An integrated mycotoxin-mitigating agent can effectively mitigate the combined toxicity of AFB1, DON and OTA on the production performance, liver and oviduct health in broiler breeder hens.

This study was to evaluate the efficacy of an integrated mycotoxin-mitigating agent in reducing the adverse effects of co-occurring dietary aflatoxin B1 deoxynivalenol and ochratoxin A on broiler breeder hens. 360 30-week-old Hubbard Efficiency Plus broiler breeder hens were allocated into four groups and received a basal diet (BD; Control), BD added 0.15 mg/kg aflatoxin B1+1.5 mg/kg deoxynivalenol+0.12 mg/kg ochratoxin A (Toxins), BD plus Toxins with 0.1% TOXO-XL (Toxins + XL1), and BD plus Toxins with 0.2% TOXO-XL (Toxins + XL2), respectively, for 8 weeks, and then received the same BD for another 4 weeks. Compared with control, mycotoxins decreased total egg weigh, egg laying rate, settable eggs rate, hatch of total eggs rate, egg quality, but increased feed/egg ratio and mortality rate, and impaired the liver and oviduct health during weeks 1-8 and(or) 9-12. It also increased PC and MDA concentrations, TUNEL-positive cells and IL-1ß and IL-6 expression, and decreased T-AOC, GPX and CAT activities in liver and/or oviduct. Notably, most of these negative changes were mitigated by both dosages of TOXO-XL. Generally, 0.2% TOXO-XL displayed better mitigation effects than 0.1% TOXO-XL. Conclusively, these findings revealed that TOXO-XL could mitigate the combined mycotoxins-induced toxicity on the performance, liver and oviduct health, through the regulation of redox, immunity, and apoptosis in broiler breeder hens.

Mitigating the adverse effects of Aflatoxin B1 in LMH, IPEC-J2 and 3D4/21 cells by a novel integrated agent.

This study was to evaluate the efficacy of TOXO-XL (XL), an integrated mycotoxin-mitigating agent, on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced damage in Leghorn male hepatoma (LMH), porcine jejunum epithelial cell line (IPEC-J2) and porcine alveolar macrophages (3D4/21) cells, and to explore its potential mechanisms. The results showed that 30% inhibition concentration (IC30) of AFB1 in LMH, IPEC-J2 and 3D4/21 cells was 0.5, 15.0, and 2.5 mg/L, respectively. Notably, cell viability, ROS, apoptosis and DNA lesion induced by AFB1 (IC30) could be ameliorated by the supplementation with XL at the dosage of 0.025, 0.025 and 0.005%, respectively. Additionally, the migration and phagocytosis abilities impaired by AFB1 were also restored by XL in 3D4/21. Further experiments revealed that XL supplementation markedly attenuated AFB1-induced inflammatory response by decreasing IL-1ß, IL-6 and IL-10 in LMH, IL-6 in IPEC-J2 and IL-1ß in 3D4/21 cells. Meanwhile, XL supplementation reversed the alterations of BAX, BCL-2 and caspase-3 induced by AFB1 in the three cells, suggesting that AFB1-induced apoptosis may be suppressed via the mitochondria-dependent pathway. Furthermore, XL may have a protective effect on the intestinal barrier through the restoration of occludin protein. Conclusively, these findings indicated that XL could alleviate AFB1-induced cytotoxicity in the three cells, potentially through the regulation of cytokines, ROS, apoptotic and DNA damage signaling.

The opioid receptor triple agonist DPI-125 produces analgesia with less respiratory depression and reduced abuse liability.

Opioid analgesics remain the first choice for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, but they are also notorious for their respiratory depression and addictive effects. This study focused on the pharmacology of a novel opioid receptor mixed agonist DPI-125 and attempted to elucidate the relationship between the δ-, µ- and κ-receptor potency ratio and respiratory depression and abuse liability. Five diarylmethylpiperazine compounds (DPI-125, DPI-3290, DPI-130, KUST202 and KUST13T02) were selected for this study. PKA fluorescence redistribution assays in CHO cells individually expressing δ-, µ- or κ-receptors were used to measure the agonist potency. The respiratory safety profiles were estimated in rats by the ratio of ED50 (pCO2 increase)/ED50 (antinociception). The abuse liability of DPI-125 was evaluated with a self-administration model in rhesus monkeys. The observed agonist potencies of DPI-125 for δ-, µ- and κ-opioid receptors were 4.29±0.36, 11.10±3.04, and 16.57±4.14 nmol/L, respectively. The other four compounds were also mixed agonists with varying potencies. DPI-125 exhibited a high respiratory safety profile, clearly related to its high δ-receptor potency. The ratio of the EC50 potencies for the µ- and δ-receptors was found to be positively correlated with the respiratory safety ratio. DPI-125 has similar potencies for µ- and κ-receptors, which is likely the reason for its reduced abuse potential. Our results demonstrate that the opioid receptor mixed agonist DPI-125 is safer and less addictive than traditional µ-agonist analgesics. These findings suggest that the development of δ>µâˆ¼κ opioid receptor mixed agonists is feasible, and such compounds could represent a promising class of potent analgesics with wider therapeutic windows.

Inhibition of c-FLIP by RNAi enhances sensitivity of the human osteogenic sarcoma cell line U2OS to TRAIL-induced apoptosis.

To study effects of cellular FLICE (FADD-like IL-1ß-converting enzyme)-inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) inhibition by RNA interference (RNAi) on sensitivity of U2OS cells to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis, plasmid pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was constructed and then transfected into U2OS cells. A stable transfection cell clone U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was screened from the c-FLIP-siRNA transfected cells. RT-PCR and Western blotting were applied to measure the expression of c-FLIP at the levels of mRNA and protein. The results indicated that the expression of c-FLIP was significantly suppressed by the c-FLIP-siRNA in the cloned U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA as compared with the control cells of U2OS/pSUPER. The cloned cell line of U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was further examined for TRAIL- induced cell death and apoptosis in the presence of a pan-antagonist of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) AT406, with or without 4 hrs pretreatment with rocaglamide, an inhibitor of c-FLIP biosynthesis, for 24 hrs. Cell death effects and apoptosis were measured by the methods of MTT assay with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)- 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and flow cytometry, respectively. The results indicated that TRAIL-induced cell death in U2OS/pSUPER-c-FLIP-siRNA was increased compared with control cells U2OS/pSUPER in the presence or absence of AT406. Flow cytometry indicated that TRAIL-induced cell death effects proceeded through cell apoptosis pathway. However, in the presence of rocaglamide, cell death or apoptotic effects of TRAIL were similar and profound in both cell lines, suggesting that the mechanism of action for both c-FLIP-siRNA and rocaglamide was identical. We conclude that the inhibition of c-FLIP by either c-FLIP-siRNA or rocaglamide can enhance the sensitivity of U2OS to TRAIL-induced apopotosis, suggesting that inhibition of c-FLIP is a good target for anti-cancer therapy.

[Establishment of high-yield suspension cell line of Curcuma zedoaria (Berg.) Rosc and study on the volatile oil synthesis-controlling with precursors].

The condition for high-yield suspension cell line and the precursors of volatile oil synthesis of Curcuma zedoaria (Berg.) Rosc were studied. The results showed that the light yellow particle callus was suitable for establishment of the high-yield suspension cell line. The optimum conditions for cell growth were MS medium added 15-30 g/L glucose and 15-30 g/L sucrose (1:1) as carbon source, the total concentration of 80 mmol/L nitrogen source combined NH4+ with NO3- (1:3), hormones of 3.0-5.0 mg/L 6-BA, 1.0 mg/L 2,4-D and dark culture after 10-15 days light culture. The 229 g/L cell (FW) and 2.11% content of volatile oil were obtained in vitro. The addition of precursors of calcium pantothenate, ammonium acetate and potassium acetate during the middle period of the cell suspension culture enhanced the volatile oil content respectively, and ammonium acetate was most effective among them. The highest yield of volatile oil obtained was 3.11% and 8.27 g/L respectively , which was 1.25 and 1.2 times of the control group.

[Study on transformation of snowdrop lectin gene to chrysanthemum and aphid resistance of the transgenic plants].

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in chrysanthemum was studied to prevent the insect pest of aphid (Mizus persicae). The gna gene was successfully transferred into chrysanthemum by leaf dish, and 93 transgenic clones were obtained. The highest transformation frequency 11.21% was achieved on the optimization facts, which were medium YEB with pH5.6, bacterial concentration OD600 = 0.4, precultivation for one day, cocultivation for four days, the cocultivation media supplemented with GA3 0.5 mg/L and leaf explants growed for 45 days. The results from PCR and FQ-PCR analysis confirmed that gna gene was integrated into the genome of chrysanthemum plants. The insect bioassay with aphid showed that the aphid resistance of different transgenic plants was difference, and the rate of aphid population inhibition of them were from 10% to 84% with an average rate of 39.4%. The leaf-extracts from different transgenic plants showed varying actinties in red-blood cell bioassay.

Transforming and secreting expression of human egf in mutant strain WYBS2001 of Bacillus and its functions.

Mutant strain WYBS2001 of B. subtilis with strong anti-pathogenic activity was obtained by mutagenic ultraviolet rays. The gene fragment of Human Epidermal Growth Factor(hegf) of 175 bp was synthesized by PCR and the restriction sites Pst I and Hind III, original code and the signal sequence CTTAGA of secreting vector pUS186 were induced in the fragment. The DNA sequencing result revealed that the synthesized fragment was identical with that of human egf. Then the biological engineering strain WYBS2001T with human egf was obtained by transforming pUSE which was constructed by cloning egf into the secreting plasmid pUS186, into mutant strain WYBS2001. The result of RIA showed that hEGF can be found in the supernatant of the cultures and its content was 7.6 ng/ml. And the content can be increased if the proteinase inhibitor was added into the medium. After several generations' culturing, WYBS2001T positive engineering strain can still secrete and express hEGF steadily. The result of experiment showed hEGF had biological activity of proliferation and growth of human cell K562 in vitro. WYBS2001T engineering strain had obvious effect on healing the burned animals' models. This research showed microecological gene-engineering bacteria has good applying foreground.

[Relationship between antibacterial activity of aloe and its anthaquinone compounds].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the antibacterial activity of aloe and its contents of anthaquinone compounds, measure and compale antibacterial activities of aloin and aloe-emodin, and analyse the effect of glycoside on the antibacterial activity of aloin. METHOD: The antibacterial activities of the extracts from the outer leaf of Aloe saponaria Haw, aloin and aloe-emodin against three Gram-negative and two Gram-positive bacteria were investigated with the method of agar diffusion. The antibacterial effect of aloin on E. coli was further studied with scanning electron microscopy. RESULT: The antibacterial activities of aloe showed to be dependent on the dose of anthraquinone, aloin (1 g x L(-1)) exhibited higher antibacterial activity [inhibition diameter > (7. 1 +/- 0.15) mm] than Aloe-emodin (inhibition diameter < 5.0 mm), and aloin changed the morphology of E. coli and damaged the outer cell structrue. CONCLUSION: Anthraquinone compounds are the active antibacterial components in aloe and aloin is the main active compound. The glycoside makes it easy for aloin to invade cells and enhances its activity.