Effect of diet composition and slaughter weight on animal performance, carcass and meat quality, and fatty acid composition in veal calves

The effect of true milk use in the diet of Spanish Brown Swiss male calves on animal performance, carcass and meat quality, and fatty acids composition was studied. In experiment 1, the effect of milk intake [ad libitum continuous (ADLIB) feed vs. restricted 0.7 during 75 days followed by ad libitum feed (RESTR)] and slaughter endpoint (225 kg vs. 5 month) were studied. In experiment 2, ad libitum concentrate feeding [grain-fed (GF)] was compared with milk supplementation until slaughter [milk-fed (MF)] in calves slaughtered at 345 kg. As regards to milk intake, carcass weight and degree of fatness were higher in the ADLIB group (P<0.05). The RESTR group revealed a higher percentage of saturated fatty acids (P<0.05). In experiment 2, the MF group exhibited a higher fat percentage (P<0.05), lower press and cooking losses (P<0.05), and higher scores for tenderness and juiciness (P<0.05) than the GF group. The percentage of saturated fatty acids was higher in the MF group (P<0.05). The results suggest that true milk use in veal production could be an advantageous alternative in terms on production costs, animal performance, and carcass and meat quality.     

Expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α in rat fatty liver

AIM:To investigate the role of expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α(PPAR α) in pathogenesis of rat fatty liver.METHODS:The rats were treated with a low dose of carbon terachloride (CCl₄) and fed a high fat diet to produce fatty liver. We determined the concentrations of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), free fatty acid (FFA) in liver and the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), FFA in serum and the degree of hepatocytic steatosis. Total RNA of liver was extracted, and the expression of PPAR α were analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR method.RESULTS:In model group, the hepatocytic PPAR α mRNA expression decreased to 0.41±0.28, compared to 1.41±0.29 in the control group (P＜0.01). The contents of TG, TC, FFA in model rat liver were (1.88±0.20) mmol·L^-1, (11.03±1.12) mmol·L^-1 and (1 260.38±151.27) μmol·L^-1, respectively, compared to (0.53±0.10) mmol·L^-1, (1.25±0.25) mmol·L^-1 and (334.30±27.09) μmol·L^-1 in the control group (P＜0.01). The activity of ALT, concentrations of TNF-α and FFA in serum were also increased remarkably in model group.CONCLUSION:Oxidation of fatty acid and utilization of lipids in liver are affected by reducing the expression of PPAR α, which result lipid accumulation in liver.     

靖远滩羊体脂脂肪酸与肉品质关系的研究

肉羊体脂脂肪酸是影响肉品风味和膻味的重要因素之一。研究利用HP6890型气相色谱仪 ,选择了 5 0日龄、2 0 0日龄和 5岁3个年龄阶段的靖远滩羊 ,比较了不同年龄阶段肉羊体脂肪中短链脂肪酸和硬脂酸的变化趋势。结果显示 :短链脂肪酸和硬脂酸从5 0日龄、2 0 0日龄到 5岁有显著的增加。肾脏脂肪中 (公 /母 )短链脂肪酸的相对含量 (% ) 5 0日龄时为 0 5 2 /0 3 4,而在 2 0 0日龄时已达到 0 79/0 5 4,5岁时其含量为 0 91/0 75。 3个年龄组之间表现出显著性的差异 (P <0 0 5 ) ,增加的趋势非常明显。C18脂肪酸也显示同样的变化特性 ,在 5 0日龄的羔羊 (公 /母 )中含量仅为 17 2 /3 6 2 5 ,2 0 0日龄增加到 2 7 3 4/4 5 3 5 ,5岁时达到 3 6 0 3 /5 4 65 ,3个年龄组之间表现出显著性的差异 (P <0 0 5 ) ,增加的幅度也很显著。背膘脂肪中短链脂肪酸和C18(公 /母 )随年龄增大分别为 0 2 3 /0 11、0 62 /0 42、0 71/0 63 ,16 0 7/18 17、2 4 45 /2 6 66、3 3 5 2 /3 6 13。尾部脂肪中短链脂肪酸和C18(公 /母 )随年龄增大分别为 0 13 /0 10、0 2 3 /0 19、0 3 5 /0 3 3 ,11 76/13 79、19 78/2 0 89、2 0 89/2 2 65。     

Volatile profile,fatty acids composition and total phenolics content of brewers' spent grain by-product with potential use in the development of new functional foods

Brewers' spent grain (BSG) is the insoluble residue generated from the production of wort in the brewing industry. This plant-derived by-product is known to contain significant amounts of valuable components, which remain unexploited in the brewing processes. Therefore, it is essential to develop a more detailed characterization of BSG in order to highlight its potential in developing new value-added products and simultaneously solve the environmental problems related to its discharge. The content of BSG in several biologically active compounds (fatty acids, polyphenols, flavonoids, antioxidant capacity) as well as its volatile fingerprint were assessed and compared with the composition of barley, malt and wheat flour samples. The obtained results emphasized the importance and the opportunities of the re-use of this agro-industrial by-product.     

Lipid-rich bovine serum albumin improves the viability and hatching ability of porcine blastocysts produced in vitro

The effects of lipid-rich bovine serum albumin (LR-BSA) on the development of porcine blastocysts produced in vitro were examined. Addition of 0.5 to 5 mg/ml LR-BSA to porcine blastocyst medium (PBM) from Day 5 (Day 0 = in vitro fertilization) significantly increased the hatching rates of blastocysts on Day 7 and the total cell numbers in Day-7 blastocysts. When Day-5 blastocysts were cultured with PBM alone, PBM containing LR-BSA, recombinant human serum albumin or fatty acid-free BSA, addition of LR-BSA significantly enhanced hatching rates and the cell number in blastocysts that survived compared with other treatments. The diameter, ATP content and numbers of both inner cell mass and total cells in Day-6 and Day-7 blastocysts cultured with PBM containing LR-BSA were significantly higher than in blastocysts cultured with PBM alone, whereas LR-BSA had no effect on mitochondrial membrane potential. The mRNA levels of enzymes involved in fatty acid metabolism and β-oxidation (ACSL1, ACSL3, CPT1, CPT2 and KAT) in Day-7 blastocysts were significantly upregulated by the addition of LR-BSA. The results indicated that LR-BSA enhanced hatching ability and quality of porcine blastocysts produced in vitro, as determined by ATP content, blastocyst diameter and expression levels of the specific genes, suggesting that the stimulatory effects of LR-BSA arise from lipids bound to albumin.     

哺乳动物Acot2基因的研究进展

酰基辅酶A硫酯酶2(Acot2)是酰基辅酶A硫酯酶(Acots)家族成员之一,其将酰基辅酶A(CoA)水解成游离脂肪酸和CoA,具有维持细胞水平的游离脂肪酸和酰基CoA(游离脂肪酸的活化形式)的潜力,在脂质代谢中发挥重要作用。本文对Acot2基因的定位、结构特征、生理功能及其调控进行综述,以期对Acot2基因的进一步探究提供参考。     

Contribution of incident solar radiation on leaves and pods to soybean seed weight and composition

The weight and composition of soybean seeds (Glycine Max L. Merrill) depend on changes in carbon and nitrogen assimilate supply during grain filling. Soybean pods and seeds are green, evidencing their capacity to capture light. However, the current physiological knowledge does not consider any effect of incident solar radiation reaching the pods on seed weight and composition. The objective of this work was to investigate the response of seed weight and composition to changes in assimilate supply from leaves, to the incident solar radiation reaching the pods and to the combination of both, changes in assimilate supply from the leaves and incident solar radiation on pods of soybean plants. Field experiments were performed during two growing seasons at Balcarce, Argentina. Treatments modified the amount of assimilates supplied by the leaves (plant shading, defoliation), the solar radiation reaching the pods (pod shading) or both (defoliation and pod shading) during seed filling. Plant shading and defoliation reduced seed weight, oil concentration and oil and protein content and increased the concentration of saturated and poli-unsaturated fatty acids while reduced oleic acid percentage. Pod shading increased the concentration of stearic acid and reduced the concentration of linolenic acid. When pods were shaded on defoliated plants, seed weight and oil and protein content decreased while fatty acid composition was similar to values obtained under defoliation treatment. Based on these results, a conceptual model that considers photoheterotrophic nature of reproductive structures of soybean is proposed. Seed weight, oil and protein content and oil fatty acid composition depended on assimilate availability for the seeds. The response of oil and protein content to assimilate supply depended on whether leaves were present or not. The effect of solar radiation incident on pods depended on the amount of assimilates available for the seeds: (i) when carbon allocated was low (defoliation treatments), pods contributed to seed carbon economy but solar radiation incident on them did not affect fatty acid composition; (ii) when carbon allocated to the seeds was high (intact plants), contribution of pods to seed carbon economy was not significant, but the amount of solar radiation incident on pods produced significant changes in fatty acid composition.     

Necrotic enteritis challenge regulates peroxisome proliferator-1 activated receptors signaling and β-oxidation pathways in broiler chickens

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is an important enteric disease in poultry and has become a major concern in poultry production in the post-antibiotic era. The infection with NE can damage the intestinal mucosa of the birds leading to impaired health and, thus, productivity. To gain a better understanding of how NE impacts the gut function of infected broilers, global mRNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed in the jejunum tissue of NE challenged and non-challenged broilers to identify the pathways and genes affected by this disease. Briefly, to induce NE, birds in the challenge group were inoculated with 1 mL of Eimeria species on day 9 followed by 1 mL of approximately 10⁸ CFU/mL of a NetB producing Clostridium perfringens on days 14 and 15. On day 16, 2 birds in each treatment were randomly selected and euthanized and the whole intestinal tract was evaluated for lesion scores. Duodenum tissue samples from one of the euthanized birds of each replicate (n = 4) was used for histology, and the jejunum tissue for RNA extraction. RNA-seq analysis was performed with an Illumina RNA HiSeq 2000 sequencer. The differentially expressed genes (DEG) were identified and functional analysis was performed in DAVID to find protein–protein interactions (PPI). At a false discovery rate threshold <0.05, a total of 377 DEG (207 upregulated and 170 downregulated) DEG were identified. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that DEG were considerably enriched in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) signaling (P < 0.01) and β-oxidation pathways (P < 0.05). The DEG were mostly related to fatty acid metabolism and degradation (cluster of differentiation 36 [CD36], acyl-CoA synthetase bubblegum family member-1 [ACSBG1], fatty acid-binding protein-1 and -2 [FABP1] and [FABP2]; and acyl-coenzyme A synthetase-1 [ACSL1]), bile acid production and transportation (acyl-CoA oxidase-2 [ACOX2], apical sodium–bile acid transporter [ASBT]) and essential genes in the immune system (interferon-, [IFN-γ], LCK proto-oncogene, Src family tyrosine kinase [LCK], zeta chain of T cell receptor associated protein kinase 70 kDa [ZAP70], and aconitate decarboxylase 1 [ACOD1]). Our data revealed that pathways related to fatty acid digestion were significantly compromised which thereby could have affected metabolic and immune responses in NE infected birds.     

胡麻脂肪酸去饱和酶基因(fads)差异表达分析

为了了解fad基因在胡麻蒴果发育过程中对不饱和脂肪酸的调控,对高、中、低三个不同亚麻酸(C18:3)含量的胡麻品种(’CDC Gold’,‘内亚7号’,’Linola’)进行了不同时期的品质测定,以及脂肪酸去饱和酶2a基因(fad2a)、脂肪酸去饱和酶2b基因(fad2b)、脂肪酸去饱和酶2c基因(fad2c)、脂肪酸去饱和酶3a基因(fad3a)、脂肪酸去饱和酶3b基因(fad3b)的qRT-PCR定量分析。结果表明,随着蒴果成熟,可溶性糖含量呈降低趋势,粗脂肪与粗蛋白不断积累,且差异显著(p<0.05)。fad2a基因、fad3a基因以及fad3b基因在各个时期中的表达符合正态分布。以0 d的蒴果为对照,在胡麻种子形成过程中,‘内亚7号’的三个基因在5 d和15 d的表达量迅速增加,到30 d时急剧减少,15 d的fad2a基因表达量为5.23倍,fad3a基因表达量是fad2a基因表达量的14.52倍,fad3b基因的表达量是fad2a基因表达量的16.14倍,表明这三个基因参与不饱和脂肪酸积累过程。在低亚麻酸含量品种‘Linola’30 d中,fad3a基因是fad2a基因表达量的52.71倍,fad3b呈下调趋势;在高亚麻酸含量品种‘CDCGold’30d中,fad3a基因与fad2a基因的表达量均呈下调趋势,fad3b的表达量为3.92倍;在中等亚麻酸含量品种‘内亚7号’中,fad2a基因表达量降低了0.31倍,fad3a基因是fad3b基因表达量的1.87倍。fad2b基因、fad2c基因熔解曲线不稳定,峰值低,可以在后续试验中继续探索。     

不同培养条件对微藻总脂含量和脂肪酸组成的影响

微藻细胞中脂类的数量及质量是评价其营养价值的重要指标。大量研究表明,改变培养条件及在不同的时期收获对微藻的脂肪含量和脂肪酸组成有着显著影响。本文主要从培养基成分、光强、温度、通气量和生长期5个方面综述了相关的研究成果,希望能为海洋微藻的研究和开发利用提供有价值的参考。