Evolution of pig intestinal stem cells from birth to weaning

Pig intestinal epithelium undergoes a complete renewal every 2 to 3 days that is driven by intestinal stem cells (ISCs) located at the crypt base in their niche. Intestinal stem cells generate a pool of highly proliferative transit-amplifying cells, which either migrate up the villus and differentiate into enterocytes and secretory cells or migrate towards the base of the crypt where they differentiate into Paneth cells that secrete antimicrobial peptides. The balance between ISCs' self-renewal and differentiation controls intestinal epithelial homeostasis; therefore, ISCs are essential for ensuring intestinal epithelial integrity. Detailed knowledge of these mechanisms in pig and other domestic species is very limited. Therefore, the aim of this work was to characterize ISC from birth to weaning. We analysed the duodenum, jejunum and colon of six piglets at birth, 6-day-old nursing piglets and 28-day-old weanlings, one week after weaning. We immunolocalized homeobox only protein+ (HOPX) and sex-determining region Y-box 9+ (SOX9) cells that identify quiescent and active ISC, respectively. The volume of ISCs was quantified with stereological methods and was compared to that of mitotic cells expressing proliferating cell nuclear antigen and apoptotic cells identified by the presence of cleaved caspase-3. Furthermore, we compared all these values with crypts and villi measurements and their ratio. Our results indicated that both quiescent and active ISCs are present in pig intestine from birth to weaning and are localized in the crypts of the small and large intestine. However, both markers were also observed along the villi and on the colon luminal epithelium, suggesting that at these stages, pig mucosa is still immature. Weaning induced a dramatic reduction of both HOPX+ and SOX9+ cells, but SOX9+ cells underwent a significantly greater reduction in the small intestine than in the colon. This suggests that the two ISC types are differentially regulated along the intestinal tracts. Overall, the pig ISC complex has many similarities with its murine counterpart, but also has some differences. These include active ISC not showing the typical columnar base morphology as well as the absence of bona fide Paneth cells. This is the first description of ISC dynamics during pig's early life and provides useful reference data for future studies, aimed at targeting ISC for the development of efficient alternatives to in-feed antibiotics for preserving intestinal integrity

Comparison of Antibiotic, Probiotic and Great Plantain (Plantago major L.) on Growth Performance, Serum Metabolites, Immune Response and Ileal Microbial Population of Broilers

The objective of the study was to compare the effects of antibiotic virginiamycin, probiotic Protexin® and Plantago major L. (plantain) on performance, serum metabolites, immune response, and the ileal microbial population of broilers. The experiment was carried out with a total of 200 day-old male Ross 308 broiler chickens in a completely randomized design. Chickens were allocated to five groups consisting of T1: control diet (Con), T2: Con+0.02% virginiamycin, T3: Con+0.01% Protexin, T4: Con+0.5% plantain and T5: Con+1% plantain. Each group was divided into four replicates consisting of ten chicks each. In comparison with the control group, body weight gain increased in chickens fed Protexin and 0.5% plantain groups in the starter period, as well as by antibiotic in grower and finisher periods and by 1% plantain in all periods (P < 0.01). Supplementation of plantain and virginiamycin increased (P < 0.01) feed intake in the starter and finisher periods, respectively. Feed conversion ratio improved (P < 0.05) in finisher period only by virginiamycin. All treated birds showed an elevated relative weight of carcass and bursa, and plantain increased relative weight of the spleen (P < 0.01). All treatments demonstrated a hypocholesterolemic effect (P < 0.01) and higher level of plantain (1%) decreased (P < 0.05) serum glucose, triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol as well. The inclusion of Protexin and plantain enhanced immune system with increased white and red blood cells as well as second anti-SRBC immune response and reduced heterophil/lymphocyte ratio in SRBC injected birds (P < 0.05). Virginiamycin decreased ileal microbial population of Lactobacillus while Protexin and plantain increased it (P < 0.01). Meanwhile, 1% plantain suppressed ileal E. coli counts. In conclusion, 1% Plantago major L. performed the best in this study because it led to increased body and carcass weight, lowered serum cholesterol and triglyceride, reduced heterophil/lymphocyte ratio, improved immune response, and ileal microflora

Effects of Coenzyme Q10 and Vitamin C on Growth Performance and Blood Components in Broiler Chickens under Heat Stress

This experiment was carried out to study the effects of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and vitamin C (VC) on growth performance and blood biochemistry in broiler chickens under heat stress conditions. One of three levels of CoQ10 (0, 20, and 40 mg/kg of diet) and one of two levels of VC (0 and 250 mg/kg of diet) were supplemented to diets of chicks (from 1-42 d of age) in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement. Each dietary treatment had four replicate pens (10 chicks/pen). In order to create chronic heat stress, the house temperature was set at an ambient temperature of 35±2°C for 8 hrs daily (09:00 to 17:00) between 25-42 d of age. Feed intake, body weight gain (BWG), and feed to gain ratio (F:G) were recorded at d 10, 25 and 42. At the end of experiment, two chicks/pen were randomly selected to assess blood components. CoQ10 supplementation improved BWG and F:G during 11-25 days, 26-42 days, and the whole period of the experiment (P < 0.05), while VC supplementation improved BWG and F:G only during 11-25 d of age. Blood glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations were reduced (P < 0.05) by addition of CoQ10 to the diet. Both Supplementation of CoQ10 and VC together lowered heterophil (H) count but increased lymphocyte (L) count, thereby reducing H/L ratio (P < 0.05). Serum concentrations of corticosterone and T4 were positively affected by dietary supplementation of CoQ10 (P < 0.05), but no differences were obtained with addition of VC to the diet. In conclusion, our observations demonstrated that dietary supplementation of 40 mg/kg CoQ10 or 250 mg/kg VC improves the growth performance of broiler chickens under the heat stress

Comparison of non-linear models and genetic parameter estimation for growth curve traits in the Murciano-Granadina goat breed

2023 Acuerdos transformativos CRUEIn this study, we analyzed 50,238 records of the body weight of the Murciano-Granadina goat breed from birth to 360 days of age. The data were collected from a private dairy farm located in Ghale-Ganj city, which is in the southern part of Kerman province, in the south of Iran. The records were collected between 2016 and 2022. Our goal was to evaluate the suitability of non-linear models for characterizing growth curves from birth to 360 days of age and to estimate genetic parameters for these growth curve traits. Five non-linear mathematical models namely Brody, Negative exponential, von Bertalanffy, Logistic, and Gompertz were compared by using Akaike's information criterion (AIC), root mean square error (RMSE), and Durbin-Watson statistic (DW) to determine the most suitable function for characterizing the growth curve. Among the investigated models, the von Bertalanffy model exhibited the lowest values for both AIC and RMSE. Additionally, we observed positive autocorrelations among residuals for all of the investigated non-linear models, with the lowest value being observed for the von Bertalanffy model. As a result, we selected the von Bertalanffy as the most suitable model for characterizing the growth curve of the Murciano-Granadina goat breed. To estimate genetic parameters for the growth curve traits, including parameters A (estimated mature weight), B (an integration constant related to initial animal weight), K (maturation rate), inflection age (IA), and inflection weight (IW), we utilized a Bayesian multivariate animal model that accounted only for direct additive genetic effects. The posterior means for heritabilities of A, B, K, IA, and IW were significant values of 0.11, 0.13, 0.03, 0.11, and 0.17, respectively. Parameter A had significant and positive genetic and phenotypic correlations with parameters B, IA, and IW. The posterior means for genetic and phenotypic correlations between parameters A and K were negative estimates of − 0.58 and − 0.17, respectively, implying that the kids with slower maturation rates had higher mature weights. Positive and medium estimates were obtained for posterior means of phenotypic (0.04) and genetic (0.29) correlations between parameters B and K. Both posterior means for phenotypic and genetic correlations of B with IA were 0.32 while those of B with IW were 0.51 and 0.50, respectively. We found high and positive genetic (0.51) and phenotypic (0.50) correlations between IA and IW. However, we observed low levels of additive genetic variation for all of the studied growth curve traits. In conclusion, our analysis suggests that the growth curve traits of the Murciano-Granadina goat breed are highly influenced by non-additive genetic and environmental effects. Therefore, it is essential to consider these effects when designing strategies to improve these traits and develop an appropriate breeding scheme that can achieve the desired shape of the growth curve.Depto. de Producción AnimalFac. de VeterinariaTRUEpubAPC financiada por la UC

Genetic and phenotypic analysis of reproductive traits in the Murciano-Granadina does: Predictive ability of the statistical models and estimation of genetic parameters

Credit authorship contribution statement: Mokhtari Morteza: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Gutierrez Juan Pablo: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation. Mohebbinejad Ehsan: Data curation, Writing – original draft. Roudbari Zahra: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft. Barazandeh Arsalan: Methodology, Software. Esmailizadeh Ali: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Mirmahmoudi Rouhollah: Conceptualization, Validation, Writing – original draft.In the present study, data collected between 2016 and 2022 from a private dairy farm of the Murciano-Granadina goat breed, in Ghale-Ganj city, located in the southern area of Kerman province, Iran was used for model comparison and estimation of genetic parameters for reproductive performance. Studied reproductive traits included litter size at birth per doe kidding (LSB), litter size at weaning per doe kidding (LSW), total litter weight at birth per doe kidding (TLWB), and total litter weight at weaning per doe kidding (TLWW). Four univariate animal models comprising various combinations of direct additive genetic, animal permanent environmental, and service sires effects were fitted for each trait. The predictive ability of models was evaluated by applying the predictive ability measure including the mean square of error (MSE) and the Pearson's correlation coefficient between observed and predicted values (r(y,y ̂)) through a two-fold cross-validation study. For LSW, TLWB, and TLWW, the model with direct additive genetic, animal permanent environmental, and service sires effects had the lowest MSE and the highest values for r(y,y ̂) than other models. For LSB, the model included direct additive genetic and animal permanent environmental was identified as the best model among the tested models. The posterior means for heritability estimates of the studied traits were low values of 0.02 ± 0.01, 0.07 ± 0.01, 0.02 ± 0.01, and 0.03 ± 0.01 for LSB, LSW, TLWB, and TLWW, respectively. The posterior means for repeatability estimates were 0.04 ± 0.01, 0.08 ± 0.02, 0.03 ± 0.01, and 0.04 ± 0.01 for LSB, LSW, TLWB, and TLWW, respectively. The posterior means for the ratio of service sires variance to phenotypic variance (S2) for LSW, TLWB, and TLWW were 0.09 ± 0.02, 0.02 ± 0.01, and 0.02 ± 0.01, respectively. Genetic correlation estimates were high in magnitude and ranged from 0.69 ± 0.09 (LSB-TLWW) to 0.97 ± 0.02 (LSB-LSW). Phenotypic correlations were low to medium estimates and ranged from 0.17 ± 0.01 (TLWB-TLWW) to 0.55 ± 0.02 (LSB-LSW). Because of low heritability estimates for the studied reproductive traits in the Murciano-Granadina goat breed genetic progress resulting from direct genetic selection for these traits is likely to be slow and improvement in environmental conditions is of great importance for improving the reproductive performance. No genetic and phenotypic antagonism were found among the studied traits. Therefore, it should be possible to simultaneously improve these traits.Depto. de Producción AnimalFac. de VeterinariaTRUEpu

Antioxidant and antidiabetic effect of capparis decidua edgew (Forssk.) extract on liver and pancreas of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Introduction: The twig of Capparis decidua has been traditionally used as an antidiabetic agent but its medicinal use has not been scientifically proved yet. The present study evaluated the antidiabetic effect and antioxidant activities of aquatic extract of twig of C. decidua on the liver and pancreas of diabetic rats induced by streptozotocin (STZ). Materials and Methods: The effect of Capparis decidua was evaluated by biochemical, histological and Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) studies. All biochemical and biophysical parameters were estimated after 15 days of daily oral administrations of the aqueous extract. Results: Findings showed that oral use of C. decidua extract (250 mg/kg) caused significant reduction in the fasting blood glucose levels in diabetic rats when compared to the control rats. Moreover, the altered level of lipid peroxidation, antioxidant, lipid profiles, liver enzymes, and also structural changes were reversed in STZ-induced diabetic rats which received C. decidua extract. Conclusions: In conclusion, aqueous extract of C. decidua has potent antidiabetic and antioxidant activity