Differential protein input in the maternal diet alters the skeletal muscle transcriptome in fetal sheep

Mammalian Genome - Maternal nutrition during pregnancy is one of the major intrauterine environmental factors that influence fetal development by significantly altering the expression of genes that...     

Bovine serum albumin partitioning in an aqueous two-phase system: Effect of pH and sodium chloride concentration

The partitioning of bovine serum albumin (BSA) in a polyethylene glycol 3350 (8% w/w)–dextran 37 500 (6% w/w)–0.05 M phosphate aqueous two-phase was investigated at different pHs, at varying concentrations of sodium chloride at 20°C. The effect of NaCl concentration on the partition coefficient of BSA was studied for the PEG–dx systems with initial pH values of 4.2, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, and 9.8. The NaCl concentrations in the phase systems with constant pH value were 0.06, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.34 M. It was observed that the BSA partition coefficient decreased at concentrations smaller than 0.2 M NaCl and increased at concentrations greater than 0.2 M NaCl for all systems with initial pHs of 4.2, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, and 9.8. It was also seen that the partition coefficient of BSA decreased as the pH of the aqueous two-phase systems increased at any NaCl salt concentration studied.     

Effects of meal-time feeding and protein restriction on walking ability and some bone and carcass properties in broilers

This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of meal-time feeding and protein restriction on performance, gait score (GS) and carcass and bone traits in broilers. A total of 420 1-day-old chicks were wing banded and randomly distributed into 21 pens with 20 chicks each. At 7 days of age, chicks were weighed and randomly assigned to one of the three treatments: (1) control (C) feed (23.02% crude protein (CP)) was available ad libitum; (2) meal-time feeding (MF); control feed was available from 0100 to 0900 h and from 1500 to 2300 h. Food was withdrawn from 0900 to 1500 h and whole wheat (10 g/bird per day) was dispersed on the floor from 7 to 21 days; and (3) low-protein (LP) diet (19.71% CP) was fed to the chicks from 7 to 21 days. All of the groups were fed ad libitum from 1 to 7 days of age and from 21 to 45 days of age with a standard commercial diet. Individual body weight was measured on days 7, 21 and 45. Feed consumption was measured from 7 to 21 days and from 21 to 45 days. Forty-two chicks were humanly slaughtered and eviscerated for bone evaluation, on days 21 and 45. Also carcass characteristics were determined on day 45. Control group body weight was significantly higher (P < 0.05) at 21 and 45 days of age than the MF and LP groups, which did not differ. Feed intake was reduced by meal-time feeding and LP diet (P < 0.01). Feed efficiency was the best in the MF group during the period of 21 to 45 days of age (P < 0.01). In the control group, shank was significantly longer than that of the LP group and tibia breaking strength was higher than that of the MF group at 21 days (P < 0.05). However, shank width, tibia wet weight and tibia mid-diaphysis ash percentage of the MF group were significantly lower than those of the C and LP groups at 21 days of age (P < 0.05). GS, shank and carcass and tibia bone traits on day 45 were not significant among groups. No compensatory growth and walking ability improvement were observed at 45 days of age for broilers fed with MF and LP between 7 and 21 days of age.     

The effects of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy on antioxidant enzymes in erythrocytes

The effects of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) on patients undergoing ESWL for renal stone treatment have been studied using activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), and levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the erythrocyte haemolysate. The study included 23 patients (eight women, 15 men with an age range of 23-57 years). Blood samples were taken 5 min before ESWL, in addition to 1 h and 5 days after termination of treatment. Enzyme activities and MDA levels in erythrocytes were measured spectrophotometrically. When compared with the values obtained before ESWL, erythrocyte G6PDH (p = 0.015), SOD (p = 0.036) and CAT (p = 0.01) activities were found to be significantly reduced at the first hour after ESWL. On the fifth day after ESWL, erythrocyte enzyme activities were normalized to the values obtained before ESWL. Although there was a significant difference between values before and 1 h after ESWL (p = 0.003), no difference was detected between 1 h after ESWL and 5 days after ESWL (p > 0.05) in terms of MDA values. The findings of the present study revealed that erythrocyte lipid peroxidation might be induced and antioxidative defence mechanism may be transiently impaired by ESWL.     

Plasma xanthine oxidase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities and uric acid levels in severe and mild pre-eclampsia

The aim of the present study was to measure plasma uric acid (UA) levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and xanthine oxidase (XO) activities and to evaluate the relationship between these parameters and the severity of pre-eclampsia. Twenty-five pre-eclamptic, 15 healthy pregnant and 15 non-pregnant women were enrolled in this study. Increased mean plasma XO activity was found to be higher in both pre-eclampsia groups than in the healthy pregnant group. Plasma UA levels were the highest in the severe pre-eclampsia group among the study groups. SOD and GSH-Px activities were significantly lower in both pre-eclampsia groups than in the healthy pregnant group (p < 0.005 and p < 0.001, respectively). Increased XO and decreased SOD and GSH-Px activities may contribute to the pathophysiological mechanisms of pre-eclampsia and increased UA may serve a protective role responding to superoxide radicals arising from increased XO activity or other sources in pre-eclampsia.     

Influence of smoking on serum and milk of mothers, and their infants' serum insulin-like growth factor-I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 levels

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the serum and milk in active-smoking and nonsmoking mothers, and their infants' insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cohort study conducted at a tertiary medical center. Subjects: Forty-four mothers (age range: 21-34 years) and their newborns (7 days old) were enrolled in the study. Mothers were interviewed and classified according to their smoking status into one of two groups: the active-smoking mothers (n = 21) and the nonsmoking mothers (n = 23). RESULTS: There was no difference noted in either IGF-I, IGFBP-3 or IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratios in serum and milk of mothers, and their infants' serum samples according to maternal smoking. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that maternal smoking (5-10 cigarettes/day) did not influence the maternal and infant serum levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 as well as the breast milk levels of these peptides.     

Sperm fatty acid composition in subfertile men

INTRODUCTION: The lipid composition of spermatozoa plays an important role for successful fertilization. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the present study, we analyzed the fatty acid (FA) composition of spermatozoa of normozoospermic, asthenozoospermic, oligozoospermic and oligoasthenozoospermic men. RESULTS: Spermatozoa from asthenozoospermic (P<0.01), oligozoospermic (P<0.05) and oligoasthenozoospermic men (P<0.05) had lower levels of docosahexaenoic acid (22:6w3, DHA) than those from normozoospermic men. In oligozoospermic and asthenozoospermic men, spermatozoa 18:0 content was higher than that of normozoospermics (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively). 18:1w9 was higher in oligoasthenozoospermic and oligozoospermic samples when compared with normozoospermic samples (P<0.05 for both). While from the point of view of total w6 FAs there was no significant difference among the groups, the w6/w3 ratio was significantly higher in asthenozoospermic samples than in normozoospermic samples (P<0.05). Monounsaturated fatty acids (MFA) were higher in oligozoospermic samples (P<0.05) than in normozoospermic samples, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were lower in asthenozoospermic (P<0.01), oligoasthenozoospermic (P<0.05) and oligozoospermic samples (P<0.05) than in normozoospermic samples. Saturated fatty acids (SFA) were significantly higher in asthenozoospermic (P<0.01) and oligozoospermic samples (P<0.05) compared with normozoospermic samples. In correlation analysis, there were significant positive correlations between DHA with sperm motility (r=0.53), sperm concentration (r=0.36) and normal sperm morphology (r=0.30). In addition, there were significant correlations between PUFA with sperm motility (r=0.50), sperm concentration (r=0.35), and normal sperm morphology (r=0.28), and between w6/w3 with sperm motility (r=-0.47), sperm concentration (r=-0.27), and normal sperm morphology(r=-0.24). DISCUSSION: These suggest that decreased DHA and PUFA, and increased w6/w3 in spermatozoa may be related to infertility in oligo- and/or asthenozoospermic men.