[Comparison and analysis of lincRNAs expression profile in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis of anestrous and estrous primiparous sows].

The normal estrus in weaned primiparous sows has a great impact on pig production and abnormal estrus is the main reason for the elimination of primiparous sows. In this study, we studied the long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis of anestrous and estrous primiparous sows. These long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) were screened and compared through RNA-seq analysis. The expression profiles of lincRNAs were obtained and their characteristics and functions were preliminarily analyzed. There are 3519 novel lincRNAs identified in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis of anestrous and estrous primiparous sows. Compared with estrous primiparous sows, 17 differentially expressed lincRNAs were indentified, including 12 up-regulated lincRNAs and 5 down-regulated lincRNAs (FC≥2, P<0.05). The four lincRNA transcripts obtained through selection were verified by qRT-PCR, which are consistent with the RNA-seq results. The GO, KEGG pathway, and lincRNA-mRNA co-expression network analysis of these 17 lincRNAs revealed that these lincRNAs were mainly involved in reproductive activities, such as oocyte meiosis mature, ovarian cells differentiation and granulosa cells apoptosis. The results enriched the data resources of pig lincRNAs and provided useful information for further research about the reproductive performance of primiparous sows.

Grape Seed Procyanidin B2 Protects Porcine Ovarian Granulosa Cells against Oxidative Stress-Induced Apoptosis by Upregulating let-7a Expression.

Oxidative stress is a causal factor and key promoter of all kinds of reproductive disorders related to granulosa cell (GC) apoptosis that acts by dysregulating the expression of related genes. Various studies have suggested that grape seed procyanidin B2 (GSPB2) may protect GCs from oxidative injury, though the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Therefore, whether the beneficial effects of GSPB2 are associated with microRNAs, which have been suggested to play a critical role in GC apoptosis by regulating the expression of protein-coding genes, was investigated in this study. The results showed that GSPB2 treatment protected GCs from a H2O2-induced apoptosis, as detected by an MTT assay and TUNEL staining, and increased let-7a expression in GCs. Furthermore, let-7a overexpression markedly increased cell viability and inhibited H2O2-induced GC apoptosis. Furthermore, the overexpression of let-7a reduced the upregulation of Fas expression in H2O2-treated GCs at the mRNA and protein levels. Dual-luciferase reporter assay results indicated that let-7a directly targets the Fas 3'-UTR. Furthermore, the overexpression of let-7a enhanced the protective effects of GSPB2 against GC apoptosis induced by H2O2. These results indicate that GSPB2 inhibits H2O2-induced apoptosis of GCs, possibly through the upregulation of let-7a.

Effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on alleviating cytotoxicity of porcine jejunal epithelia cells induced by deoxynivalenol.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the mycotoxins most frequently encountering in cereal-based foods throughout the world. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used to alleviate porcine jejunal epithelia cell (IPEC-J2) injury induced by DON in this study. The results indicated that cell viability and proliferation rates were significantly decreased when DON concentrations were increased from 0 to 64 µM after 24 h incubation (p < 0.05). The longer incubation time and higher DON concentrations would cause more serious effects on cell viability. S. cerevisiae could significantly degrade DON and decrease lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) release in the cells induced by DON (p < 0.05). DON (4 µM) could increase necrotic and apoptotic cell rates as well as decrease viable cell rates, compared with the control group (p < 0.05). However, S. cerevisiae addition in the DON group could decrease necrotic, late apoptotic and early apoptotic cell rates by 38.05%, 46.37% and 44.78% respectively, increase viable cell rates by 2.35%, compared with the single DON group (p < 0.05). In addition, S. cerevisiae addition could up-regulate mRNA abundances of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 in IPEC-J2 cells (p < 0.05), but down-regulate mRNA abundances of tight junction proteins (TJP-1) and occludin by 36.13% and 50.18% at 1 µM of DON (p < 0.05). It could be concluded that S. cerevisiae was able to alleviate IPEC-J2 cell damage exposed to DON.