Effects of Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide in diet on growth performance, serum antioxidant capacity, and biochemistry of broilers.

In the present study, we analyzed the effects of Glycyrrhiza polysaccharide (GCP) on growth performance, serum antioxidant capacity, and biochemistry of broilers. A total of 600, one-day-old AA broilers randomly divided into 5 treatment groups with 6 replicate pens of 20 birds per cage received dietary supplementation with GCP (0, 200, 500, 1,000, and 1,500 mg/kg) for 42 d. The supplementation of GCP linearly decreased (P < 0.05) feed conversion rate on day 22 to 42. Dietary supplementation with GCP reduced (P < 0.05) serum total cholesterol on day 21 and 42 and linearly improved (P < 0.05) albumin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Dietary supplementation with 1,000 or 1,500 mg/kg GCP significantly increased (P < 0.05) serum total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity on day 21 and 42 and reduced (P < 0.05) serum malondialdehyde content on 21 d. Dietary supplementation with 1,000 or 1,500 mg/kg GCP significantly improved (P < 0.05) interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) expressions in liver on day 21 and 42. At the end of the experiment, we randomly selected 20 broilers from 3 treatment groups (0, 1,000, and 1,500 mg/kg), respectively, to perform an lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute stress experiment. The 60 broilers were divided into 6 treatment groups with 10 birds per cage. The experiment was designed as a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement with GCP (0, 1,000, or 1,500 mg/kg) and LPS (injection of saline or 1 mg/kg body weight) levels as treatments. When the grouping was finished, the broilers were immediately intraperitoneally injected with LPS or normal saline. Six hours after challenged, serum antioxidant and liver immunity were analyzed. The results showed that dietary GCP prevented LPS-induced reductions in T-SOD activity and increases in malonaldehyde content (P < 0.05). Also, dietary GCP supplementation mitigated the LPS-induced increase in IL-1ß and IFN-γ in the liver. Supplementation with 1,500 mg/kg GCP showed the most optimal effect in broilers. GCP has the potential to be used as feed additive in broilers.

[Effect of ginsenosides in inducing proliferation and transcription factor of erythrocytic, granulo-monocytic and megakarocytic cell lines].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the action of Ginsenosides (GS) in inducing transcription factor c-fos and GATA-1 to explore the mechanism of GS in hematopoietic cells. METHODS: The proliferation effects of GS on granulocytic (HL-60), monocytic (U937), erythrocytic (K562) and megaryocytic (Meg-01) cell lines were observed by using proliferation test of MTT and colony formation of progenitor cells. The combining reaction of transcription factors c-fos and GATA-1 with nuclear protein antigen were analyzed by Western Blot after being treated by GS. RESULTS: (1) GS (10 micrograms/ml) could stimulate and promote proliferation of 3 cell lines with significant difference between GS and non-GS control (P < 0.05 in all) in both MTT test and colony assay. (2) After treatment with GS, c-fos protein in HL-60, K562 and Meg-01 cell lines was increased by 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 fold respectively, while U937 cell did not express c-fos. (3) Except that U937 cell hadn't expressed GATA-1, the other cell lines after the treatment by GS, the GATA-1 protein level was elevated to 1.5, 2.1 and 1.3 fold of that before treatment. CONCLUSION: The proliferation of three lines initiated by GS was involved in transcription factor c-fos or GATA-1, which could pay the role in the GS induced up-regulation correlated with proliferation and differentiation of hematopoiesis.