8 research outputs found

    Growth performances of suckling Sarda breed piglets

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    Postnatal growth performance has an important economic relevance in pigs breeding. A lot of different factors affect piglets growth rate: prenatal condition, maternal nutritional and hormonal status, breed, litter size; birth weight. Heavier piglets will have more appetite, will react better when turned away from their mother, will grow more and better and will have less health problems and better feed conversion index. The Sarda swine breed has been officially recognized in June 2006, when it has been inserted among the Italian local pig breeds. Our study has focused on various aspects of growth performance of suckling Sarda piglets: how litter size and farm can affect birth weight and growth rate and how sows diet can affect offspring performance. We have also investigated different mathematical models in order to identify which best describe the growth Sarda breed suckling piglets. Piglets ADG was significantly affected by litter size. Contrariwise the effect of and sex was not significant. Furthermore supplemental energy during lactation improved suckling piglets growth rates and consequently reduced the time to reach the slaughter or weaning weight. The Logistic model appears to be a good device to design Sarda purebreed. Due to the dimension of the sample more research must be carried out to evaluate the effect of genetics and environmental conditions on piglets growth. Particular attention must be used to farm system considering peculiarity of the breed, in order to make the farming of Sarda breed economically sustainable

    miRNAs expression profile in heroin self-administration

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    MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small (s21–23 nucleotides) ncRNAs single-stranded transcripts that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level through target mRNA degradation or translational inhibition. It has been reported that differential miRNA expression is mediated by drugs/addictive substances. Heroin addiction is thought to induce long term neuroadaptative modifications in brain reward related areas but the role of miRNA in these modifications is unknown. To investigate this role, we have performed a genome-wide analysis on 736 mature miRNAs in rats self-administering heroin i.v. (SA). Analysis by RT-PCR revealed that heroin SA was associated to up- or down- regulation of different miRNAs in the prefrontal cortex, n. accumbens (shell and core) and dorsal caudate-putamen (CPu). We also identified target genes and their expression profiling was performed using specific RT primers. Moreover we analized the expression of respective proteins by Western Blot. We found 51 miRNAs disregulated in PFCx (39 up, 12 down), 125 in CPu (105 up, 20 down), 39 in NAc Shell (16 up, 23 down) and 114 in NAc Core (97 up, 17 down) correlated with a disregulation of the expression of several genes such as Drd3 (DAD3receptors), Bdnf, Cckbr, Mecp2 and Nos1. These results suggest that some miRNAs are key regulators of the reward circuits and that they could be involved in the long term neuroadaptative modifications induced by heroin exposure

    Changes in miRNAs in WIN55,212-2 self-administration

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    MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a class of non coding RNAs which modulate gene expression by binding to complementary sequence of target mRNA. Recently it has been attributed a role of miRNAs in neuroplasticity, learning and drug addiction. To investigate if cannabinoids induce long term neuroadaptative modifications in brain reward related areas and the role of miRNA in these modifications, we have performed a genome-wide analysis on 736 mature miRNAs in rats self-administering WIN 55,212-2 i.v. (SA). At the end of experiment, rats were sacrificed and brains removed for the extraction of miRNA from striatum, prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens (shell and core) by RealTime-PCR. Analysis revealed that WIN 55,212-2 SA was associated to up-or down regulation of different miRNAs for each brain regions. The number of regulated miRNAs was maximal in the CPu (11 up- and 99 down-regulated), in the shell (40 up- and 55 down-), and in the core (13 up and 83 down-) and to a lesser extent in the prefrontal cortex (26 up- and 27 down-). We also studied miRNAs target genes and performed the expression profiling analysis by using specific RealTime primers. Disregulated target genes were Drd3 (DAD3receptors), Bdnf, Mecp2 and Nos1. These results support the existing evidence that some miRNAs are key regulators of the reward circuits and may be implicated in long term neuroadaptative modifications induced by WIN 55,212-2

    A large set of miRNAs is dysregulated since the earliest steps of human hepatocellular carcinoma development

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    Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mostly results from a stepwise process characterized by the development of premalignant lesions, such as low- (LGDN) or high-grade (HGDN) dysplastic nodules in a cirrhotic setting. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression than can act as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Whether and which miRNAs are involved in the early stages of HCC development remains elusive. Here, small RNA sequencing was applied to profile miRNA expression in 55 samples (cirrhotic nodules, CNs), LGDNs, HGDNs, early HCCs (eHCCs) and small progressed HCCs (pHCCs), obtained from 17 patients bearing HCCs of different etiology. A miRNA expression signature of 62 miRNAs distinguishing pHCCs from matched CNs was identified. Interestingly, 52 of these miRNAs discriminated CNs from LGDNs/HGDNs, regardless of the etiology, and remained modified along the tumorigenic process. Functional analysis of the predicted mRNA targets of deregulated miRNAs identified common modifications between early and late stages of HCC development likely involved in the stepwise process of HCC development. Our results demonstrate that miRNAs deregulation takes place very early in human liver carcinogenesis, implying their critical role in the tumorigenic process. The identification of miRNAs discriminating cirrhotic from neoplastic nodules may have relevant translational implications for early diagnosis
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