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Four-hundred metric-ton chalazae are produced annually from the liquid-egg processing and always cause a heavy burden due to handling cost in Taiwan. After chalazae were hydrolyzed by protease A, the amounts of hydrophobic, aromatic, and branched-chain amino acids, as well as anserine were dramatically increased. This study was to understand the antifibrogenic effects of protease A-digested crude chalaza hydrolysates (CCH-As) on livers of thioacetamide (TAA) treated rats. CCH-As improved (P< 0.05) growth performance, serum liver damage indices, histopathological liver inflammation, and liver collagen deposition in TAA-treated rats. The antifibrogenic effects of CCH-As were due to decreased (P < 0.05) inflammatory/fibrogenic cytokine contents, α-smooth-muscle-actin (α-SMA) protein expression, and matrix metallopeptidase (MMP)-2 and -9 activities, as well as increased (P < 0.05) the antioxidant capacity in livers. CCH-As also increased (P < 0.05) cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved poly ADP-ribose polymerase protein levels in livers of TAA-treated rats which accelerating cell renewal. Thus, this study does not only reveal a novel nutraceutical ingredient, CCH-As, against liver fibrogenesis, but also offer an alternative way to expand the utilization of poultry byproducts.

The cardiovascular and liver protection of carnitine (CNT) in a high-fat diet was investigated. Male C57BL/6 mice were divided randomly into four groups: 1) CON: Control, 2) HFD: high-fat diet, 3) CNTL: HFD + 500 mg CNT/kg BW, and 4) CNTH: HFD + 1500 mg CNT/kg BW. After a 25-week experimental period, CNT supplementation reduced (p

Eight male hamsters per group were assigned randomly to one of the following diets: chow diet (Control); high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFCD); HFCD supplemented with 1% Tau (HFCD/1% Tau); HFCD supplemented with 2% Tau (HFCD/2% Tau). Tau supplementation improved (P 0.05) changed by Tau supplementation, faecal cholesterol and bile acid outputs were increased (P

A cDNA microarray-assisted experiment was conducted to survey genes that respond early to heat shock in enriched immature porcine germ cells; the 5′-UTR flanking the highest upregulated gene, heat shock 105/110 kDa protein 1 ( Hsph1 or Hsp105 ), in response to heat shock was also investigated. We established a porcine testis cDNA microarray with 9944 transcripts from two libraries constructed from the testes of mature boars, with or without heat shock. After a mild heat shock treatment (39 °C for 1 h and recovered at 34 °C for 2 h), 380 transcripts demonstrated significant gene expression in enriched immature germ cells; 326 were upregulated and 54 were downregulated. Ten transcripts of interest exhibiting significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) scores higher than the median were subjected to quantitative real-time PCR; three ( Hsp105 , Hspa4l and Thap4 ) were upregulated >1.5-fold. The sequence of the 5′-UTR of Hsp105 , the highest upregulated transcript, was cloned and analyzed. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was found at position −762 (C or T) upstream of the translational start site (ATG codon). Only two genotypes (CC or TC) were found in the mature boars that were studied ( n = 31). A heterozygous genotype (TC) at this SNP site revealed an elevated percentage of morphologically normal sperm during hot and cold seasons; this SNP may be a useful marker for semen quality in boars. Furthermore, the cell-model established from enriched primitive germ cells has potential for the study of reproduction in mature animals.

The purpose of this study was to characterize differentially expressed transcripts associated with varying rates of egg production in Taiwan country chickens. Ovarian follicles were isolated from two strains of chicken which showed low (B) or high (L2) rates of egg production, then processed for RNA extraction and cDNA library construction. Three thousand and eight forty clones were randomly selected from the cDNA library and amplified by PCR, then used in microarray analysis. Differentially expressed transcripts (P0.05, log(2)or = 1.75) were sequenced, and aligned using GenBank. This analysis revealed 20 non-redundant sequences which corresponded to known transcripts. Eight transcripts were expressed at a higher level in ovarian tissue prepared from chicken strain B, and 12 transcripts were expressed at a higher level in L2 birds. These differential patterns of expression were confirmed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. We show that transcripts of cyclin B2 (cycB2), ferritin heavy polypeptide 1 (FTH1), Gag-Pol polyprotein, thymosin beta4 (TB4) and elongation factor 1 alpha1 (EEF1A1) were enriched in B strain ovarian follicles. In contrast, thioredoxin (TXN), acetyl-CoA dehydrogenase long chain (ACADL), inhibitor of growth family member 4 (ING4) and annexin II (ANXA2) were expressed in at higher levels in the L2 strain. We suggest that our approach may lead to the isolation of effective molecular markers that can be used in selection programs in Taiwan country chickens.

We have constructed a tissue-specific in-house cDNA microarray to identify differentially expressed transcripts in shell glands from low (B) and high (L2) egg production strains of Taiwanese country chickens during their egg-laying period. The shell gland cDNA library was constructed from the high egg production strain. cDNA clones (7680) were randomly selected and their 5′-end sequences characterized. After excluding overlapping sequences, an in-house cDNA microarray, representing 2743 non-redundant transcripts, was generated for functional genomic studies. Using our microarray, we have successfully identified 85 differentially expressed transcripts from the two different strains of chicken shell glands. In this study, 34 of these transcripts were associated with signal transduction, protein biosynthesis, cell adhesion, cellular metabolism, skeletal development, cell organization and biogenesis. We selected a number of the differentially expressed transcripts for further validation using semi-quantitative RT-PCR. These included elongation factor 2 (EEF2), ovocalyxin-32 (OCX-32) and annexin A2 (ANXA2) which were expressed at high levels in the chicken shell glands of the B strain and, in contrast, the coactosin-like protein (COTL1), transcription factor SOX18 and MX protein were more highly expressed in the L2 strain. Our results suggest that these differentially expressed transcripts may be suitable to use as molecular markers for high rates of egg production, and now need to be investigated further to assess whether they can be applied for use in breeding selection programs in Taiwanese country chickens.

That most Columbidae birds have no conspicuous sexual dimorphism often makes it difficult to identify their sex on the basis of external morphology. In the present study, we report a novel sex-specific DNA marker in Columbidae birds. DNA was extracted from one member of this bird group, Streptopelia orientalis (S. orientalis, oriental turtle dove), and used to identify a female-specific DNA marker using a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting. One hundred and sixty random primers were used for the RAPD-PCR reactions. When using the OPAV17 primer, a novel 902 bp sex-specific PCR product was amplified from known female birds. This fragment of DNA was cloned and sequenced. Two primers, TurSexOPAV17-F and TurSexOPAV17-R, were designed from the cloned sex-specific sequence, and were successfully used to amplify a 777 bp female-specific fragment using PCR from S. orientalis DNA. This sex-specific marker was also amplified from genomic DNA samples of two other female Columbidae, S. chinensis and Columba livia. Sequence analysis showed that this novel sex-specific marker was highly conserved amongst these three bird species. In contrast, the PCR product was not amplified from male DNA of these species, nor from either sex of the S. chinensis formosa birds. Therefore, we concluded that our novel marker can be used to rapidly and accurately identify the sex of birds from three species of Columbidae.