Combined adjuvant effect of ginseng stem-leaf saponins and selenium on immune responses to a live bivalent vaccine of Newcastle disease virus and infectious bronchitis virus in chickens.

Vaccination with a live bivalent vaccine of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a routine practice in poultry industry in China. This study was designed to evaluate ginseng stem-leaf saponins (GSLS) in combination with selenium (Se) for their adjuvant effect on the immune response to vaccination against NDV and IBV in chickens. A live bivalent vaccine of NDV and IBV was diluted in saline solution containing GSLS or Se or both and used to immunize chickens via a intraocular-and-intranasal route. Results showed that GSLS promoted significantly higher NDV- and IBV-specific antibody responses with the highest antibody response detected in GSLS-Se group. The increased antibody was capable of neutralizing NDV and IBV. In addition, GSLS-Se enhanced lymphocyte proliferation and production of IFN-γ and IL-4. More importantly GSLS-Se was found to promote early production and prolong the duration of the antibody responses. In order to improve the efficacy of vaccination in chicken flocks, the diluent containing GSLS-Se deserves further studies to evaluate its effect on other chicken vaccines.

Therapeutic effect of ginsenoside Rg1 on mastitis experimentally induced by lipopolysaccharide in lactating goats.

Escherichia coli is a cause of subclinical and clinical mastitis in dairy cattle and goats, and sometimes causes severe clinical disease that may result in death of the animal. Previous investigation showed that ginsenoside Rg1 extracted from Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (Araliaceae) has an anti-inflammatory effect on the sepsis induced by E. coli lipopolysaccharide via competitive binding to toll-like receptor 4. We hypothesized that intravenous injection of Rg1 had therapeutic effect on mastitis experimentally induced by intramammary infusion of lipopolysaccharide in lactating goats. In this study, 9 lactating goats were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: (1) lipopolysaccharide intramammary infusion + saline intravenous injection, (2) lipopolysaccharide intramammary infusion + Rg1 intravenous injection, and (3) saline intramammary administration + saline intravenous injection. Because no adverse clinical signs were observed after intramammary infusion of saline and intravenous injection of Rg1 in a preliminary experiment, and available qualified goats were limited in this study, this treatment was not included in this study. One udder half of each goat received intramammary infusion of lipopolysaccharide (50 µg/kg of body weight; groups 1 and 2) or saline solution (group 3), and the other half was infused with 2 mL of saline solution at h 0. Afterward, intravenous injections of saline solution (groups 1 and 3) or Rg1 (2.5 mg/kg of body weight; group 2) were administered at h 2 and 4 post-lipopolysaccharide challenge. Blood and milk samples were collected 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 48, and 72 h post-lipopolysaccharide challenge, and clinical signs were monitored hourly after lipopolysaccharide challenge within the first 10 h and at the same time points as blood samples. The results showed that Rg1 treatment downregulated rectal temperature, udder skin temperature, udder girth, milk somatic cell count, and N-acetyl-ß-d-glucosaminidase and upregulated milk production, lactose, and recovered blood components, such as white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, total proteins, albumin, and globulin. Considering the positive therapeutic effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced mastitis in goats presented in this study as well as the anti-inflammatory activity found previously, the botanical Rg1 deserves further study as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of E. coli mastitis in dairy animals.

Oral administration of tea saponins to relive oxidative stress and immune suppression in chickens.

The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of tea saponins on oxidative stress induced by cyclophosphamide in chickens. One hundred twenty chickens were randomly divided into 5 groups. Groups 3 to 4 received intramuscular injection of cyclophosphamide to induce oxidative stress and immunosuppression. After that, groups 2 and 4 were orally administered tea saponins in drinking water for 7 d. Then, groups 1 to 4 were immunized with a live, bivalent vaccine of Newcastle disease virus and infectious bronchitis virus. Blood samples were collected for analysis of oxidative parameters and specific antibody titers, and splenocytes were prepared for lymphocyte proliferative assay. The results showed that administration of tea saponins significantly increased total antioxidant capacity, total superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione, ascorbic acid, and α-tocopherol, and decreased malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl. Enhanced immune responses, such as lymphocyte proliferation induced by concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharides, and serum Newcastle disease virus- and infectious bronchitis virus-specific antibodies were also observed in chickens injected with or without cyclophosphamide. In addition, no side effects were found in chickens throughout the study. Therefore, tea saponins may be a potential agent to improve imunosuppression induced by oxidative stress in chickens.

A novel obesity model: synphilin-1-induced hyperphagia and obesity in mice.

AIMS: The pathogenesis of obesity remains incompletely understood and the exploration of the role of novel proteins in obesity may provide important insights into its causes and treatments. Here, we report a previously unidentified role for synphilin-1 in the control of food intake and body weight. Synphilin-1, a cytoplasmic protein, was initially identified as an interaction partner of alpha-synuclein, and has implications in Parkinson's disease pathogenesis related to protein aggregation. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: To study the in vivo role of synphilin-1, we characterized a human synphilin-1 transgenic mouse (SP1) by assessing synphilin-1 expression, plasma parameters, food intake and spontaneous activity to determine the major behavioral changes and their consequences in the development of the obesity phenotype. RESULTS: Expression of human synphilin-1 in brain neurons in SP1 mice resulted in increased food intake, body weight and body fat. SP1 mice also displayed hyperinsulinemia, hyperleptinemia and impaired glucose tolerance. Pair-feeding SP1 mice to amounts consumed by non-transgenic mice prevented the increased body weight, adiposity, hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia demonstrating that these were all the consequences of increased food intake. Transgenic expression of synphilin-1 was enriched in hypothalamic nuclei involved in feeding control, and fasting-induced elevated endogenous synphilin-1 levels at these sites, suggesting that synphilin-1 is an important player in the hypothalamic energy balance regulatory system. CONCLUSION: These studies identify a novel function of synphilin-1 in controlling food intake and body weight, and may provide a unique obesity model for future studies of obesity pathogenesis and therapeutics.

Characterization of the feeding inhibition and neural activation produced by dorsomedial hypothalamic cholecystokinin administration.

Within the dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH), cholecystokinin (CCK) has been proposed to modulate neuropeptide Y (NPY) signaling to affect food intake. However, the neural circuitry underlying the actions of this CCK-NPY signaling system in the controls of food intake has yet to be determined. We sought to characterize the feeding inhibition and brain neural activation produced by CCK administration into the DMH of rats. We determined the time course of feeding inhibitory effects of exogenous DMH CCK, assessed NPY gene expression in the DMH in response to DMH CCK administration, and characterized c-Fos activation in the entire brain induced by CCK injection into the DMH using c-Fos like immunohistochemistry. We found that parenchymal injection of CCK into the DMH decreased food intake during the entire 22 h observation period, with a primary effect in the first 4 h, and down-regulated NPY gene expression in the DMH. c-Fos immunohistochemistry revealed that DMH CCK increased the number of c-Fos positive cells in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), arcuate nucleus, suprachiasmatic nucleus and retrochiasmatic area as well as in the contralateral DMH. This pattern of activity is different from that produced by peripherally administered CCK which is short acting and primarily activates neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract and area postrema, as well as the PVN and DMH. Together, these data suggest that DMH CCK plays an important role in the control of food intake, and does so by activating different pathways from those activated by peripheral CCK.

Observation of the curative effect of external counter-pulsation therapy on progressive muscular dystrophy.

External counter-pulsation therapy was applied to 12 cases of progressive muscular dystrophy with effects of varying degressive markably effective in 3 cases, effective in 6, improved in 2 and no effect in one. In 11 of 12 cases the atrophic muscles became normal, in 3 of 8 cases the gastrocnemius softened and in 9 of 10 cases creatine phosphokinase greatly reduced. Electron microscopy found that the ultramicrostructure of the diseased muscles greatly improved, the structure and morphology of most mitochondria became normal, and glycogenesis disappeared.