Developing a model for studying complex brain function using zebrafish (Danio rerio) and cavefish (Mexican tetra)

The advantage of both larval an adult zebrafish in neuroscience research has significantly increased in the past decades. In fact, this vertebrate model performed well in several conditioning memory tasks by responses to visual cues. In contrast to zebrafish, the cognitive functions of blind cavefish is well known as lacks functional visual systems and uses hydrodynamic cues to gather information about its surroundings. While rodents have traditionally been used to study the complex brain functions, the use of teleost is gaining popular as an excellent vertebrate model to complement current neuroscience research. The objective of this study is to compare the cognitive functions of both character of fish, zebrafish and cavefish using Y-maze task. Adult zebrafish (n=6, 4.5 cm length) and blind cavefish (n=6, 5.5 cm length) were tested for spatial recognition memory using the Y-maze test, which had 3 identical arms with different visual cues at the end of each arms. This task consisted of two trials separated by training-test intervals (1 h, 3 h and 6 h TTI) to assess the capabilities of the fish to respond new environments of the novel arms. Result showed that there is no significant difference on cavefish enter and time spent in all Y-maze arms. However, time spent and numbers of entries in the novel arm were significantly higher in the zebrafish. This could indicate that the zebrafish have a higher exploratory behaviour and able to recognize the preferential visual cues. Indeed, this fish demonstrating the ability to recall a spatial alternation task after several intervals hours. However, the spatial recognition memory of cavefish is based on their mechanosensory and their lateral lines, which highly sensitive to fluctuating water movement and helps them to perceive their environment surroundings. Interestingly, the cavefish have better olfactory sense and taste buds all over its head, which help them to discover novelty in complete darkness. Thus, the advantage of the Y-maze memory task and the characteristics of zebrafish and cavefish suggest that this small teleost can be a good animal model for study the brain cognitive function

Plasma fatty acid profile comparisons between the lesser mouse deer (Tragulus javanicus) and the common muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak)

The Lesser Mouse Deer and the Common Muntjac are native to the South-east Asian region. The main aim of this study was to compare the extent of plasma fatty acid unsaturation between these two species. Dietary unsaturated fatty acids are expected to undergo extensive biohydrogenation and saturation in the gut of the Common Muntjac, as is expected for a 'true' ruminant. Being a 'partial' ruminant, the Lesser Mouse Deer is expected to allow some dietary unsaturated fatty acids to escape rumen biohydrogenation, thus allowing accumulation of more unsaturated fatty acids in the plasma. Six Lesser Mouse Deer and six Common Muntjac, kept for recreational purposes, were used in this study. Plasma fatty acids were extracted from blood and feed samples, methylated using 14 % boron triflouride and separated using gas liquid chromatography. It was found that both species had higher unsaturated fatty acid content in their plasma compared to saturated fatty acids. This is different from domesticated ruminants where saturated fatty acids usually are about 60 % of total plasma fatty acids. The plasma unsaturated fatty acid content of the Lesser Mouse Deer is marginally higher (52.9 %) than the Common Muntjac (51.8 %). However, the Lesser Mouse Deer had higher plasma n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) at 16 %, and a more balanced n-3 PUFA content. This resulted in better and lower n-6 PUFA: n-3 PUFA ratios in the Lesser Mouse Deer (4.2). These findings could be attributed to the reduced biohydrogenation and destruction of dietary unsaturated fatty acids in the gut of Lesser Mouse Deer, thus enabling more of these fatty acids to be absorbed by the body. In conclusion, true and partial wild ruminants found to have different plasma fatty acid profile as a result of their differences in gut function and morpholog

The Effect of Feeding Duration on Omega Fatty Acid Accumulation in Muscle of Village Chicken Fed Diet Supplemented with Flaxseed Oil

Village chicken is an indigenous chicken which is known to have lean meat and now becoming one of the important protein sources available in Malaysia. The demand for this chicken has also increased in recent years as people has become more health conscious, and value-adding the meat product may be an advantage to improve its functional properties. Thus, an experiment was conducted to determine the optimum feeding duration of village chicken fed with diet supplemented with flaxseed oil on the accumulation of omega fatty acids in the breast and thigh muscles. A total of 120 male village chickens were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 5 replications and were fed omega supplemented feed for 3 different duration lengths. The chickens were fed isonitrogenous and isocaloric corn-soy based diets supplemented with 2% flaxseed oil as omega source for 5 weeks (T5), 3 weeks (T3), 1 week (T1), and a control diet (T0) without any supplementation of flaxseed oil for 5 weeks. The omega fatty acids, linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3) were present in all breast and thigh muscles except for control breast muscle. Chickens fed with flaxseed oil for 5 weeks showed highest accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid in thigh muscle (85.74mg/100g). Longer duration of feeding with flaxseed oil resulted with higher accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid in thigh muscle. In the breast muscle however, accumulation of alpha-linolenic acid was found to be abundant in the 3 weeks (42.12mg/100g) and 5 weeks (40.39mg/100g) treatment. The linoleic acid content in both thigh (360.22–440.95mg/100g) and breast (177.78–221.55mg/100g) muscles however were higher in all feeding durations compared to alpha-linolenic acid. In this study, it was found that 3 weeks of flaxseed oil supplementation is sufficient to accumulate the alpha-linolenic acid into the breast and 5 weeks supplementation for thigh muscle of village chicken

Utilisation of oil palm fronds as ruminant feed and its effect on fatty acid metabolism

Inclusion of oil palm fronds (OPF) pellets (200 g kg-1 DM) in a complete animal feed has been found to increase the unsaturated fatty acid content in ruminants. However, given the low-fat content of OPF (21 g kg-1 DM), changes in ruminal fatty acid (FA) metabolism will only result in nutritionally relevant differences in animal tissues when OPF enhances conservation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) from external sources. Additionally, given the low metabolisable energy value (4.9 to 6.5 MJ (ME) kg-1 DM) of OPF, supplementation of OPF with an energy-dense feed compound such as fat is of interest. Thus, this approach could also be used in combination with other dietary fat supplementation strategies to further manipulate fatty acid concentration of ruminant tissues and products for human consumption

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

Effects of sialic acid from edible bird nest on cell viability associated with brain cognitive performance in mice

Background: Edible bird nest (EBN) is a natural food product rich in glycoprotein such as sialic acid, which has been reported to improve brain functions. The EBN is widely consumed due to its higher nutritional contents and antioxidant status; however, an interaction of EBN on brain cell metabolic activity and viability are still unclear. Objective: The objectives of this study were to identify the effect of sialic acid from EBN on the cell viability and to determine the appropriate concentration of sialic acid on cognitive performance in mice. Materials and Methods: The viability of pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma cell lines were tested using the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. For in vivo study, 7-week-old female BALB/c mice were randomly assigned into four treatment groups and were treated with sialic acid for 21 days. At day 22, all mice were tested on cognitive performance by Y-maze test. Results: Treatment concentration of sialic acid extract and sialic acid standard at 60 μg/mL (0.6 ppm) increased cell viability and showed no cytotoxicity effects in pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma cell lines. In addition, an administration of higher dose of sialic acid at 0.6 ppm in animals improved Y-maze test performance, which they showed significantly higher number of entries and time spent in the novel arm. Conclusion: Thus, the current study shows that the sialic acid extract at 0.6 ppm improved brain cognitive performance in mice associated with an increased viability of pheochromocytoma and neuroblastoma cell lines

The potential use of sialic acid from edible bird’s nest to attenuate mitochondrial dysfunction by in vitro study

Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is one of the expensive functional foods in herbal medicine. One of the major glyconutrients in EBN is sialic acid, which has a beneficial effect on neurological and intellectual capability in mammals. The aims of this research were to study the effects of sialic acid from EBN on cell viability and to determine its effect on mitochondria membrane potential (MtMP) in Caco-2, SK-N-MC, SH-SY5Y, and PC-12 cell lines. Fourteen samples of raw EBN were collected from four different states in Malaysia. The confluency of the epithelial monolayers measurement of the tight junction for all the cell lines was determined using transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), and the sialic acid uptake study in cell lines was determined by using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). The MTT assay was conducted for cell viability study. The MtMP in cell lines was determined using the Mito Probe JC-1 Assay by flow cytometer analysis. We have recorded a statistically significant difference between the uptake of sialic acid from EBN and the standard solution. A higher amount of sialic acid was absorbed by the cells from extract of EBN compared to the standard solution. The amounts of sialic acid uptake in Caco-2, SK-N-MC, SH-SY5Y, and PC-12 cell lines were (0.019 ± 0.001), (0.034 ± 0.006), (0.021 ± 0.002), and (0.025 ± 0.000) µmol/L, respectively. The MTT results indicated that the concentration of sialic acid increased the cell viability and showed no cytotoxicity effects on cell lines when they were exposed to the sialic acid extract and sialic acid standard at all the tested concentrations. The number of active mitochondria was found to be significantly higher in SH-SY5Y cell lines with a 195% increase when treated with sialic acid from EBN. Although many researchers around the globe use SHSY5Y and SK-N-MC for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) study, based on our finding, SH-SY5Y was found to be the most suitable cell line for AD study by in vitro works where it has a known relationship with mitochondrial dysfunction

The various effects of Nigella sativa on multiple body systems in human and animals

Nigella sativa (Black seeds) has been recognized as one of the most popular herbs in many parts of the world for centuries. It was used in the world as folk medicine to cure different kinds of diseases. This plant has been considered as one of the main sources of nutrition and healthcare for humans as well as animals. It has been perceived as Kalonji; it is a southwest Asian plant that flowers annually. The seeds and oil of this plant have been used in food; in addition, it has a long history in the making of medicines. In addition to its being a model plant for better realization of gene and chromosome relationship, the plant species is also significant cytogenetically. Plant based system has not been absorbed fully for human health care despite the remarkable advancements in the field of pharmacology. Cumin, as one of the medicinal plants gifted to humans by nature, has a number of potential uses. It has been proved to be a useful herbal medicines that can be used for human health and therefore has been extensively studied and investigated to further discover the advantages of this plant

Qualitative phytochemical screening and GC-MS profiling of Azadirachta excelsa leaf extract

Azadirachta excelsa is traditionally used by the locals to treat diabetes mellitus but the active compounds of the leaves have not been identified yet. Hence, the aim of the study was to identify the components of Azadirachta excelsa leaf extract by qualitative phytochemical screening and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Five grams of leaf extract were extracted using various solvents for phytochemical screening, while another five grams of ethanolic leaf extract was subjected for GC-MS analysis where the mass spectra of the compounds detected were matched with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library. The results showed the presence of flavonoids, condensed tannin, triterpenes and steroids in phytochemical screening tests, while GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of seven major compounds in the ethanolic leaf extract. The major component of A.excelsa ethanolic leaf extract was 9, 12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid (42.34%), followed by pentadecanoic acid, 14-methyl-, methyl ester (28.99%), phytol (10.63%), 9, 12, 15-octadecatrien-1-ol (5.37%), octadecanoic acid, methyl ester (4.36%), 9, 12-octadecadienoic acid, methyl ester (4.24%) and hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester (4.06%). Therefore, the findings of this study form a basis for the characterization of the compounds and allow researchers to investigate the potential of this plant in treating diabetes mellitus