• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.276-284
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• 2021

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether a dietary vitamin E (VE) supplement could alleviate any detrimental effects of aged corn on lipid metabolism and antioxidant status in laying hens. Methods: The experiment consisted of a 2×3 factorial design with two corn types (normal corn and aged corn (stored for 4 yr) and three concentrations of VE (0, 20, and 100 IU/kg). A total of 216 Lohmann laying hens (50 wk of age) were randomly allocated into six treatment diets for 12 wk. Each treatment had 6 replicates of 6 hens per replicate. Results: The results show that aged corn significantly decreased the content of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p<0.05), and reduced chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) mRNA expression (p<0.05) in the liver compared to controls. Diet with VE did not alter the content of crude fat and cholesterol (p>0.05), or acetyl-CoA carboxylase, lipoprotein lipase, fatty acid synthase or CMKLR1 mRNA expression (p>0.05) in the liver among treatment groups. Aged corn significantly increased the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) (p<0.05) and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (p<0.05) in the liver. The VE increased the content of MDA (p<0.05) but decreased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in serum (p<0.01) and in the ovaries (p<0.05). Adding VE at 20 and 100 IU/kg significantly increased GSH-Px activity (p<0.05) in liver and in serum (p<0.01), 100 IU/kg VE significantly increased SOD activity (p<0.05) in serum. Aged corn had no significant effects on GSH-Px mRNA or SOD mRNA expression (p<0.01) in the liver and ovaries. Addition of 100 IU/kg VE could significantly increase SOD mRNA expression (p<0.01) in the liver and ovary. Conclusion: Aged corn affected lipid metabolism and decreased the antioxidant function of laying hens. Dietary VE supplementation was unable to counteract the negative effects of aged corn on lipid metabolism. However, addition of 100 IU/kg VE prevented aged corninduced lipid peroxidation in the organs of laying hens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.161-164
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• 2003

The polymorphism of the growth hormone gene in 12 pig breeds (total n=475) was detected by PCR-Apa I-RFLP, and allele A (449 bp, 101 bp and 55 bp) or allele B (316 bp, 133 bp, 101 bp and 55 bp) were observed. In these pig breeds, we found that European pig breeds had high frequencies of allele B, while Chinese native pig breeds had high frequencies of allele A. In addition, the role of porcine GH was investigated in 117 Nanchang White pigs and 361 Large Yorkshire pigs. Eight traits about growth and carcass were recorded for analyzing associations between GH gene polymorphism and performance quantitative traits. In the Nanchang White pigs, no significant difference was observed between different genotypes and different growth and carcass traits. In Large Yorkshire pigs, those with BB genotype had more lean percentage than pigs with AA genotype (p<0.05). Based on these results, we conclude that the GH locus should be further investigated in commercial breeds to determine its suitability for use in marker-assisted selection programmes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.491-498
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• 2010

Chemerin is a novel adipokine which is abundant in adipose tissue to promote adipocyte differentiation and with significant relativity to BMI and insulin sensitivity. We report here the molecular characterization of porcine chemerin and its receptors ChemR23 and GPR1, as well as their transcriptional regulation during lipogenesis. Chemerin was mainly expressed in liver, intestine, kidney and adipose tissue, consistent with the expression pattern of GPR1, but not ChemR23, which was predominantly present in spleen and temperately in adipose tissue. We further investigated the lipogenesis-related transcriptional activation of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and KLF15 on chemerin and its receptors. The data showed that KLF15, but not $PPAR{\gamma}$, can up-regulate the mRNA level of chemerin, ChemR23 and GPR1, which was consistent with the results of luciferase assay that confirmed the effect of KLF15 on ChemR23 promoter. Taken together, our data provide basic molecular information for the further investigation on the function of chemerin in lipogenesis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1220-1225
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate the protective effect of genistein on the antioxidative defence system and membrane fluidity in chick skeletal muscle cells after supplementation with 0, 20, 40, and $80{\mu}mol/L$ genistein in $50{\mu}mol/L$ $FeSO_4/H_2O_2$ treated cells for 24 h. Genistein supplementation recovered the decreased activity of total superoxide dismutase induced by $FeSO_4/H_2O_2$, significantly increased glutathione peroxidase activity (p<0.05) and decreased malondialdehyde production (p<0.05). The treatment of 80 mol/L genistein in $FeSO_4/H_2O_2$ treated cells decreased the secretion of creatine kinase (p<0.05). Fluorescence polarization values and microviscosities observed with $FeSO_4/H_2O_2$ treated cells were significantly higher than those observed with no $FeSO_4/H_2O_2$ treated cells. The addition of $80{\mu}mol/L$ genistein improved the increased fluorescence polarization value (p<0.05) caused by $FeSO_4/H_2O_2$ treatment. The microviscosity value was significantly decreased by adding genistein (p<0.05). In conclusion, genistein protected skeletal muscle cells from oxidative damage by improving antioxidative status and membrane fluidity.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.260-267
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• 2015

The effect of different tumbling marination treatments (control group, CG; conventional static marination, SM; vacuum continuous tumbling marination, CT; vacuum intermittent tumbling marination, IT) on the quality characteristics of prepared pork chops was investigated under simulated commercial conditions. The CT treatment increased (p<0.05) the pH value, $b^*$ value, product yield, tenderness, overall flavor, sensory juiciness and overall acceptability in comparison to other treatments for prepared boneless pork chops. The CT treatment decreased (p<0.05) cooking loss, shear force value, hardness, gumminess and chewiness compared with other treatments. In addition, CT treatment effectively improved springiness and sensory color more than other treatments. However, IT treatment achieved the numerically highest (p<0.05) $L^*$ and $a^*$ values. These results suggested that CT treatment obtained the best quality characteristics of prepared pork chops and should be adopted as the optimal commercial processing method for this prepared boneless pork chops.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1020-1027
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• 2015

The combined effect of tumbling marination methods (vacuum continuous tumbling marination, CT; vacuum intermittent tumbling marination, IT) and effective tumbling time (4, 6, 8, and 10 h) on the water status and protein properties of prepared pork chops was investigated. Results showed that regardless of tumbling time, CT method significantly decreased the muscle fiber diameter (MD) and significantly increased the total moisture content, product yield, salt soluble proteins (SSP) solubility, immobilized water component (p<0.05) compared with IT method. With the effective tumbling time increased from 4 h to 10 h, the fat content and the MD were significantly decreased (p<0.05), whereas the SSP solubility of prepared pork chops increased firstly and then decreased. Besides, an interactive effect between CT method and effective tumbling time was also observed for the chemical composition and proportion of immobilized water (p<0.05). These results demonstrated that CT method of 8 h was the most beneficial for improving the muscle structure and water distribution status, increasing the water-binding capacity and accelerating the marinade efficiency of pork chops; and thus, it should be chosen as the most optimal treatment method for the processing production of prepared pork chops.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2017

Soybean agglutinin (SBA) is an anti-nutritional factor of soybean, affecting cell proliferation and inducing cytotoxicity. Integrins are transmembrane receptors, mediating a variety of cell biological processes. This research aims to study the effects of SBA on cell proliferation and cell cycle progression of the intestinal epithelial cell line from piglets (IPEC-J2), to identify the integrin subunits especially expressed in IPEC-J2s, and to analyze the functions of these integrins on IPEC-J2 cell cycle progression and SBA-induced IPEC-J2 cell cycle alteration. The results showed that SBA lowered cell proliferation rate as the cell cycle progression from G0/G1 to S phase (P < 0.05) was inhibited. Moreover, SBA lowered mRNA expression of cell cycle-related gene CDK4, Cyclin E and Cyclin D1 (P < 0.05). We successfully identified integrins ${\alpha}2$, ${\alpha}3$, ${\alpha}6$, ${\beta}1$, and ${\beta}4$ in IPEC-J2s. These five subunits were crucial to maintain normal cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in IPEC-J2s. Restrain of either these five subunits by their inhibitors, lowered cell proliferation rate, and arrested the cells at G0/G1 phase of cell cycle (P < 0.05). Further analysis indicated that integrin ${\alpha}2$, ${\alpha}6$, and ${\beta}1$ were involved in the blocking of G0/G1 phase induced by SBA. In conclusion, these results suggested that SBA lowered the IPEC-J2 cell proliferation rate through the perturbation of cell cycle progression. Furthermore, integrins were important for IPEC-J2 cell cycle progression, and they were involved in the process of SBA-induced cell cycle progression alteration, which provide a basis for further revealing SBA anti-proliferation and anti-nutritional mechanism.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.627-632
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• 2007

FoxO1, FoxO3a and FoxO4 belong to the FoxO gene family, which play important roles in the PI3K/PKB pathway. In this study, we cloned the porcine FoxO1, FoxO3a and FoxO4 sequences and assigned them to SSC11p11-15, SSC1p13 and SSC xq13 using somatic cell hybrid panel (SCHP) and radiation hybrid panel (IMpRH). RT-PCR results showed that these three genes are expressed in multiple tissues. Sequencing of PCR products from different breeds identified a synonymous T/C polymorphism in exon 2 of FoxO3a. This FoxO3a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) can be detected by AvaII restriction enzyme. The allele frequencies of this SNP were investigated in Dahuabai, Meishan, Tongcheng, Yushan, Large White, and Duroc pigs. Association of the genotypes with growth and carcass traits showed that different genotypes of FoxO3a were associated with carcass length and backfat thickness between 6th and 7th ribs (BTR) and drip loss (p<0.05).

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.361-364
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• 2015

Gynandromorphic ticks are extremely rare, and often attract parasitologists' attention. During our examination of tick specimens, an engorged gynandromorph of Hyalomma asiaticum was noticed. This is the first record of gynandromorphic ticks from China. In this study, several important morphological structures of normal and gynandromorphic H. asiaticum were analyzed. Comparing to the normal H. asiaticum, the gynandromorphic specimen was a typical bipartite protogynander. Its right side showed normal female characteristics, whereas the left side had normal male traits. Different from other gynandromorphic ticks containing 1 anus, this tick reported here had 2 complete anuses, and the anus of the male part had a single adanal plate.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.942-948
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• 2005

New polymorphism of major histocompatibility complex B-G genes was investigated by amplification and digestion of a 401bp fragment including intron 1 and exon 2 using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique with two restriction enzymes of Msp I and Tas I in eight breeds of Chinese indigenous chickens and one exotic breed. In the fragment region of the gene, three novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected at the two restriction sites. We found the transition of two nucleotides of A294G and T295C occurred at Tas I restriction site, and consequently led to a non-synonymous substitution of asparagine into serine at position 54 within the deduced amino acid sequence of immunoglobulin variable-region-like domain encoded by the exon 2 of B-G gene. It was observed at rare frequency that a single mutation of A294G occurring at the site, also caused an identical substitution of amino acid, asparagine 54-to-serine, to that we described previously. And the transversion of G319C at Msp I site led to a non-synonymous substitution, glutamine 62-to-histidine. The new alleles and allele frequencies identified by the PCR-RFLP method with the two enzymes were characterized, of which the allele A and B frequencies at Msp I and Tas I loci were given disequilibrium distribution either in the eight Chinese local breeds or in the exotic breed. By comparison, allele A at Msp I locus tended to be dominant, while, the allele B at Tas I locus tended to be dominant in all of the breeds analyzed. In Tibetan chickens, the preliminary association analysis revealed that no significant difference was observed between the different genotypes identified at the Msp I and Tas I loci and the laying performance traits, respectively.