• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.595-606
• /
• 2018

Objective: The Fusarium mycotoxins of deoxynivalenol (DON) and zerolenone (ZEN) cause health hazards for both humans and farm animals. Therefore, the main intention of this study was to reveal DON and ZEN effects on the mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and other immune related genes in the liver of piglets. Methods: In the present study, 15 six-week-old piglets were randomly assigned to the following three different dietary treatments for 4 weeks: control diet, diet containing 8 mg DON/kg feed, and diet containing 0.8 mg ZEN/kg feed. After 4 weeks, liver samples were collected and sequenced using RNA-Seq to investigate the effects of the mycotoxins on genes and gene networks associated with the immune systems of the piglets. Results: Our analysis identified a total of 249 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which included 99 upregulated and 150 downregulated genes in both the DON and ZEN dietary treatment groups. After biological pathway analysis, the DEGs were determined to be significantly enriched in gene ontology terms associated with many biological pathways, including immune response and cellular and metabolic processes. Consistent with inflammatory stimulation due to the mycotoxin-contaminated diet, the following Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathways, which were related to disease and immune responses, were found to be enriched in the DEGs: allograft rejection pathway, cell adhesion molecules, graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), type I diabetes mellitus, human T-cell leukemia lymphoma virus infection, and viral carcinogenesis. Genome-wide expression analysis revealed that DON and ZEN treatments downregulated the expression of the majority of the DEGs that were associated with inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 10 receptor, beta, chemokine [C-X-C motif] ligand 9), proliferation (insulin-like growth factor 1, major facilitator superfamily domain containing 2A, insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2, lipase G, and salt inducible kinase 1), and other immune response networks (paired immunoglobulin-like type 2 receptor beta, Src-like-adaptor-1 [SLA1], SLA3, SLA5, SLA7, claudin 4, nicotinamide N-methyltransferase, thyrotropin-releasing hormone degrading enzyme, ubiquitin D, histone $H_2B$ type 1, and serum amyloid A). Conclusion: In summary, our results demonstrated that high concentrations DON and ZEN disrupt immune-related processes in the liver.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.749-755
• /
• 2012

This study was performed to investigate the physico-chemical properties of Holstein steer beef loin (M. longissimus dorsi) and top round (M. semimembranosus) from 18, 21 and 24-mon old. The loin and top round muscles from the 24-mon group had higher intramuscular fat content (%) than the other groups (p<0.05); however, the protein content was not significantly different among the 3 groups (p>0.05). With regard to meat color (CIE), the lightness ($L^*$), redness ($a^*$) and yellowness ($b^*$) values of the loin were significantly higher for the 21- and 24-mon groups, and those of the top round were significantly higher for the 21-mon group than the same cuts in the other groups. The Warner-Bratzler shear force was the lowest at 24 mon for both the loin and top round muscles (3.69 kg); however, the water holding capacity was significantly higher for loin muscles from the 21-mon group (54.53%, p<0.05). The loin muscles from the 24-mon group contained significantly higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acid and significantly lower levels of saturated fatty acid than those in the other groups (p<0.05). The tenderness, juiciness, flavor-likeness and the overall-likeness scores were significantly higher for beef from the 21- and 24-mon groups than that from the 18-mon group. The results of this study indicate that both the slaughtering age and muscle type significantly affect meat quality. Therefore, fattening the beef for more than 4 mon during the late fattening stage would be advantageous for the meat quality of Holstein steers.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.87-94
• /
• 2017

Tissue engineering (TE) has been developed to create functional organs and tissue by combining 3D matrix and cells in vitro. Vascularization and angiogenesis are utmost important for supply of nutrients and oxygen in tissue engineered organs. The present study was performed to isolate and characterize primary endothelial cells (EC) from aorta of alpha 1, 3-enzyme galactosyltransferase knock out (GalT KO) pig, to minimize immune rejection and analyze body immune system for future xenotransplantation studies. Isolation of primary EC from aorta were performed by incubation with dispase for 8-10 min at $37^{\circ}C$. Primary EC were cultured in EC growth medium on different extra cellular matrix (ECM), either collagen or gelation. Primary EC exhibits morphological characteristics and showed positive expressions of EC specific marker proteins i.e. PECAM1, KDR and VWF despite of their ECM surface; however, on collagen based surface they showed increase in mRNA level analyzed by qPCR. Primary EC cultured on collagen were sorted by flow cytometer using KDR marker and cultured as KDR positive cells and KDR negative cells, respectively. KDR positive cells showed dramatically increased in PECAM1 and VWF level as compared to KDR negative cells. Based on the above results, primary EC derived from GalT KO are successfully isolated and survived continuously in culture without becoming overgrown by fibroblast. Therefore, they can be utilize for xeno organ transfer, tissue engineering, and immune rejection study in future.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.10
• /
• pp.1616-1627
• /
• 2022

Objective: This work was conducted to investigate the effects of oxidative stress on meat quality, mitochondrial function, calcium metabolism and ferroptosis of broilers. Methods: In this study, a total of 144 one-day-old male Ross 308 chicks were divided into 3 groups (control group, saline group, and hydrogen peroxide [H₂O₂] group) with 6 replicates of 8 broilers each. The study lasted for 42 d. The broilers in the saline and H₂O₂ groups were intraperitoneally injected with 0.75% saline and 10.0% H₂O₂ on the 16th and 37th day of the experimental period respectively, the injection volumes were 1.0 mL/kg of broiler body weight. On the 42nd day of the experimental period, two chicks were randomly selected from each cage, a total of thirty-six chicks were stunned by electric shock and slaughtered to collect breast muscle samples. Results: The H₂O₂ exposure reduced pH value, increased drip loss and shear force of breast meat (p<0.05), impaired the ultrastructure and function of mitochondria. The H₂O₂ exposure damaged the antioxidant system in mitochondria, excessive reactive oxygen species carbonylation modified calcium channels on mitochondria, which impaired the activities of key enzymes on calcium channel, resulted in the increased calcium concentration in cytoplasm and mitochondria (p<0.05). In addition, the H₂O₂ exposure increased the iron content and lipid peroxidation (p<0.05), which induced ferroptosis. Conclusion: Oxidative stress could impair meat quality by causing mitochondrial dysfunction, resulting in calcium metabolism disorder and ferroptosis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.16 no.7
• /
• pp.1066-1070
• /
• 2003

In order to identify differentially expressed mRNAs (which represent possible candidates for significant phenotypic variances of muscle growth, meat quality between introduced European and Chinese indigenous pigs) in the longissimus dorsi muscle tissue between adult Duroc and Erhualian pigs, mRNA differential display was performed. Five 3' anchor primers in combination with 20 different 5' arbitrary primers (100 primer sets) were used and nearly 5,000 cDNA bands were examined, among which 10 differential display cDNAs were obtained, cloned and sequenced. Six of the 10 cDNAs showed similarity to identified genes from GenBank and the other 4 had no matches in GenBank. Differential expression was tested by Northern blot hybridization and could be confirmed for 2 cDNAs. The method used in this study provides a useful molecular tool to investigate genetic variation that occurs at the transcriptional level between different breeds.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.142-146
• /
• 2009

In this study cadmium content of sorghum hybrid (Sorghum bicolor) was analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer at different burner heights (3, 6, 9 mm). We considered the 6 mm burner height condition favorable among the three. The mean Cd content of each treatment are as follows: Alum+NPK, 1.90 mg/kg; Control, 3.14 mg/kg; Compost, 3.35 mg/kg; and Compost+NPK, 4.23 mg/kg.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.14 no.12
• /
• pp.1665-1669
• /
• 2001

A QTL was localized near S0120 on porcine chromosome 18. The QTL was significant (p<0.05) for average daily gain (ADG) of body weight and backfat thickness (BFT). The estimates of additive and dominance effects for the QTL were 0.0135 kg/day (p<0.001) and 0.0138 kg/day (p>0.5) for ADG and 1.6115 mm (p<0.001) and 0.9281 mm (p>0.05) for BFT. The location of this QTL coincided with a few growth hormone pathway genes. This study suggested that a QTL allele probably resulted from a mutation responsible for physiological lipase deficiency favoring obesity. This QTL might be important to obesity as well as growth in pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.8
• /
• pp.1072-1079
• /
• 2013

The NLRP12 (NLR family, pyrin domain containing 12) serves as a suppressor factor in the inflammatory response and protects the host against inflammation-induced damage. In the present study, we aimed to study the polymorphisms of NLRP12 gene and its association with susceptibility to non-specific digestive disorder (NSDD) in rabbits. We re-sequenced the entire coding region of the rabbit NLRP12 gene and detected a total of 19 SNPs containing 14 synonymous and five non-synonymous variations. Among them, the coding SNP (c.1682A>G), which would carry a potential functional implication, was subsequently subjected to genotyping for case-control association study (272 cases and 267 controls). The results revealed that allele A was significantly protective against NSDD with an odds ratio value of 0.884 (95% confidence interval, 0.788 to 0.993; p = 0.038). We also experimentally induced NSDD in growing rabbits by feeding a fibre-deficient diet and subsequently investigated NLRP12 mRNA expression. The mRNA expression of NLRP12 in healthy status was significantly higher than that in severe NSDD (p = 0.0016). The highest expression was observed in individuals carrying the protective genotype AA (p = 0.0108). These results suggested that NLRP12 was significantly associated with the NSDD in rabbits. However, the precise molecular mechanism of NLRP12 involving in the development of rabbit NSDD requires further research.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.277-285
• /
• 2020

Objective: This study was performed to investigate the effects of supplementing sesame seed meal (SSM) with phytase and lysine on performance, egg quality, blood biochemical and antioxidant status of laying hens. Methods: A total of 960, 56-wk-old laying hens were divided into 12 dietary groups with eight replicates per group (10 birds per replicate). A completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 2×3×2 consisted of two levels of lysine supplement (0% and 10% over requirement), three SSM levels (0%, 10%, and 20%) with or without phytase (0 and 300 g/ton). The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks. Results: Birds fed diets with 10% SSM had higher feed intake than groups fed 0% and 20% SSM. The addition of phytase to experimental feeds, improved feed conversion ratio, increased egg weight and mass (p<0.01). Egg quality criteria was not affected by supplementing phytase; however, supplementing 300 g/ton phytase to hens diet, led to a significant (p<0.05) increase in egg shell strength. Egg yolk cholesterol and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, atherogenic index and total cholesterol were decreased (p<0.01) by diet containing 20% SSM. The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was increased (p<0.05) in serum of hens fed 20% SSM than the other groups. It was also observed that total antioxidant capacity and total superoxide dismutase content of hens fed 20% SSM was significantly higher than control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: As from results, dietary supplementation of SSM and phytase had no negative effects on laying hens performance or egg quality while improving the egg oxidative stability.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.516-523
• /
• 2005

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary combinations of vitamin A (VA), vitamin E (VE) and methionine (Met) on growth performance, meat quality and immunity in commercial broilers. Ross chicks (n=3,630) were allocated to five experimental treatments with three replicates per diet. The dietary treatments were: VA 8,000 IU, VE 10 IU (diet 1); VA 12,000 IU, VE 10 IU (diet 2); VA 8,000 IU, VE 100 IU (diet 3); VA 12,000 IU, VE 100 IU (diet 4) and; VA 12,000 IU, VE 100 IU/kg diet and 20% Met higher than other groups (diet 5). The Met content in diet 1 to diet 4 were as per the requirement suggested by NRC. Separate vitamin premixes were prepared for each treatment diet as per the requirement of study. The 35 d study revealed significantly (p<0.0001) higher weight gains in broilers fed diet 3 and diet 5, than in the rest of the groups during starter phase (0-3 weeks) only. The feed intake did not vary significantly at all phases of study, but feed efficiency was significantly (p<0.05) lower in diet 1 during starter and overall phase (4-5 weeks). The bone strength and bone composition, except bone calcium, remained unaffected due to experimental diets studied after 35 d of experimental feeding. The thio-barbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were significantly (p=0.0013) lower in the breast meat in group 5, followed by group 3, than in the rest of the groups. The immune studies conducted, antibody titers to sheep red blood cells, thickness index to phytohaemagglutinin-P, and heterophil: lymphocyte ratio, did not show any significant difference among treatments. It could be concluded that supplementation of VA, VE and Met at higher levels could be beneficial to broilers only during the starter phase.