Desempenho e tamanho de vísceras de cordeiros Santa Inês após ganho compensatório Performance and size of viscera of Santa Inês lambs after compensatory gain

Objetivou-se avaliar o crescimento, o desempenho e o tamanho das vísceras de cordeiros Santa Inês após ganho compensatório. Foram utilizados 22 animais de duas faixas de peso vivo inicial, leves (33,5 kg) e pesados (56,8 kg), distribuídos em três regimes alimentares: controle, com consumo à vontade; restrição alimentar, com consumo para manutenção do peso vivo; e crescimento compensatório, com restrição alimentar e posterior consumo à vontade até peso vivo semelhante ao dos animais controle, quando foram abatidos. As dietas experimentais, constituídas de feno de capim Coast-cross (Cynodon dactylon) moído e concentrado composto de farelo de soja (Glicine max L.), milho (Zea mays L.), polpa cítrica, ureia pecuária e suplemento mineral e vitamínico, atenderam às necessidades nutricionais para os diferentes objetivos. Os animais em restrição alimentar apresentaram os piores resultados de peso vivo final, consumo de matéria seca, ganho de peso, conversão alimentar e peso relativo do fígado, enquanto, naqueles em crescimento compensatório, o peso vivo final, a conversão alimentar e o peso de fígado foram semelhantes aos dos animais em crescimento contínuo. O consumo entre os animais pesados em crescimento contínuo foi superior ao daqueles mantidos nos demais regimes alimentares. No grupo de animais leves em crescimento compensatório, o ganho de peso foi maior que naqueles em crescimento contínuo e, nesses dois grupos, foi superior ao dos animais em restrição alimentar. Os animais pesados, no entanto, apresentaram ganho de peso vivo semelhante ao dos animais controle. Cordeiros podem apresentar crescimento compensatório, que depende do grau de maturidade dos animais.<br>The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the growth, performance and size of viscera of Santa Inês lambs after compensatory gain. Twenty-two animals, with two ranges of initial body weights, light (33.5 kg) and heavy (56.8 kg), were allotted to one of the three diets: control, fed ad libitum; nutritional restriction, fed to maintain body weight; and compensatory growth with feed restriction and then fed without restriction up to body weight similar to control animals, when they were slaughtered. The experimental diets, constituted of Coast-cross (Cynodon dactylon) grid hay, and a concentrate with soybean (Glicine max L.) meal, corn (Zea mays L.), citrus pulp, livestock urea and vitamin and mineral supplement met the nutritional requirements for each different objective. Animals in fed restriction showed the worst final body weight, dry matter intake, weight gain, feed conversion and relative liver weight whereas those in compensatory growth, the final body weight, feed conversion and liver weight were similar to the animals in continuous growth. Intake among heavy animals in continuous growth was superior to those kept in the other diets. For the group of light animals in compensatory growth, weight gain was greater than in those on continuous growth and, in those both groups, it was superior to animals on feed restriction. However, heavy animals showed body weight gain similar to control animals. Lambs can present compensatory growth, which depends on the maturity degree of the animals

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field