Dietary saccharin sodium supplementation improves the production performance of dairy goats without residue in milk in summer.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary saccharin sodium supplementation on production performance, serum biochemical indicators, and rumen fermentation of dairy goats in summer. Twelve Guanzhong dairy goats with similar body weight, days in milk, and milk yield were randomly divided into two dietary treatments: (1) CON: basal diet; (2) SS: basal diet + 150 mg/kg saccharin sodium on the basis of dry matter. The experiment lasted 35 d, including 7 d for adaptation and 28 d for dietary treatments, sampling and data collection. Each dairy goat was housed individually in a clean separate pen with ad libitum access to diet and water. The goats fed SS diet had increased dry matter intake (DMI; P = 0.037), 4% fat corrected milk yield (P = 0.049), energy corrected milk yield (P = 0.037), milk protein yield (P = 0.031), and total solids yield (P = 0.036). Serum activity of aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.047) and concentrations of 70-kDa heat shock protein (P = 0.090), malondialdehyde (P = 0.092), and total protein (P = 0.057) were lower in goats fed SS diet than those fed CON diet. Supplementation of saccharin sodium tended to increase activity of glutathione peroxidase in serum (P = 0.079). The concentrations of rumen total volatile fatty acid (P = 0.042) and butyrate (P = 0.038) were increased by saccharin sodium supplementation. Dietary supplementation of saccharin sodium increased the relative abundance of Lachnobacterium (P = 0.022), Pseudoramibacter (P = 0.022), Shuttleworthia (P = 0.025), and Syntrophococcus (P = 0.037), but reduced the relative abundance of Prevotella_1 (P = 0.037) and Lachnospiraceae_UCG_008 (P = 0.037) in rumen. Saccharin sodium was observed in feces and urine of goats fed diet supplemented with saccharin sodium, but saccharin sodium was undetectable in the milk of goats receiving SS diet. In conclusion, administration of saccharin sodium was effective in increasing fat and energy corrected milk yield by increasing DMI and improving rumen fermentation and antioxidant capacity of dairy goats in summer. In addition, saccharin sodium residue was undetectable in the milk.

Effects of an essential oil blend rich in cinnamaldehyde and carvacrol on rumen biohydrogenation and fatty acid profile in the longissimus lumborum of growing lambs.

BACKGROUND: Essential oils extracted from cinnamon bark and oregano are rich in cinnamaldehyde and carvacrol and show potential for promoting animal performance. However, their impact on rumen biohydrogenation and the fatty acid composition of meat has not been reported. The hypothesis of this study was that a blend of essential oils rich in cinnamaldehyde and carvacrol would inhibit rumen biohydrogenation and promote the accumulation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in lamb meat. The present study evaluated the effect of a blend essential oil (EO) rich in cinnamaldehyde and carvacrol on the nutrient digestibility, rumen biohydrogenation, growth performance, and fatty acid profile of the longissimus lumborum of lambs. RESULTS: Sixty male lambs with an average age of 84 ± 0.98 days and initial body mass of 25.4 ± 0.29 kg (mean ± standard deviation) were assigned randomly to four diets, and supplemented with 0 (EO0), 30 (EO30), 60 (EO60), and 120 (EO120) mg kg-1 dry matter of EO for 60 days. Although dry matter and neutral detergent fiber digestibility all showed a linear decrease (P ≤ 0.02) with increasing quantities of EO, final body mass and average daily gain increased linearly (P = 0.04), and average daily weight gain (ADG)/dry matter intake (DMI) tended to increase linearly (P = 0.07). Increasing EO supplementation resulted in a linear decrease in total volatile fatty acid concentration, acetate molar percentage, and acetate-to-propionate ratio (P ≤ 0.03), with the EO120 treatment being lower than the other EO treatments (P ≤ 0.05). Seven lambs from the EO120 treatment and seven lambs from the EO0 treatment were randomly slaughtered. It was observed that the proportions of C18:2n6c and PUFA in longissimus lumborum were higher in the EO120 treatment than the EO0 treatment (P ≤ 0.05). The relative abundance of Firmicutes in the rumen was decreased by the EO120 treatment in comparison with the EO0 treatment (P ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, the predicted relative abundances of genes encoding for conjugated linoleic acid reductase tended to decrease with the EO120 treatment (P = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that supplementation of the EO blend rich in cinnamaldehyde and carvacrol can enhance lamb growth performance and promote the deposition of desirable PUFAs in meat. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Anemia prevalence among ethnic minority schoolchildren in an undeveloped city in southwest China.

OBJECTIVES: Anemia is one of the most important nutritional deficiency diseases among schoolchildren worldwide. More attention needs to be focused on anemia prevalence in ethnic minorities in the multiethnic country of China. This study was conducted in Mengzi City, Yunnan Province, which has the largest variety of ethnic minorities in China, to investigate the anemia prevalence among ethnic minority schoolchildren ages 6 to 15 y. METHODS: The plasma hemoglobin concentration of all participants was examined once a year from 2014 to 2020. Anemia was defined as a blood hemoglobin level below 11g/dL, 12g/dL, 13g/dL and 12g/dL for schoolchildren ages 5 to 11y, 12 to 14 y, ages 15 to 19 y males and females, respectively. RESULTS: The overall anemia prevalence (7.3%) was higher than the national level (6.1%). The prevalence among ethnic minorities (8.2%) was higher than among Han Chinese (6.8%), and the prevalence was higher among 6-year-olds (12.2%), females (8.0%), those of Hani Nationality (8.7%), and underweight students (8.5%). The overall prevalence trend of ethnic minorities rose continuously from 2014 to 2020. Ethnic minorities had a higher risk of anemia than did Han Chinese. Overweight schoolchildren (odds ratio [OR], 0.816) and those with obesity (OR, 0.710) had a lower risk of anemia than did students with normal-weight status. CONCLUSIONS: Although the prevalence of anemia among schoolchildren in Mengzi is a mild public health problem, the rate among ethnic minorities is consistently higher than among Han Chinese and keeps rising. Measures to prevent and control anemia need to be prioritized in ethnic minorities, particularly those of Hani Nationality, females, and underweight schoolchildren.

Application of Organic Acids and Essential Oils as Alternatives to Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Broiler Chickens.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of OAs and EOs on growth performance, serum biochemistry, antioxidant enzyme activities, intestinal morphology, and digestive enzyme activities to replace AGP in broilers. Six hundred one-day-old broilers were allotted to five treatments with six replicates: (1) negative control (NC; basal diet); (2) positive control (PC; NC + 50 mg/kg bacitracin methylene disalicylate); (3) organic acids (OA; NC + 2000 mg/kg OA); (4) essential oils (EO; NC + 300 mg/kg EO); and (5) OA + EO (NC + 2000 mg/kg OA + 300 mg/kg EO). In the starter phase, the PC, EO, and OA + EO groups had a significantly lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to the NC group. While the final body weight (BW) of broilers fed OAs was similar compared to broilers fed PC (p > 0.1), the FCR of the OA group tended to be lower than the PC group on D 42 (p = 0.074). The OA group had the higher serum GLOB:ALB (albumin) and ileal villus height and crypt depth (VH:CD) ratios compared to the EO group. Thus, the supplementation of EOs and OAs could substitute AGP in the starter and finisher phase, respectively.

ATP-sensitive potassium channels: A double-edged sword in neurodegenerative diseases.

ATP-sensitive potassium channels (KATP channels), a group of vital channels that link the electrical activity of the cell membrane with cell metabolism, were discovered on the ventricular myocytes of guinea pigs by Noma using the patch-clamp technique in 1983. Subsequently, KATP channels have been found to be expressed in pancreatic ß cells, cardiomyocytes, skeletal muscle cells, and nerve cells in the substantia nigra (SN), hippocampus, cortex, and basal ganglia. KATP channel openers (KCOs) diazoxide, nicorandil, minoxidil, and the KATP channel inhibitor glibenclamide have been shown to have anti-hypertensive, anti-myocardial ischemia, and insulin-releasing regulatory effects. Increasing evidence has suggested that KATP channels also play roles in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), vascular dementia (VD), Huntington's disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. KCOs and KATP channel inhibitors protect neurons from injury by regulating neuronal excitability and neurotransmitter release, inhibiting abnormal protein aggregation and Ca2+ overload, reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and microglia activation. However, KATP channels have dual effects in some cases. In this review, we focus on the roles of KATP channels and their related openers and inhibitors in neurodegenerative diseases. This will enable us to precisely take advantage of the KATP channels and provide new ideas for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Isolation and characterization of porcine circumvallate papillae cells.

Animal food intake is primarily controlled by appetite, which is affected by food quality, environment, and the management and status of animal health. Sensing of taste is mediated by taste receptor cells and is central to appetite. Taste receptor cells possess distinctive physiological characteristics that permit the recognition of various stimuli in foods. Thus, cultures of porcine circumvallate papillae cells provide a model for identification of the molecular and functional characteristics of taste receptor cells. In this study, we described the isolation and culture of porcine circumvallate papillae, using tissue explants and enzymatic digestion, and showed continuous viability and expression of pivotal taste marker proteins for more than 9 passages. In addition, cultured cells showed dramatic rises in intracellular calcium upon stimulation with several taste stimuli (sweet, umami, bitter, and fat). These cultures of porcine taste receptor cells provide a useful model for assessing taste preferences of pigs and may elucidate interactions between various taste stimuli.