First report of Blastocystis in giant pandas, red pandas, and various bird species in Sichuan province, southwestern China.

Blastocystis is a common enteric protist that colonizes humans and a wide range of animals. Although some studies have reported incidences of Blastocystis in humans and animals in China, there is no information available on the prevalence of Blastocystis in giant pandas, red pandas, or bird species. The aims of the present study were to determine the prevalence, subtype distribution, and genetic characterizations of Blastocystis in these animals in a captive situation in southwestern China, as well as assess the zoonotic potential of Blastocystis isolates. A total of 168 fecal specimens, including 81 from giant pandas, 23 from red pandas, 38 from black swans, 11 from ruddy shelducks, and 15 from green peafowl were collected at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province. The overall minimum prevalence of Blastocystis was 11.3% (19/168) based on PCR amplification of the barcode region of the SSU rRNA gene. The highest prevalence of Blastocystis was observed in ruddy shelduck (18.2%) and the lowest was found in green peafowl (6.7%). The prevalence of Blastocystis in giant pandas >5.5 years of age was higher than that in younger giant pandas. Two potentially zoonotic subtypes (ST1 and ST8) were identified, and ST1 (n = 12) was found to be more prevalent than ST8 (n = 7). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the prevalence and subtypes of Blastocystis in giant pandas, red pandas, and bird species in China. The findings of this study will improve our understanding of the genetic diversity and public health potential of Blastocystis.

High-efficient production of fructo-oligosaccharides from inulin by a two-stage bioprocess using an engineered Yarrowia lipolytica strain.

A convenient and efficient two-stage bioprocess was established for fructo-oligosaccharides (FOSs) production, during which the endo-inulinase was first produced and subsequently the inulin supplemented was directly hydrolyzed by the produced endo-inulinase, in the meantime the generated non-prebiotic saccharides was assimilated by the yeast cells. This process was implemented by an engineered Yarrowia lipolytica strain Enop56, in which an optimized endo-inulinase gene from Aspergillus niger was overexpressed. When the strain Enop56 was fermented with an inulin concentration of 600g/L in a 10-L bioreactor, the inulinase activity, FOSs titer, yield and productivity reached to 551.6U/mL, 546.6g/L, 0.91gFOS/gInulin, and 15.18g/L/h, respectively. Besides, the hydrolysis products were mainly FOSs with polymerization degrees of 3-5 and the total amount of non-prebiotic mono- and disaccharides was only 4.97% in the final fermentation broth. This study demonstrated that the two-stage bioprocess using the strain Enop56 was a promising strategy to produce FOSs on an industrial scale.

Protective effects of dexmedetomidine on intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Dexmedetomidine (DEX) has been hypothesized to possess anti-oxidative properties that may mitigate the damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of DEX on intestinal contractile activity, inflammation and apoptosis following intestinal IR injury. Intestinal IR injury was induced in rats by complete occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery for 60 min, followed by a 60-min reperfusion period. Rats received an intraperitoneal injection of 25 µg/kg DEX at 30 min prior to the mesenteric IR injury. Following reperfusion, segments of the terminal ileum were rapidly extracted and transferred into an isolated organ bath. The contractile responses to receptor-mediated acetylcholine (Ach) and non-receptor-mediated potassium chloride (KCl) were subsequently examined. Nitric oxide (NO) levels were determined and the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, Bax and Bcl-2 were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The levels of telomerase and caspase-3 were determined using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results indicated that DEX treatment produced a significant reduction in the IR-induced contractile response to Ach and KCl in the intestinal tissue. Furthermore, DEX appeared to significantly ameliorate intestinal IR injury, in addition to reducing the production of NO. Similar reductions were observed in the intestinal expression levels of TNF-α and IL-6. In addition, DEX treatment resulted in a reduction in the expression levels of Bax in the intestinal tissues, while increasing those of Bcl-2, in addition to significantly increasing the mRNA levels of telomerase and caspase-3. Therefore, the present study indicated that NO, TNF-α and IL-6 may partially contribute to the pathogenesis of intestinal IR injury in addition to the increased expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, telomerase and caspase-3. These findings suggest that DEX possesses beneficial anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects in intestinal tissue following bowel injury.