By-product of Tropical Vermicelli Waste as a Novel Alternative Feedstuff in Broiler Diets

Two experiments were conducted to determine physical and chemical properties of vermicelli waste (VW) and effect of VW inclusion levels on growth performance of broilers. In experiment 1, VW samples were randomly collected from vermicelli industry in Thailand to analyze nutritional composition. Vermicelli waste contained 9.96% moisture, 12.06% CP, 32.30% crude fiber (CF), and 0.57% ether extract (EE), as DM basis. The ratio of insoluble:soluble non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) was 43.4:8.9. A total of 120 chicks (6 pens per treatment and 10 chicks per pen) were fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet or 20% VW substituted diet to determine the apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen retention (AMEn) of VW. The AMEn of VW was 1,844.7±130.71 kcal/kg. In experiment 2, a total of 1,200 chicks were randomly allotted to 1 of 4 dietary treatments for 42-d growth assay. There were 300 chicks with 6 pens per treatment and 50 chicks per pen. The dietary treatments contained 0%, 5%, 10%, or 15% VW, respectively. All diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. From 0 to 18 d of age chicks fed VW diets had higher (p<0.001) feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with those fed the control diet. No difference was observed during grower and finisher phase (19 to 42 d). Chicks fed VW diets had lower relative weight of abdominal fat (p<0.001) but higher relative weight of gizzard (p<0.05) than those of chicks fed the control diet. Increasing VW inclusion levels increased ileal digesta viscosity (p<0.05) and intestinal villus height of chicks (p< 0.001). For apparent total tract digestibility assay, there were 4 metabolic cages of 6 chicks that were fed experimental treatment diets (the same as in the growth assay) in a 10-d total excreta collection. Increasing VW inclusion levels linearly decreased (p<0.05) apparent total tract digestibility of DM and CF

The Effects of Aging on the Molecular and Cellular Composition of the Prostate Microenvironment

Advancing age is associated with substantial increases in the incidence rates of common diseases affecting the prostate gland including benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate carcinoma. The prostate is comprised of a functional secretory epithelium, a basal epithelium, and a supporting stroma comprised of structural elements, and a spectrum of cell types that includes smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and inflammatory cells. As reciprocal interactions between epithelium and stromal constituents are essential for normal organogenesis and serve to maintain normal functions, discordance within the stroma could permit or promote disease processes. In this study we sought to identify aging-associated alterations in the mouse prostate microenvironment that could influence pathology.We quantitated transcript levels in microdissected glandular-adjacent stroma from young (age 4 months) and old (age 20-24 months) C57BL/6 mice, and identified a significant change in the expression of 1259 genes (p<0.05). These included increases in transcripts encoding proteins associated with inflammation (e.g., Ccl8, Ccl12), genotoxic/oxidative stress (e.g., Apod, Serpinb5) and other paracrine-acting effects (e.g., Cyr61). The expression of several collagen genes (e.g., Col1a1 and Col3a1) exhibited age-associated declines. By histology, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy we determined that the collagen matrix is abundant and disorganized, smooth muscle cell orientation is disordered, and inflammatory infiltrates are significantly increased, and are comprised of macrophages, T cells and, to a lesser extent, B cells.These findings demonstrate that during normal aging the prostate stroma exhibits phenotypic and molecular characteristics plausibly contributing to the striking age associated pathologies affecting the prostate

Study on the larval rearing of Penaeus merguiensis

Abstract only.Nursing postlarvae of Penaeus merguiensis in the same tank as rearing always results in low survival rates, around 30%. One reason is that stocking density for P1 is too high for postlarvae grown to P20 size. Another reason may be that it is impossible to sufficiently clean a tank containing culture stock. In order to overcome the first constraint and to test whether the second is valid, rearing of nauplii to early postlarval stage was done in one tank, then early postlarvae were moved to another tank for nursing to P20. Rearing was done in rectangular, concrete tanks (5 m × 5 m × 2m) of 50 ton capacity, with an initial stocking density of 20-40 nauplii/ℓ. Chaetoceros sp. at a density of 3-4 × 104 cell/ml, or Tetraselmis sp. at 1-3 × 104 cell/ml were fed to zoea stage, then rotifer was given when the larvae metamorphosed to mysis stage. Within 8-10 days, when all of the larvae metamorphosed to postlarval stage, they were transferred to the nursing tank. Postlarval nursing was done in rectangular, concrete tanks with a capacity of 12 or 30 tons. The stocking rate was 12 postlarvae/ℓ in the 12-ton tanks and 8 postlarvae/ℓ in the 30-ton tanks. The early postlarvae were fed constantly with brine shrimp, and the older postlarvae were fed 4-5 times daily with squid meat. Fifty to seventy percent of seawater was exchanged, and siphoning of food remnants was done daily. The postlarvae grew to an intermediate size (1.0-2.5 cm total length) for stocking in grow-out ponds within 12 to 20 days. The results of rearing in 50-ton tanks with an initial stocking density of 20-25 postlarvae/ℓ, 25-30 postlarvae/ℓ and 30-40 postlarvae/ℓ produced survival rates of 74.3%, 63.6% and 47.6%, respectively. The survival rate for nursing in 12-ton tanks, with stocking density of 12 postlarvae/ℓ was 85.0% and for 30-ton tanks with stocking density of 8 postlarvae/ℓ was 61.7%. These results seem to indicate that the rearing and nursing of shrimp would be more efficient if carried out in separate tanks

MMP-9 secretion and MMP-2 activation distinguish invasive and metastatic sublines of a mouse mammary carcinoma system showing epithelial-mesenchymal transition traits

We have investigated the gelatinase profiles and invasiveness of clonal tumour sublines derived from a spontaneously arising mammary tumour in a Balb/cfC3H mouse. The 67NR, 66c14 and 4T1.2 sublines have low, intermediate and high metastatic potential respectively. In Boyden chamber studies, Matrigel invasion was seen to be progressively higher in the more metastatic lines 4T1.2>66c14>67NR, consistent with MMP-2 activation potential, MMP-9 secretion, and migration over either type I or IV collagen, which were low in both 67NR and 66c14 cells compared to 4T1.2 cells. These attributes are consistent with those seen in human breast cancer cell lines which appear to have undergone an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) as indicated by vimentin expression. We were, however, surprised to find vimentin expression, MT1-MMP expression and stellate Matrigel outgrowth in the non-invasive, non-metastatic 67NR cells, indicating that they had undergone an EMT despite not being invasive. We conclude that the EMT is manifested to differing degrees in these three clonal cell lines, and that the 67NR cells have either undergone a partial EMT or have since lost certain important attributes of the EMT-derived phenotype. This model should prove useful in further characterizing the regulation of MT1-MMP mediated MMP-2 activation and delineating the EMT in breast cancer progression

Type I collagen abrogates the clathrin-mediated internalization of membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) via the MT1-MMP hemopexin domain

Type I collagen (Col I)-stimulated matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activation via membrane type 1 MMP (MT1-MMP) involves both a transcriptional increase in MT1-MMP expression and a nontranscriptional response mediated by preexisting MT1-MMP. In order to identify which MT1-MMP domains were required for the nontranscriptional response, MCF-7 cells that lack endogenous MT1-MMP were transfected with either wild type or domain mutant MT1-MMP constructs. We observed that mutant constructs lacking the MT1-MMP cytoplasmic tail were able to activate MMP-2 in response to Col I but not a construct lacking the MT1-MMP hemopexin domain. Col I did not alter total MT1-MMP protein levels; nor did it appear to directly induce MT1-MMP oligomerization. Col I did, however, redistribute preexisting MT1-MMP to the cell periphery compared with unstimulated cells that displayed amore diffuse staining pattern. In addition, Col I blocked the internalization of MT1-MMP in a dynamin-dependent manner via clathrin-coated pit-mediated endocytosis. This mechanism of impaired internalization is different from that reported for concanavalin A, since it is not mediated by the cytoplasmic tail of MT1-MMP but rather by the hemopexin domain. In summary, upon Col I binding to its cell surface receptor, MT1-MMP internalization via clathrin-coated pit-mediated endocytosis is impaired through interactions with the hemopexin domain, thereby regulating its function and ability to activate MMP-2

Spontaneous maturation and spawning of sea bass Lates calcarifer in floating net cages

Male and female sea bass (Lates calcarifer Bloch) from 1982 wild-caught juveniles reared in floating net cages matured at about 2.0–2.5 years (mean body weight =1.1 kg; mean total length = 42.0 cm) and 3–4 years (2,7 kg; 54.5 cm), respectively. To monitor the occurrence of natural spawning, thirteen females were paired with twenty-eight males in a separate net cage in 1986. A “hapa” net with the same dimension as the net cage was installed to retain the spawned eggs. Spontaneous spawning occurred from June to October. The monthly total number of eggs collected varied from 393,000 to 60 million. Spawning appeared to be related to the lunar phase. Of the 26 recorded spawnings, seventeen took place within four days before or after the first quarter moon, while nine occurred within five days before or three days after the last quarter moon. All spawnings were observed between 1900–2300 hrs. The results demonstrate the feasibility of breeding sea bass in floating net cages, which is relatively cheaper and simpler than other existing methods

Physiological type I collagen organization induces the formation of a novel class of linear invadosomes

This study shows that fibrillar collagen I is the physiological inducer of a novel class of invadosomes, which we named “linear invadosomes.” They are dependent on the scaffold protein Tks5 and are able to degrade extracellular matrix elements. Moreover, we demonstrate that they are β1- and β3-integrin independent, unlike classical invadosomes