ABSTRACT
Hydrogels are 3D networks swollen with water. They are biocompatible, strong, and moldable and are emerging as a promising biomedical material for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering to deliver therapeutic genes. The excellent natural extracellular matrix simulation properties of hydrogels enable them to be co-cultured with cells or enhance the expression of viral or non-viral vectors. Its biocompatibility, high strength, and degradation performance also make the action process of carriers in tissues more ideal, making it an ideal biomedical material. It has been shown that hydrogel-based gene delivery technologies have the potential to play therapy-relevant roles in organs such as bone, cartilage, nerve, skin, reproductive organs, and liver in animal experiments and preclinical trials. This paper reviews recent articles on hydrogels in gene delivery and explains the manufacture, applications, developmental timeline, limitations, and future directions of hydrogel-based gene delivery techniques.
ABSTRACT
This study evaluated the effect of a plateau environment on the heart and liver oxidation state of Tibetan pigs (TPs) and DLY pigs through analyzing AMPK, p38 MAPK, and Nrf2 signaling pathways. Twelve 120-day-old TPs and twelve 120-day-old DLY pigs were randomly divided into two groups in a plateau environment for three weeks. Exposed to a plateau environment, TPs exhibited a lower (p < 0.05) malondialdehyde level but higher (p < 0.05) glutathione, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) activities in the liver and heart than those observed in DLY pigs. TPs also showed higher (p < 0.05) mRNA levels of SOD and GSH-Px in the liver and heart compared with those of DLY pigs. The TPs showed higher (p < 0.05) mRNA and protein levels of AMPK and Nrf2 in the liver and heart compared with those of DLY pigs. Furthermore, TPs showed higher (p < 0.05) mRNA and protein levels of p38 MAPK in the heart and higher mRNA levels of p38 MAPK in the liver compared with those of DLY pigs under a plateau environment. In summary, TPs possess a stronger antioxidant capacity in the heart and liver than that of DLY pigs in a plateau environment through AMPK/p38 MAPK/Nrf2-ARE signaling pathways.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to investigate the microbial structure and function in the rectum of weaned piglets with berberine supplementation. Twelve healthy 21-day-old Duorc × (Landrace × Large White) weaned piglets (similar body weight) were evenly divided into control and berberine groups and were fed a basal diet supplemented with 0 and 0.1% berberine, respectively. After 21 days, metagenomic sequencing analysis was performed to detect microbial composition and function in the rectum of weaned piglets. Results showed that there were 10,597,721,931-14,059,392,900 base pairs (bp) and 10,186,558,171-15,859,563,342 bp of clean data in the control and berberine groups, respectively. The Q20s of the control and berberine groups were 97.15 to 97.7% and 96.26 to 97.68%, respectively. The microorganisms in the berberine group had lower (p < 0.05) Chao1, alternating conditional expectation, Shannon, and Simpson indices at the species levels than those in the control group. Analysis of similarity showed that there were significant differences (p < 0.01) between the control and berberine groups at the genus and species levels of the gut microorganisms. Dietary berberine significantly increased (p < 0.05) the abundance of Subdoligranulum variabile, but decreased (p < 0.05) the abundance of Prevotella copri compared with the control group. Carbohydrate-active enzymes analysis revealed that the levels of polysaccharide lyases and carbohydrate esterases were lower (p < 0.05) in the berberine group than that in the control group. Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis showed that berberine supplementation could induce various significant Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways, including carbohydrate metabolism, environmental information processing, and microbial metabolism in diverse environments. In conclusion, our findings suggest that berberine could improve the composition, abundance, structure, and function of gut microbiome in the weaned piglets, potentially providing a suitable approach for the application of berberine in human and animal health.
ABSTRACT
The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of phloretin on growth performance, serum biochemical parameters, antioxidant profile, glutathione (GSH)-related enzymes, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related 2 (Nrf2) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in heat-stressed broilers. A total of 240, 22-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were divided into 4 groups. The control group was housed at 23.0 ± 0.61°C and fed with basal diet, while the 3 heat-stressed groups (A, B, and C groups) were housed at 30.5 ± 0.69°C and fed with basal diet containing 0, 100, and 200 mg/kg phloretin, respectively. Serum was taken form 42-day-old broilers. Results showed that heat stress decreased (P < 0.05) the final body weight (FBW), body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), serum total protein (TP), triglyceride (TG), triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), GSH, catalase (CAT), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) levels, but increased (P < 0.05) the feed-to-gain ratio (FGR) and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in broilers compared with that in the control group. Among the heat-stressed groups, supplementary 200 mg/kg phloretin increased (P < 0.05) the FBW, BWG, FI, serum TP, TG, T4, GSH, CAT, and T-AOC levels, and decreased (P < 0.05) the FGR and serum MDA in broilers. There were significant decreases (P < 0.05) in the glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase (γ-GCS), and Nrf2, but significant increases (P < 0.05) in the HSP70 of the broiler serum after heat stress treatment. Among the heat-stressed groups, supplementary 200 mg/kg phloretin increased (P < 0.05) the GSH-Px, γ-GCS, and Nrf2 levels, but decreased (P < 0.05) the serum HSP70 level in the heat-stressed broilers. Under high temperature condition, FBW, BWG, FI, FGR, serum TP, TG, T4, MDA, GSH, CAT, T-AOC, GSH-Px, γ-GCS, Nrf2 and HSP70 were linearly affected by inclusion of phloretin. These results indicated that phloretin may improve growth performance, serum parameters, and antioxidant profiles through regulated GSH-related enzymes, Nrf2 and HSP70 in heat-stressed broilers.
