Effects of dietary berberine on growth performance, lipid metabolism, antioxidant capacity and lipometabolism-related genes expression of AMPK signaling pathway in juvenile black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) fed high-fat diets.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of high-fat diet (HFD) supplemented with berberine on growth, lipid metabolism, antioxidant capacity and lipometabolism-related genes expression of AMPK signaling pathway in juvenile black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus). Five hundred and forty healthy fish (4.04 ± 0.01 g) were randomly distributed into six groups, and fed six experimental diets: normal-fat diet (NFD, 5% fat), HFD (15% fat), and four HFDs supplemented with graded levels of berberine, respectively. The results showed that, compared with fish fed NFD, HFD had no effects on the growth of fish except for reducing survival rate, whereas HFD caused extensive lipid accumulation, oxidative stress injury and hepatic abnormalities. However, compared with the HFD group, fish fed HFD containing an appropriate berberine (98.26 or 196.21 mg/kg) improved the growth performance, increased hepatic lipid metabolism and antioxidant enzymes activities, and up-regulated the mRNA expression levels of ampk subunits and lipolysis genes such as pparα, cpt-1, acox, atgl and hsl (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, HFD supplemented with an appropriate berberine reduced crude lipid contents in liver and whole-body, decreased serum lipid contents, and ALT and AST activities, and down-regulated the mRNA expression levels of lipogenesis genes such as srebp-1, acc1, gpat, fas and pparγ, and lipid transporter genes such as fatp, fabp and fat/cd36 (P < 0.05). Thus, HFD supplemented with an appropriate berberine could improve growth of black carp, promote lipid metabolism and enhance antioxidant capacity. The lipid-lowering mechanism of berberine might be mediated by activating AMPK pathway, up-regulating lipolysis genes expression, and down-regulating lipogenesis and transport genes expression.

The effects of Ficus carica polysaccharide on immune response and expression of some immune-related genes in grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella.

The present study investigated the effect of Ficus carica polysaccharide (FCP), isolated from the fruit of F. carica L., at 0%, 0.1%, 0.5% and 1.0% doses supplementation with feed on genes Interleukin 1-ß (IL-1ß), Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression in blood, humoral innate immune parameters and resistant to Flavobacterium columnare of grass carp at weeks 1, 2 and 3. The results revealed that administration of FCP significantly (P<0.05) up regulated IL-1ß and TNF-α gene expression. HSP70 gene expression was significantly (P<0.05) lower in FCP-fed fish at the end of trial. The serum total protein, albumin and globulin did not significantly increased in any diet on the first week whereas it was significantly enhanced in 0.5% and 1.0% supplementation diets on weeks 2 and 3 when compared to control. The serum complement C3 was significantly (P<0.05) increased on weeks 1 and 2 when compared to control, however, no significant difference was found in this activity after 3 weeks of treatment. All diets significantly enhanced the serum lysozyme activity, bactericidal activity from weeks 1-2 as compared to control. Grass carp fed with FCP showed remarkably higher resistance against F. columnare (60% survival) compared to the control group (30% survival). These results confirm that FCP can up regulate immune related genes expression, stimulates immune response that per se enhances disease resistance in grass carp.

Bis{4-chloro-2-[(2-hy-droxy-eth-yl)imino-meth-yl]phenolato}nickel(II) monohydrate.

The title mononuclear nickel(II) complex, [Ni(C(9)H(9)ClNO(2))(2)]·H(2)O, was obtained by the reaction of 5-chloro-salicyl-aldehyde, 2-amino-ethanol and nickel nitrate in methanol. The Ni atom is six-coordinated by two phenolate O, two imine N and two hy-droxy O atoms from two crystallographically different Schiff base ligands, forming an octa-hedral geometry. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked through inter-molecular O-H⋯O and O-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds.

Bis{2-eth-oxy-6-[2-(isopropyl-ammonio)ethyl-imino-meth-yl]phenolato}dithio-cyanato-nickel(II).

In the mononuclear title complex, [Ni(NCS)(2)(C(14)H(22)N(2)O(2))(2)], the Ni atom lies on an inversion centre. It is chelated by the phenolate O and imine N atoms from two zwitterionic Schiff base ligands, and is also coordinated by the N atoms from two thio-cyanate ligands, giving a slightly distorted octa-hedral geometry. Intra-molecular N-H⋯O and N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds are observed.