Selenium-Enriched Cardamine violifolia Increases Selenium and Decreases Cholesterol Concentrations in Liver and Pectoral Muscle of Broilers.

BACKGROUND: Supernutrition of selenium (Se) in an effort to produce Se-enriched meat may inadvertently cause lipid accumulation. Se-enriched Cardamine violifolia (SeCv) contains >80% of Se in organic forms. OBJECTIVES: This study was to determine whether feeding chickens a high dose of SeCv could produce Se-biofortified muscle without altering their lipid metabolism. METHODS: Day-old male broilers were allocated to 4 groups (6 cages/group and 6 chicks/cage) and were fed either a corn-soy base diet (BD, 0.13-0.15 mg Se/kg), the BD plus 0.5 mg Se/kg as sodium selenite (SeNa) or as SeCv, or the BD plus a low-Se Cardamine violifolia (Cv, 0.20-0.21mg Se/kg). At week 6, concentrations of Se and lipid and expression of selenoprotein and lipid metabolism-related genes were determined in the pectoral muscle and liver. RESULTS: The 4 diets showed no effects on growth performance of broilers. Compared with the other 3 diets, SeCv elevated (P < 0.05) Se concentrations in the pectoral muscle and liver by 14.4-127% and decreased (P < 0.05) total cholesterol concentrations by 12.5-46.7% and/or triglyceride concentrations by 28.8-31.1% in the pectoral muscle and/or liver, respectively. Meanwhile, SeCv enhanced (P < 0.05) muscular α-linolenic acid (80.0%) and hepatic arachidonic acid (58.3%) concentrations compared with SeNa and BD, respectively. SeCv downregulated (P < 0.05) the cholesterol and triglyceride synthesis-related proteins (sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 2 and diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 2) and upregulated (P < 0.05) hydrolysis and ß-oxidation of fatty acid-related proteins (lipoprotein lipase, fatty acid binding protein 1, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A), as well as selenoprotein P1 and thioredoxin reductase activity in the pectoral muscle and/or liver compared with SeNa. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with SeNa, SeCv effectively raised Se and reduced lipids in the liver and muscle of broilers. The effect was mediated through the regulation of the cholesterol and triglyceride biosynthesis and utilization-related genes.

Effects of deoxynivalenol on the porcine growth performance and intestinal microbiota and potential remediation by a modified HSCAS binder.

The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of deoxynivalenol (DON) on growth performance and intestinal microbiota in weaning piglets, and potential efficacy of a modified hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (HSCAS) adsorbent to reduce DON toxicity. Four groups of 21-day-old male piglets (n = 7/group) were fed either a control diet, or diet containing 1.0 or 3.0 mg/kg DON, or 3.0 mg/kg DON plus 0.05% modified HSCAS for 28 d. Compared to the control, dietary DON at 1.0 and/or 3.0 mg/kg reduced (P < 0.05) the body weight gain (16.0-60.8%) and feed intake (18.1-38.7%) during the whole experiment, and increased (P < 0.05) the feed/gain ratio (12.8-33.8%) between d 1-28. The body weight gain and feed intake were further decreased (P < 0.05) in 3.0 mg/kg DON in comparison to 1.0 mg/kg DON during d 15-28. DON exposure reshaped gut microbial structure by drastically affecting the abundance of several bacterial phyla, families and genera, including dysbiosis of Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria in small intestine. Notably, dietary Amdetox™ supplementation alleviated the adverse effects of DON on growth performance of piglets and improved the intestinal flora disorder. Therefore, the current study has revealed that Amdetox™, the modified HSCAS binder, can alleviate DON-induced negative effects and could be used as a promising countermeasure for reducing DON toxicity.