The effect of dietary methionine levels on fattening performance and selected blood and tissue parameters of turkeys

A total of 490 eight-week-old female Hybrid Converter turkeys (body weight 4.11 ± 0.03 kg) were divided into 5 groups with 7 replicates of 14 birds each. For 8 weeks, basal diets were supplemented with methionine (Met) at following levels (weeks 9–12/weeks 13–16 of age): Group 1 – 0.34/0.29%, Group 2 – 0.39/0.34%, Groups 3 and 4 – 0.45/0.38% and 0.51/0.41%, respectively, Group 5 – 0.58/0.47%. Only in the first feeding phase the body weight gain (BWG) was affected by Met levels with the significantly highest BWG in Group 3. No treatment effects were found for feed conversion ratio, carcass yield, carcass composition and meat colour. The blood superoxide dismutase activity was significantly highest in Groups 2 and 3. The concentrations of reduced glutathione in the liver were linearly increased (p = 0.018), whereas the ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidised glutathione was highest in Group 3 (quadratic contrast, p = 0.004). It can be concluded that turkeys from Group 3 (Met levels age depending 15% and 10% above recommendations by NRC) were characterised by a well-balanced physiological response. Attention should be paid to the immune response of birds to higher dietary Met levels: plasma IgA concentrations decreased, whereas IL-6 and TNF-α levels increased in turkeys fed diets with the highest Met content.     

Cigarette smoking might weaken the prognostic significance of cytochrome P450 2C19*2 polymorphism in acute myocardial infarction patients

Prognostic significance of cytochrome P450 2C19*2 polymorphism in acute myocardial infarction is still not well investigated. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between the genetic polymorphism and the outcome of the acute myocardial infarction patients, and to further clarify the impact of smoking on such relationship. Six hundred acute myocardial infarction patients were enrolled. All of them provided blood samples and underwent clopidogrel treatment. The genetic polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and the platelet function was assessed using conventional aggregometry. Of the included patients, 287 carried GG wild‐type genotypes, 225 carried GA genotypes and 88 carried AA genotypes. The platelet aggregation rate was significantly elevated in the AA genotype patients, mainly in the non‐smoking patients (P < 0.001) and the former‐smoking patients (P < 0.001). During 5‐year follow‐up period, after adjusted for multiple confounding factors, AA genotypes were associated with the increase in 5‐year mortalities in the non‐smoking patients [OR: 7.06, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.16–11.49] and the former‐smoking patients (OR: 4.38, 95% CI: 1.05–9.40), but not in the current‐smoking patients (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.60–2.31). In conclusion, the study suggested a potential role of P450 2C19*2 polymorphism as a prognostic indicator in acute myocardial infarction patients. We had also obtained some evidence that current smoking might weaken the prognostic significance of the genetic polymorphism in patients.     

Clinical relevance of glycerophospholipid,sphingomyelin and glutathione metabolism in the pathogenesis of pharyngolaryngeal cancer in smokers: the Korean Cancer Prevention Study-II

Introduction

Although smoking is a major risk factor for pharyngolaryngeal cancer, most smokers do not develop pharyngolaryngeal cancer.

Objectives

In the prospective Korean Cancer Prevention Study-II (KCPS-II), we investigated the application of metabolomics to differentiate smokers with incident pharyngolaryngeal cancer (pharyngolaryngeal cancer group) from smokers who remained free from cancer (controls) during a mean follow-up period of 7 years and aimed to discover valuable early biomarkers of pharyngolaryngeal cancer.

Methods

We used baseline serum samples from 30 smoking men with incident pharyngolaryngeal cancer and 59 age-matched cancer-free smoking men. Metabolic alterations associated with the incidence of pharyngolaryngeal cancer were investigated by performing metabolomics on baseline serum samples using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-linear-trap quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry.

Results

Compared to the control group, the pharyngolaryngeal cancer group showed significantly higher oxidized LDL levels. Seventeen metabolites were differentially abundant between the two groups. At baseline, compared to controls, smokers with incident pharyngolaryngeal cancer during follow-up showed significantly higher levels of pyroglutamic acid (glutathione metabolism) but lower levels of lysophosphatidylcholines (lysoPCs) C14:0, C15:0, C16:0, C17:0, C18:0, and C20:5; glycerophosphocholine; PC C36:5; lysoPEs C16:0, C20:1, and C22:0 (glycerophospholipid metabolism); SM (d18:0/16:1); and SM (d18:1/18:1) (sphingomyelin metabolism). Furthermore, smokers with incident pharyngolaryngeal cancer showed significantly higher levels of oleamide and lower levels of tryptophan and linoleyl carnitine at baseline than cancer-free smokers.

Conclusion

This prospective study showed the clinical relevance of dysregulated metabolism of glutathione, glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids to the pathogenesis of pharyngolaryngeal cancer among smokers. These data suggest that the dysregulation of these metabolic processes may be a key mechanism underlying pharyngolaryngeal cancer progression and development.

     

DIFFERENTIAL PROTEOME ANALYSIS OF THE MALE AND FEMALE ANTENNAE FROM Holotrichia parallela

To understand the olfactory mechanisms of Holotrichia parallela antennae in detecting volatile compounds in the environment, protein profiles of H. parallela antennae were analyzed using two‐dimensional electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry and bioinformatics analyses. Approximately 1,100 protein spots in silver staining gel were detected. Quantitative image analysis revealed that in total 47 protein spots showed significant changes in different genders of adult antennae. Thirty‐five differentially expressed proteins were identified by Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF/TOF) tandem mass spectrometer, among which 65.7% are involved in carbohydrate and energy metabolism, antioxidant system, transport, and amino acid/nucleotide metabolism. Some proteins identified here have not been reported previously in insect antennae. Identified male‐biased proteins included odorant‐binding protein 4, pheromone‐binding protein‐related protein 2, odorant‐binding protein 14, prophenoloxidase‐I, acyl‐CoA dehydrogenase, aldo‐keto reductase‐like, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase, etc. whereas some proteins are female biased, such as antennae‐rich cytochrome P450, aldehyde dehydrogenase, and putative glutamine synthetase. Alterations in the levels of some proteins were further confirmed by real time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). The proteomic resources displayed here are valuable for the discovery of proteins from H. parallela antennae.     

CRISPR/Cas9介导靶向敲除拟南芥GGB基因突变体的鉴定

GGB是抗旱负调控基因。为了获得拟南芥ggb突变体材料,构建了以拟南芥U6启动子驱动GGB sgRNA的CRISPR/Cas9基因组编辑载体。将构建好的编辑载体利用农杆菌介导的浸花法转化野生型拟南芥。对转基因后代GGB基因的测序结果分析发现,在靶位点处有缺失4个碱基和增加1个T碱基的2种突变体产生。分别对野生型拟南芥和上述2种ggb突变体进行半定量RT PCR分析结果显示,突变体材料中几乎检测不到GGB基因表达,说明获得了GGB基因敲除突变体。对野生型和ggb突变体叶片失水率、耐旱表型及单株种子量的测定结果表明,与野生型相比,拟南芥GGB基因突变后,叶片失水率显著减少,抗旱性明显增强,而单株种子量却并没有改变。研究表明,GGB是一种理想的作物分子育种的候选靶基因,获得的突变体为今后从农作物中克隆的GGB同源基因进行功能互补验证提供了有用的遗传材料。     

丁基苯酞对心力衰竭大鼠心房颤动的影响及作用机制

为探讨丁基苯酞(DL-3-N-butylphthalide,NBP)对心肌梗死诱导的心力衰竭(heart failure,HF)大鼠心房结构重塑和心房颤动形成的影响,本研究将心力衰竭模型大鼠随机分为丁基苯酞组(NBP)、模型组(Model)和假手术组(Sham)。将丁基苯酞用大豆油溶解,制成10 mg/mL的丁基苯酞溶液。丁基苯酞组按照80 mg/kg体重对SD大鼠进行灌胃,模型组和假手术组用等量的大豆油灌胃。假手术组大鼠接受相同手术但未结扎左前降支冠状动脉。分别检测大鼠的超声心动图、心房颤动诱导性试验及心房纤维化,并检测TNF-α、TGF-β1、NF-κB、Nrf2和HO-1的蛋白表达。研究显示,应用丁基苯酞治疗4周后,NBP组大鼠心功能显著改善(p<0.05);NBP组大鼠心房颤动诱导能力和持续时间显著降低(p<0.05);NBP组大鼠心房纤维化程度显著减轻(p<0.05)。丁基苯酞显著抑制TNF-α,NF-κB和TGF-β1的蛋白表达,并上调Nrf2和HO-1的蛋白表达。并且,NBP对TNF-α/NF-κB/TGF-β1和纤维化的抑制作用可能与Nrf2/HO-1信号通路的激活有关。因此,丁基苯酞有望成为预防房颤的上游治疗中的有效药物。