Both cats and dogs belong to animals with the same type of limb support but have different nature of movement. Despite belonging to digitigrade animals, cats and dogs have a different nature of motion. While moving, the medial joint surface in cats and lateral surface in dogs carry the larger pressure. The aim of the study was to compare the similar surfaces of the cat's and dog's tarsal joint capsule and to detect differences in its histostructure and vascularisation. For the study, we used the capsule of the tarsal joint of five cats and five dogs dissected with accordance to anatomical surfaces. Sections of the capsule joint were stained with haematoxylineosin. The sections were examined with a microscope at magnification ×250 and ×400. The statistical analysis of the results was done using Student's t test. During the research, a difference in histostructure and vascularisation of tarsal joint capsule in cats and dogs on respective surfaces were found. The medial surface of the tarsal joint capsule was the most saturated with hemomicrocirculatory bed structures in cats, whereas this was the lateral surface in dogs. The most active metabolic processes also take place in these areas of the joint capsule, which is important to know when prescribing therapeutic procedures and determining an optimal surgical access.

The comparative studies of the tarsal joint capsule of cattle (Bos taurus) and canines (Canis lupus) have clarified general patterns of the structural organization of a joint capsule and the species-specific features of its angioarchitectonics. The differences in the formation of the fibroelastic layer and the location of vascular fields in the cases of animals with different stances were established. The zones of intensive intraorganic vascularization of the joint capsule were revealed; that being—the plantar and dorsal surface in the case of cattle, the lateral and medial surfaces—in case of the canine.

Surgical pathology in animals is quite broad and has various forms of manifestation. It covers various anatomic-topographic areas and organs, in particular in pigs quite often presented with abdominal pathology. There have been published reports of an incidence of hernias in 0.8-3.5% of the pig population, which is 50% of all surgical pathology of the whole animal species. In the group of clinically healthy pigs (n = 10), a significant level of anti-inflammatory IL-10 is noticeable. At the same time, rather high cytokine indices of the ratio of anti-inflammatory to proinflammatory cytokines in healthy animals – 13.9: 1 – 19.4: 1, with the index between the latter – 0.7: 1. That is, in general, IL-10, under physiological norms, exercises a powerful control over the phylogenic cytokine systems of the pig body. At the same time, animals with surgical pathology show a sharp increase in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines. For hernias accompanied by an adhesive-inflammatory aseptic process, serum TNF-α content is increased 4.9-fold and IL-1β is slightly less – only 2.1-fold, with a moderate increase in the concentration of 1.3-fold anti-inflammatory IL- 10. In this case, cytokine indices are significantly reduced, which indicates a decrease in the activity of antiflogogenic mechanisms. The dynamics of the development of purulent arthritis is characterized by a remarkable increase in blood levels of TNF-α – 18.3 times, and a moderate increase in the concentrations of IL-1 and IL-10. In this case, the cytokine index of IL-10: TNF-α acquired a critical value of 1.5: 1, and the number of the latter exceeded the level of IL-1β by more than 5 times. At the same time, elevation of IL-1β and IL-10 levels did not lead to a significant difference with the indigenous animals. Most likely, the powerful synthesis of TNF-α is associated with the appearance of a large number of cells of its producers in the area of ​​destruction of the joints. In this case, insufficient increase in the level of IL-10 triggers the process of cascading production of inflammatory mediators and the development of systemic inflammatory syndrome. Fibrinogen, as one of the acute phase reaction proteins, fluctuates within 2–4 g / L by physiological norms. In the early postoperative period, its level increases significantly, however, the peaks of increasing plasma fibrinogen concentration in control animals are recorded on day 1 and day 7. By using the immune depot, on the contrary, it is dynamically normalized to the 7th day after the hernia. The dynamics of fibrinogen concentration with the use of thiotriazoline were somewhat different. It peaked after the first day and was 2.3 times higher than immuno depot injections. In the following, only after the 3rd day the level of fibrinogenemia began to normalize dynamically, which can be explained by the pronounced hepatoprotective effect of thiotriazoline with increased synthesis of fibrinogen by the liver. The level of haptoglobin, like fibrinogen, remained virtually unchanged in the first hours after herniotomy. However, its concentration increased substantially 24 hours after surgery in the first and second study groups, compared to the preoperative period. Moreover, the level of haptoglobin in the 1st group was 2 times higher than in the 2nd (p <0.01), which indicates a more pronounced anti-inflammatory effect of thiotriazoline. On the 3rd day of the postoperative period there was a peak increase of this indicator, but again in the 2nd experimental group it was twice lower. A further dynamic decrease in serum haptoglobin concentration was more pronounced with the use of thiotriazoline. With regard to ceruloplasmin, it reached its highest level by the 6th hour after surgical intervention in pigs of group 1 and amounted to 421.9 ± 39.69 mg / l. The rather rapid increase in serum ceruloplasmin is due, most likely, to the inhibition of prooxidant enzymes by the components of the immune depot, in particular selenium and copper. However, given the established dynamics of the concentration of ceruloplasmin in groups, it is not possible to attest to its specificity for aseptic inflammation in pigs. The cytokine profile in pigs with surgical pathology depends on its complexity. Moderate cytokinemia of phlogenic character develops over hernia, which becomes extremely pronounced with purulent arthritis. However, the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines is not adequate enough to require pharmacological correction of the inflammatory response in surgical pathology in pigs. The acute-phase reaction after herniotomy in pigs is mainly manifested by an increase in the concentration of fibrinogen and haptoglobin in the blood, but not ceruloplasmin. The mechanisms of its correction with thiotriazoline and immune depot differ, which needs further research. Key words: pigs, cytokines, acute phase proteins, herniotomy, immune depot, thioriazoline.