Effects of exercise and dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid on blood lipid profiles of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats

The efficacy of exercise and dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) on streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats was investigated based on blood lipid profiles, with respect to triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol. A total of 32 Sprague-Dawley male rats were used and divided into eight groups. Four groups were exercised daily for 8 weeks, while the other four were sedentary. Treatment diets were defined as follows: rat chow diet only (Control diet), rat chow added with 2:1, menhaden oil:soybean oil (Diet 1), rat chow added with 1:2, menhaden oil:soybean oil (Diet 2), and rat chow added with 10% (w/w) butter (Diet 3). Blood plasma was collected at the end of 8 weeks for blood lipid profiles determination. The results showed that a combination of exercise and dietary PUFA significantly improved lipid abnormalities by lowering the triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol levels

Antioxidant vitamins, oxidant injuries and diseases

Over the past few decades antioxidant vitamins have been shown to aid in disease prophylaxis as well as treatment. Deficiencies of these vitamins in diets have resulted in associated deficiency syndromes in both humans and animals. Since a handful of disease conditions is associated with imbalances of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione as well as increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitrogen oxide species (NOS) and lipid per-oxidation markers such as malondialdehyde, supplementation with antioxidant vitamins has resulted in amelioration of oxidative damage and ultimately disease recession. Vitamins A, C and E together with compounds such as carotenoids have been extensively studied for their roles in disease modulation or exacerbation. However, while Vitamins C and E have been shown to have immense potentials in the alleviation of several conditions, Vitamin A and especially carotenoids had shown little or no use in conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention. This review highlights the documented roles of these vitamins in disease prevention over the past few decades and the potentials that need to be explored further

Antioxidant Vitamins, Oxidant Injuries and Diseases

Over the past few decades antioxidant vitamins have been shown to aid in disease prophylaxis as well as treatment. Deficiencies of these vitamins in diets have resulted in associated deficiency syndromes in both humans and animals. Since a handful of disease conditions is associated with imbalances of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione as well as increases in reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitrogen oxide species (NOS) and lipid per-oxidation markers such as malondialdehyde, supplementation with antioxidant vitamins has resulted in amelioration of oxidative damage and ultimately disease recession. Vitamins A, C and E together with compounds such as carotenoids have been extensively studied for their roles in disease modulation or exacerbation. However, while Vitamins C and E have been shown to have immense potentials in the alleviation of several conditions, Vitamin A and especially carotenoids had shown little or no use in conditions such as cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention. This review highlights the documented roles of these vitamins in disease prevention over the past few decades and the potentials that need to be explored further

Growth and reproductive performances of farmed timorensis deer, Cervus timorensis

A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the growth and reproductive performances of timorensis deer, Cervus timorensis, that were kept in farm. All 140 animals were allowed to graze at all times while supplemented feed of approximately 1 kg/animal/day was provided except during the rainy season between October and December when supplementation was 2 kg/animal/day. Available farm records between 2011 and 2014 were collected and analysed for growth and reproductive performances. Most fawning occurred between October and December (average rainfall 413 mm) with an apparent peak in December. Average annual fawning percentage for the past four years was 57% while the average rate of mortality for fawns and adults was 5.4% and 13.5%, respectively. The average daily weight gain for up to one year of age was 0.042±0.02 kg but after one year it was 0.052±0.01 kg. The average body weight of adult timorensis at 24 months old was 48.5±1.4 and 44.5±0.9 kg for male and female, respectively. Monthly rainfall showed significant (p<0.05) negative correlation with the ADG but showed positive correlation (p<0.05) with fawning. Body weight gain was high during the dry months of May and August (average rainfall 150 mm). There seemed to be a clear breeding season for timorensis deer in this study, which was within the moderate months of March to April (average rainfall 236 mm) when body weight started to increase

Enhancement of performance of farmed buffaloes pasture management and feed supplementation in Sabah, Malaysia

A buffalo-breeding farm run on an extensive grazing system without feed supplementation was selected for this study. Farm records between 2004 and 2011 were analysed for selected parameters, particularly calving rate, calving interval, average daily gain of calves and calf mortality. Following the analysis, interventions were implemented in January 2012, which included increase in pasture area from 399 to 441 acres followed by application of organic fertiliser. The selected breeder buffaloes were prepared for breeding by supplementing palm kernel cake-based feed at the rate of 1.5 kg/animal/day for two weeks before breeder males were introduced at the rate of one male to 20 females. Weaning age was reduced from six to three months. Prior to the intervention, proximate analysis of pasture revealed 7.6% crude protein content; approximately 79% of breeder buffaloes were found with a body score of >3; the average annual calving rate was 22%; the calving interval was 24±11.2 months; average daily gain of calves was 0.89±0.21 kg; the average birth weight was 28.31±3.26 kg; and calf mortality was 26.8±7.0%. Following intervention, proximate analysis of grass revealed 12% crude protein content. With feed supplementation, the percentage of breeder females with a body score of >3 increased to 95%, leading to an average annual calving rate of 50%. Average birth weight was significantly (p<0.05) improved to 35.4±5.39 kg, while the average daily gain was 0.95±0.32 kg. Subsequently, the average calving interval was reduced to 15.2±9.2 months. Similarly, calf mortality rate was significantly (p<0.05) reduced to 17.6±4.7%. In conclusion, improved management, particularly of pasture and feeding, significantly enhanced the performance of farmed buffaloes

Effects of exercise and dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid intervention in alleviating the detrimental effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats

Diabetes mellitus is now becoming a major health problem with an increasing prevalence rate. The risk of diabetes mellitus results from lifestyle changes which is related to diet and physical activities. Diabetic patients would have the clinical characteristics of diabetes mellitus such as hyperglycaemia and lipid abnormalities which significantly contribute to produce complications of diabetes mellitus. Attention to diet and weight management, combine with exercise may help to improve the glycaemic control and lipid profiles. A prompt and adequate treatment to prevent or delay the complications of diabetes mellitus by alleviating these deleterious characteristics of diabetes mellitus is needed. Thus, the present study was undertaken to assess the potential of exercise and dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intervention in alleviating detrimental effects of diabetes mellitus, particularly on the blood glucose level and blood lipid profiles. The efficacy of exercise and dietary PUFA intervention in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats was investigated on the basis of body weight, blood glucose levels and blood lipid profiles. A total of 32 Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing between 250-300 grams were divided equally into eight groups. Diabetes mellitus was induced by giving a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ at the dosage of 40 mg/kg. Four groups were exercised daily by swimming for 8 weeks while the other four groups were not subjected to any exercise. Menhaden oil, soybean oil and butter were incorporated into the treatment diets for both exercise and non-exercise groups. The treatment diets were defined as follows: rat chow diet only (Control diet), rat chow added with 6.66% (w/w) menhaden oil and 3.34% (w/w) menhaden oil and 6.66% (w/w) soybean oil (Diet 2) and rat chow containing 10% (w/w) butter (Diet 3). Experiment I was conducted to determine the body weight and blood glucose levels of rats at week 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8. In Experiment II, blood was collected at the end of 8 weeks for the determination of blood lipid profiles that encompassed: Triglycerides, Total cholesterol, High-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol. The results obtained from this study showed that exercise and dietary PUFA intervention can be considered as the integral components of treatment and prevention strategy in diabetes mellitus by improving the body weight control and blood glucose levels. The exercise and dietary PUFA intervention groups (2 groups, Diet 1 and 2) significantly reduced the body weight gain and blood glucose level compared to the non-exercise groups (2 groups) (average from 2 groups; body weight gain: 237 vs 289; blood glucose level: 8.99 vs 16.43 mmol/L) over a period of eight weeks in STZ-induced diabetic rats. This study also has documented a significance of exercise and dietary PUFA intervention to improve the lipid profiles by lowering the triglycerides, total cholesterol and LDL- cholesterol levels as compared to the non-exercise group (average from 2 groups; 0.43 vs 1.34, 1.04 vs 1.39 and 0.38 vs 0.47 mmol/L, respectively). Thus, results obrained in the present study suggested that exercise and dietary PUFA intervention may have an impact on alleviating the detrimental effects of diabetes mellitus by improving the body weight gain, blood glucose levels, and blood lipid profiles

Dietary inclusion of oil palm fronds does not change n-6 nor n-3 content of lamb tissue

Inclusion of oil palm fronds (OPF) in ruminant diets was previously reported to increase the tissue content of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) and reduce rumen biohydrogenation, which was in contrast with our former in vitro study. Thus, a small scale in vivo study was performed to assess the effects of different inclusion levels of OPF on UFA content of intramuscular fat (longissimus dorsi, biceps femoris) and adipose tissues (subcutaneous, perirenal). Sixteen lambs were divided into 4 treatment groups, with dietary inclusion levels of OPF of 0, 100, 200 and 300 g/kg DM, respectively. Further, the diet contained a commercial sheep/goat pellet. Diets were supplemented with soybean oil (40 g/kg DM), which was equally mixed with the whole ration. Hence, the diet particularly supplied linoleic acid (LA; 563–569 g/kg total fatty acid (FA) intake). Due to selective refusal of the OPF, actual proportion of OPF in the ingested feed was lower compared with the offered diet, i.e. 44, 137 and 170 g/kg DM. The total fat intake also differed among the treatments due to differences in feed intake. After 12 weeks on the experimental diets, the lambs were slaughtered and both intramuscular fat and adipose tissues were collected for FA analysis. No differences were observed in total FA content, proportion of C18:2 n-6 and UFA/SFA ratio in OPF inclusion groups for both intramuscular fat and adipose tissues. Hence, OPF does not seem to relatively modify UFA content of adipose or intramuscular fat

The application of garlic (Allium sativum) peel on African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) against Aeromonas hydrophila infection

This study aim to investigate the efficacy of dietary doses of garlic (Allium sativum) peel on disease resistance and the duration of protection of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) juveniles against Aeromonas hydrophila infection. African catfish juveniles were fed twice daily for 4 weeks with 20 gkg-1 of garlic peels incorporated into fish formulated diet. Meanwhile 0 g of peels was served as control. After 4 weeks of post feeding, 15 fish were randomly selected for challenge with 108 cell/mL of A. hydrophila. During the challenge the fish were not fed with dietary of garlic. The duration of protection was observed at 7, 14 and 21 days following infection. The results demonstrated that dietary garlic peels provided protection toward African catfish against A. hydrophila after 14 days post feeding and slightly reduced protection after 21 days of post feeding. Significantly higher survival rate were recorded in dietary garlic peels (66%, 86% and 42%) when compared with the control. The result indicated that garlic peels able to enhance disease resistant of African catfish towards A. hydrophila infection

The effects of dietary inclusion of garlic on growth performance and disease resistance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings against Aeromonas hydrophila infection

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary inclusion of garlic (Allium sativum) peels and cloves on the growth performance and disease resistance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings against Aeromonas hydrophila infection. Seven isonitrogenous (36% protein) experimental diets were formulated to contain graded levels of garlic (peels and cloves) at 0, 10, 20 and 30gkg⁻¹. Fish were fed twice a day for 12 weeks. The results demonstrated that no significant differences were observed with respect to growth performance or feed utilization efficiency (i.e., body weight gain (WG) (133 ± 0.3g), specific growth rate (SGR) (2.23 ± 0.04%), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1.00 ± 0.2g) of fish fed with different inclusion levels of garlic peels and cloves as compared to control group. The plasma biochemical results showed higher total protein, albumin and globulin content in control group (T1) as compared to the experimental groups, but these results were not significant. After the fish were challenged with A. hydrophila, low survival (13 %) was found in control group which was significantly lower as compared to all the treatment groups (> 35 %). Meanwhile, the highest survival (64%) was observed for fish fed with garlic cloves at 20gkg (T3). The results showed that inclusion of garlic cloves at 20 gkg could enhance the resistance of African catfish fingerlings to A. hydrophila infection

Development of a Y-maze task for studying cognitive function using teleost zebrafish (Danio rerio) and cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus)

The usage of zebrafish in cognitive test by responses to visual cues has been established in the past two decades. In contrast to zebra fish, cavefish is a blindfish that uses hydrodynamic to gather information about its surroundings and make cognitive interpretations.Thus, the aim of this study is to compare the cognitive functions of both fish using Y-maze test.Adult male zebrafish and cavefish were used to assess their capabilities to respond towards a new environment provided by a Y-maze test.There is no significant difference on cavefish enters and time spent in the visual cues test, but inconsistent on the novel arm performance. However, numbers of entries and time spent in the novel arm were significantly higher in the zebra fish both in the visual cues and arms performance. Zebrafish have higher exploratory behavior and are able to recognize the preferential cues after several intervals hours. Nevertheless, the cognitive functions of cavefish are based on their mechanosensory lateral line and olfactory buds, which are highly sensitive to water movements and helps them to discover novelty in complete darkness. Thus, the advantage of Y-maze and the characteristics of these teleosts can be a good bio model for studying olfactory and neuro function