Improvement of anti-nutritional effect resulting from ß-glucanase specific expression in the parotid gland of transgenic pigs.

ß-Glucan is the predominant anti-nutritional factors in monogastric animal feed. Although ß-glucanase supplementation in diet can help to eliminate the adverse effects, enzyme stability is substantially modified during the feed manufacturing process. To determine whether the expression of endogenous ß-glucanase gene (GLU) in vivo can improve digestibility of dietary ß-glucan and absorption of nutrients, we successfully produced transgenic pigs via nuclear transfer which express the GLU from Paenibacillus polymyxa CP7 in the parotid gland. In three live transgenic founders, ß-glucanase activities in the saliva were 3.2, 0.07 and 0.03 U/mL, respectively, and interestingly the enzyme activities increased in the pigs from 178 days old to 789 days old. From the feed the amount of gross energy, crude protein and crude fat absorbed by the transgenic pigs was significantly higher than the non-transgenic pigs. Meanwhile the moisture content of the feces was significantly reduced in transgenic pigs compared with the non-transgenic pigs. Furthermore, in all positive G1 pigs, ß-glucanase activity was detectable and the highest enzyme activity reached 3.5 U/mL in saliva. Also, crude protein digestion was significantly higher in G1 transgenic pigs than in control pigs. Taken together, our data showed that the transgenic ß-glucanase exerted its biological catalytic function in vivo in the saliva, and the improved performance of the transgenic pigs could be accurately passed on to the offspring, indicating a promising alternative approach to improving nutrient availability was established to improve utilization of livestock feed through transgenic animals.

[Comparison of the analgesic effect of acupuncture between otopoint-penetrative needling and otopoint-straight needling for cervical type and nerve-root type cervicospondylopathy].

OBJECTIVE: To confirm the better analgesic effect of otopoint-penetrative needling for cervical type and nerve-root type cervicospondylopathy. METHODS: A total of 98 cervicospondylopathy outpatients (50 cases of cervical type and 48 cases of nerve-root type) were randomly divided into treatment group (otopoint-penetrative needling) and control group (otopoint-straight needling) in the light of paring method of comprehensive factors of sexes, ages and the state of disease. The main oto-points used were bilateral Jingzhui Area (AH 13) in combination with Jian-Jianguanjie-Suogu (Shoulder-Shoulder-joint-Collarbone) Area, etc. The simplified McGill Pain Scaling was used to give the score of patient's pain before the treatment, 5 min and 30 min after the treatment. RESULTS: Results of sequential trial indicated that the analgesic effect of otopoint-penetrative needling was significantly superior to that of otopoint-straight needling 30 min after the treatment (P < 0.05). Findings of matched-pair t test showed that no marked differences were found between two groups in the pain scores before the treatment, while after the treatment, the pain scores of otopoint-penetrative needling group were significantly lower than those of otopoint-straight needling group (P < 0.001, 0.01), meaning that the analgesic effect of otopoint-penetrative needling was significantly better than that of otopoint-straight needling 5 min and 30 min after the treatment in both men and women, in both cervical type and nerve-root type patients, and in both young and older patients. CONCLUSION: The analgesic effect of otopoint-penetrative needling is obviously superior to that of otopoint-straight needling.