Late gestation diet supplementation of resin acid-enriched composition increases sow colostrum immunoglobulin G content, piglet colostrum intake and improve sow gut microbiota

Resin acid-enriched composition (RAC) mainly containing tall oil fatty acid with an active component of resin acid (RA) can improve the microbial population in the digestive system, change the microbial fermentation, and improve the feed conversion ratio. We investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of RAC on sow colostrum yield (CY), colostrum composition and gut microbiota. Tall oil fatty acid and RA are commonly termed RAC and CLA, pinolenic, abietic, dehydrobiotic acids are characteristic components of RAC. The experiment was conducted in three trials in three respective herds. Sows were fed with a control diet and the same diet supplemented with 5 g RAC/day per sow during the last week of gestation. The 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing technique was used to assess sows' faecal microbiota populations at farrowing. Colostrum nutritional composition, acute phase proteins (APPs) and immunoglobulin (Ig) content were also assessed. Individual piglets were weighed at birth and 24 h after the birth of first piglets in order to calculate CY and later at 3 to 4 weeks to calculate average daily gain. The RAC-fed sows had significantly higher IgG levels (P0.05), but those fed RAC had higher levels of colostrum serum amyloid A. Colostrum yield was significantly higher in RAC-fed sows in herds 2 and 3 with heavier piglets between 3 and 4 weeks of age (P0.05). Resin acid-enriched composition supplementation significantly increased some beneficial and fermentative bacteria (Romboutsia and Clostridium sensu stricto) than the control diet (PPeer reviewe

The effects of dietary resin acid inclusion on productive, physiological and rumen microbiome responses of dairy cows during early lactation

Dairy cows have intense fluctuations in digestive, metabolic and hormonal systems around calving which predispose them to various disorders and health problems. The aim of the current experiment was to investigate feed and nutrient intake, rumen fermentation, rumen bacterial communities, milk production, milk fatty acid composition and plasma biomarker profiles of dairy cows to assess the modulation of these functions by in-feed resin acid inclusion. Thirty-six Nordic Red cows were used in a continuous feeding trial starting 3 weeks prepartum and lasting for 10 weeks into the lactation. The cows were fed grass silage ad libitum and the dietary treatments were 1) control with basal concentrate (CON), 2) CON supplemented with tall oil fatty acids (TOFA; 90 % fatty acids and 9% resin acids) at 7.0 g/cow/day and 3) CON supplemented with resin acid concentrate (RAC; 37.5% resin acids) at 1.7 g/cow/day. The mixture of resin acids in TOFA and RAC, consisting mostly of abietic and dehydroabietic acids, originated from coniferous tree species Pinus sylvestris L. and Picea abies L. Feed intake and milk production were measured throughout the experimental period. Milk and blood samples were collected at weeks 2, 3, 6 and 10, and rumen fluid was sampled at weeks 2 and 10 of lactation to analyse rumen fermentation and rumen bacterial communities. The dynamics in feed intake and milk production with progressing lactation showed typical curvilinear trends (P for timePeer reviewe

Ascitic complement system in ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer spreads intraperitoneally and forms fluid, whereby the diagnosis and therapy often become delayed. As the complement (C) system may provide a cytotoxic effector arm for both immunological surveillance and mAb-therapy, we have characterised the C system in the intraperitoneal ascitic fluid (AF) from ovarian cancer patients. Most of the AF samples showed alternative and classical pathway haemolytic activity. The levels of C3 and C4 were similar to or in the lower normal range when compared to values in normal sera, respectively. However, elevated levels of C3a and soluble C5b-9 suggested C activation in vivo. Malignant cells isolated from the AF samples had surface deposits of C1q and C3 activation products, but not of C5b-9 (the membrane attack complex; MAC). Activation could have become initiated by anti-tumour cell antibodies that were detected in the AFs and/or by changes on tumour cell surfaces. The lack of MAC was probably due to the expression of C membrane regulators CD46, CD55 and CD59 on the tumour cells. Soluble forms of C1 inhibitor, CD59 and CD46, and the alternative pathway inhibitors factor H and FHL-1 were present in the AF at concentrations higher than in serum samples. Despite the presence of soluble C inhibitors it was possible to use AF as a C source in antibody-initiated killing of ovarian carcinoma cells. These results demonstrate that although the ovarian ascitic C system fails as an effective immunological surveillance mechanism, it could be utilised as an effector mechanism in therapy with intraperitoneally administrated mAbs, especially if the intrinsic C regulators are neutralised

Use of cancer-specific yeast-secreted in vivo biotinylated recombinant antibodies for serum biomarker discovery

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