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Aim: The present study was performed to assess the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) gene with birth weight (BW), final weight (FW), and average daily gain (ADG) in three Egyptian sheep breeds. Materials and Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from the blood samples of 50 male and female individuals representing Ossimi, Rahmani, and Barki sheep breeds. A 407 bp nucleotide (nt) segment from the first intron of FABP4 was amplified by polymerase chain reaction, sequenced, and analyzed in the different samples. Results: Sequence analysis of the determined segment (407 bp) revealed four SNPs (all transition types) at nt position 372 (CP011894.1:g.57605471) A>G, nt position 211 (CP011894.1:g.57605632) A>G, nt position 143 (CP011894.1:g.57605700) T>C, and nt position 111 (CP011894.1:g.57605732) T>C. The allelic and genotypic frequencies for the identified SNPs in the sheep breeds were calculated. At nt positions 372 and 211, two alleles were identified (A and G). Only two genotypes were present at nt position 372 (AA and AG), while three genotypes were present at nt position 211 (AA, AG, and GG). Two alleles (T and C) and three identified genotypes (TT, TC, and CC) were detected at nt positions 143 and 111. Analysis of the results revealed that AA genotype at nt position 372 is associated with higher estimates for BW, FW, and ADG when compared to all the other genotypes. Very high correlation coefficients were found between the genotypes 143-TT and 111-TT and also between 143-TC and 111-TC. The genotypes 372-AG, 211-GG, 211-AA, 143-TT, 143-CC, 111-TT, 111-TC, and 111-CC were associated with negative effects on BW, FW, and ADG. Conclusion: The detection of four SNPs in a partial sequence of the Egyptian ovine FABP4 gene intron 1 reflected that this gene harbors substantial diversity. In addition, a novel SNP at nt position 372 (CP011894.1:g.57605471) A>G was associated with higher estimates for BW, FW, and ADG.

Background: Phytoestrogen is a plant derived compound which have estrogenic effect similar to estrogen. Aim of work: The present study was carried out to investigate some pharmacological and biochemical effects of anise oil on male albino rats. Materials and methods: twelve animals were divided randomly into two groups. Group A: Control. Group B: treated rats. The treated rats were given an oral dose of 1 ml/kg body weight/day anise oil once daily for one month. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. Results: The anise oil induced highly significant decrease (p<0.01) in TC, TG, LDL, VLDL, LDL/HDL. In addition, significant increase (p<0.05) in HDL and highly significantly decreased in FSH, LH, testosterone and sperm count compared to normal control group. Conclusion: This study showed that high levels of anise intake cause hormonal disturbance and decrease sperm count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel water-soluble curcumin derivatives have been developed to overcome low in vivo bioavailability of curcumin. The aim of this work is to assess the potential utility of certain downstream targets as bioavailability indicators of systemic activity of pure curcumin and two novel water-soluble curcumin derivatives (NCD) by constructing dose-dependent response curves and to prove whether this novel curcumin derivatives retained, improved, or abolished biological activity of pure curcumin when applied in vivo. Pure curcumin (CUR), curcumin-carboxy derivative (NCD-1), and curcumin protein conjugate (NCD-2) were administered orally to rats at escalating doses: 37, 74, 148, and 296 μM/kg body weight, respectively. Plasma levels of GST activity, cavernous tissue levels of cGMP, and enzymatic activity of both HO-1 and GST were assessed one and half and 24 hours after oral administration of curcumin formulae. This study showed that there was a progressive elevation of cavernous tissue levels of cGMP and enzymatic activity of both HO-1 and GST in a dose-dependent manner that was maintained for 24 h with CUR, NCD-1, and NCD-2. Plasma GST activity was decreased by the lowest doses on the curve. The three dose-dependent bioavailability indicators as surrogates of curcumin and two of its novel derivatives are valid in the studied range of concentration and extended time. The novel curcumin derivatives still conserve with improvement the biological activity of natural curcumin when applied in vivo. © 2013 BioFactors, 40(1):132-137, 2014 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work was performed to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with natural clay, coumarin, curcumin, vitamin C, probiotics and prebiotics on alleviating the harmful impacts resulting from aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) toxicity in Nile tilapia. One hundred and sixty tilapia fish with average weight 7.360 ± 0.048 were distributed into 8 groups. The first group fed the basal diet (T 1 ), the second group fed T 1 diet contaminated with 2 ppm AFB 1 (T 2 ) and the other groups fed the T 2 diet plus 20 g bentonite/kg diet (T 3 ), 5 g coumarin/kg diet (T 4 ), 5 g curcumin/kg diet (T 5 ), 100 mg vitamin C/kg diet (T 6 ), 1 g Bactocell®/kg diet (T 7 ) or 3 g Bio-Mos®/kg diet (T 8 ) for 14 weeks. Fish fed T 2 diet had reduced final body weight, weight gain and feed conversion by 19.85, 24.18 and 34.21%, respectively compared with fish fed T 1 diet. The T 6 group recorded the highest growth rate (25.20%) followed by T 5 (23.62%) and (T 3 ) compared with the T 2 group. Also, T 8 and T 3 groups recorded the best feed conversion ratio. Blood hemoglobin, total erythrocyte, total protein, albumin, and globulin concentrations decreased with aflatoxin contamination in T 2 group, while leukocytes enumerate increased. Supplemented aflatoxin contaminated diets with tested feed additives increased the concentration of hemoglobin, total erythrocyte, total protein, albumin, and globulin compared with the T 2 group, while the leukocytes decreased. Aflatoxin residues increased in fish fed T 2 diet compared to the other fish groups. Supplemented aflatoxin contaminated diets with tested feed additives decreased the level of aflatoxin residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]