Jiedu granule can improve the levels of cytokines, the rate of proliferation of lymphocytes and the immune organ indexes of immune-suppressed mice.

Contamination of deoxynivalenol (DON) in grains is common worldwide and pigs are particularly susceptible to this mycotoxin. The distribution of DON in porcine tissues following intravenous administration was investigated in this study. Fifteen pigs were randomly divided into three groups. Animals in groups A and B were administrated with DON at the dose of 250 and 750 μg kg–1 body weight, respectively, while group C served as blank control. Plasma, bile and 27 tissues were collected at 30 min post-administration. DON concentrations in all samples were tested using high-performance liquid chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). To observe the distribution of DON in tissues, these samples were further subjected to the immunohistochemical analyses. Totally, the bile and 13 tissues were sampled for DON-based detection, including kidney, mesenteric lymph nodes, muscle, stomach, jejunum, colon, plasma, spleen, rectum, cecum, liver, ileum, and duodenum. No significant difference was observed for the concentrations of DON in duodenum, ileum and liver samples between groups A and B; while the DON concentrations in cecum and rectum of group B were significantly higher (P-value <0.05) than those in group A. In addition, the DON concentrations in stomach, jejunum, colon, mesenteric lymph nodes, muscle, kidney, spleen, bile, and plasma of group B were remarkably higher than those of group A (P-value<0.01). Levels of DON in other 14 tissues including medulla oblongata, midbrain, diencephalon, pons, tip and tongue body, tongue, soft palate, tonsils, pharyngeal mucosa, oral buccal mucosa, thymus, thyroid, esophagus and adrenal gland were all below the limit of detection. The results of immunohistochemistry showed that 11 tissue samples (medullaoblongata, tonsil, adrenal medulla, thyroid gland, thyroid, stomach, duodenum, jejunum, kidney, spleen, and mesenteric lymph nodes) were positive and DON was mainly distributed around blood vessels in these tissues. Therefore, we believed that concentrations of DON in tissues differ when pigs are in exposure to various dosages and DON causes lesions in many pig tissues.

An accurate and precise method for the determination of tulathromycin in swine plasma was developed and validated. Plasma samples were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection (HPLC-MS/MS) using electrospray ionization (ESI). Tulathromycin was extracted from plasma by precipitation with acetonitrile and separated using a Phenomenex Luna 5 μm C18 column (150 mm×2.0 mm) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL min-1. Solvent A consisted of 0.002 mol L-1 ammonium acetate and formic acid (999:1, v/v), and solvent B was acetonitrile. The mass spectrometer was operated in the selected-ion mode with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization to monitor the respective MH+ ions, namely, m/z 577.3 for tulathromycin and m/z 679.3 for the internal standard roxithromycin. The calibration curves were linear in a dynamic range of 2.0-500 ng mL-1 on the column. The accuracy was ranged from 95.25 to 109.75%, and the precision was ranged from 2.81 to 7.72%. The recoveries measured at 3 concentration levels (20, 250, and 500 ng mL-1) were higher than 98%. The method described above is efficient, and has the required accuracy and precision for rapid determination of tulathromycin in plasma. The method was applied to study the pharmacokinetics of tulathromycin in swine, and tulathromycin demonstrated a rapid absorption, wide distribution, and slow elimination after intramuscular administration.