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A diet supplemented with cholic acid (CA), the primary 12α-hydroxylated bile acid, can induce hepatic lipid accumulation in rats without obesity. This study examined the effects of a CA-supplemented diet on blood pressure (BP). After acclimation, WKAH/HkmSlc rats (3 weeks old) were divided into two groups and fed with a control AIN-93-based diet or a CA-supplemented diet (0.5 g CA/kg) for 13 weeks. The CA diet increased systolic and diastolic BP as well as hepatic lipid concentrations in the rats. No changes were found in the blood sodium concentration. Urinary albumin concentration increased in CA-fed rats. An increase was observed in the hepatic expression of ATP-binding cassette subfamily B member 1B that correlated BPs and urinary albumin concentration accompanied by an increase in portal taurocholic acid concentration. These results suggest that 12α-hydroxylated bile acids are involved in increased BP and albuminuria via alteration of hepatic function.

Male 5-week-old F344 rats were fed four types of experimental diet with different Ca and protein sources for 30 days, and the effect of feeding retort-treated herring bone on Ca absorption and bone metabolism were examined. The experimental diets were as follows: AIN-93G (casein-based standard breeding diet) containing 0.5% Ca from CaCO3 (C); modified AIN-93G containing 0.25% Ca from CaCO3 (L); retorted herring meat with bone containing 0.25% Ca from edible bones (PHB); and retorted deboned herring meat containing 0.06% and 0.19% Ca from retorted bones and CaCO3 (PH). There was no difference in weight increase among the groups during the feeding period. The Ca absorption rate (CAR) in the PHB and PH groups after 4 weeks was slightly lower than that of L, whereas CAR did not differ between PHB and PH. Furthermore, the involvement of absorbed calcium in bone metabolism, as assessed using the bone turnover markers, did not differ between the PHB, PH, and L groups. In conclusion, fish bones rendered edible after retort treatment are a good source of Ca, the nutritional value of which is similar to that of CaCO3, indicating that retort treatment is a suitable cooking method for using fish as a Ca source.

The role of carboxyl group in uronic acid in enhancing the anti-inflammatory activity of fish myofibrillar protein (Mf) was investigated, when lyophilized Mf was reacted with various reducing sugars at 60 °C and 35% relative humidity through the Maillard reaction. After pepsin and trypsin digestion, the anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by measuring the secretions of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, interleukin-1β, and nitric oxide in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage. The anti-inflammatory activity of Mf was not affected by glycation with glucose or galactose, whereas strongly enhanced by glycation with uronic acid-type reducing sugars: glucuronic acid, galacturonic acid, and alginate oligosaccharide. These results indicate that the presence of carboxyl group in reducing sugar is important for enhancing the anti-inflammatory activity of Mf. This study also shows that the enhanced effect could depend upon the number of carboxyl group in bound reducing sugar.

Chum salmon myofibrillar protein (Mf) digested by pepsin-trypsin (dMf) was conjugated to alginate oligosaccharide (AO) through the Maillard reaction between the lysine residues in the dMf and the reducing end-groups of AO. The dMf-AO conjugate strongly suppressed the production of inflammatory cytokines, particularly tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6, in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine macrophages. The anti-inflammatory effect was enhanced with increasing amounts of AO bound to dMf through the Maillard reaction, and the subsequent process of the Maillard reaction was involved in the enhancement of the anti-inflammatory activity. AO-conjugated peptides, the major anti-inflammatory components contained in the dMf-AO conjugate, were successfully recovered using isoelectric focusing without the use of carrier ampholytes (autofocusing); they were effectively concentrated in acidic peptide fractions, with the negative charge of the carboxyl groups of AO contributing to this separation. In conclusion, the combined use of AO conjugation and autofocusing is a useful method for producing novel anti-inflammatory peptides from fish Mf.

A separation process was established to sequentially fractionate and recover three anti-inflammatory components derived from sugars, phycobiliprotein, and chlorophyll from the hot-air-dried thalli of the red alga dulse (Palmaria palmata). The developed process consisted of three steps, without the use of organic solvents. In Step I, the sugars were separated by disrupting the cell wall of the dried thalli with a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme, and a sugar-rich extract (E1) was obtained by precipitating the other components, which were simultaneously eluted by acid precipitation. In Step II, the residue suspension from Step I was digested with thermolysin to obtain phycobiliprotein-derived peptides (PPs), and a PP-rich extract (E2) was obtained by separating the other extracts using acid precipitation. In Step III, solubilized chlorophyll was obtained by heating the residue, which was acid-precipitated, neutralized, and re-dissolved to concentrate the chlorophyll-related components (Chls)-rich extract (E3). These three extracts suppressed inflammatory-cytokine secretion by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages, confirming that the sequential procedure had no negative effects on the activities of any of the extracts. The E1, E2, and E3 were rich in sugars, PPs, and Chls, respectively, indicating that the anti-inflammatory components were effectively fractionated and recovered through the separation protocol.

A dietary symbiotic supplement of okara, a by-product of tofu manufacturing with Bacillus coagulans lilac-01 found to reduce secondary bile acid (BA) in a rat study and cholic acid (CA), a primary 12 alpha-hydroxylated (12 alpha OH) BA, induces lipid accumulation in rats. In this study, we investigated whether dietary supplementation of a synbiotic with okara and Bacillus coagulans lilac-01 improves CA-induced hepatic lipid accumulation. Male Wistar/ST rats (4 weeks old) were fed with or without CA-supplementation combined with the synbiotic for 2 weeks. The CA diet increased hepatic triglycerides and the synbiotic diet in combination with CA normalized liver triglyceride concentration accompanied by suppression of hepatic fatty acid synthase expression, enhancement of fecal triglyceride excretion, and increase in fecal non-12 alpha OH BA excretion. Dietary supplementation with the okara synbiotic ameliorated hepatic lipid accumulation probably by reducing de novo lipogenesis and enhancing fecal triglyceride excretion.

Water-soluble protein (WSP) from fish meat is abundant in the waste effluent generated via the surimi manufacturing process. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects and mechanisms of fish WSP using primary macrophages (MO) and animal ingestion. MO were treated with digested-WSP (d-WSP, 500 mu g/mL) with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. For the ingestion study, male ICR mice (5 weeks old) were fed 4% WSP for 14 days following LPS administration (4 mg/kg body weight). d-WSP decreased the expression of Tlr4, an LPS receptor. Additionally, d-WSP significantly suppressed the secretion of inflammatory cytokines, phagocytic ability, and Myd88 and Il1b expressions of LPS-stimulated macrophages. Furthermore, the ingestion of 4% WSP attenuated not only LPS-induced IL-10 secretion in the blood but also Myd88 and Il1b expressions in the liver. Thus, fish WSP decreases the expressions of the genes involved in the TLR4-MyD88 pathway in MO and the liver, thereby suppressing inflammation.

To evaluate wind load on offshore structures, such as FPSO’s, wind tunnel model test is a common industry practice. Configuration of topsides structures and equipment can be very complex, and it is a practical challenge to model all the structural details for wind tunnel model tests. Sometimes, there may be significant modifications to the topsides over FPSO operation life cycle and there may not be detailed topsides drawing for wind tunnel to use in physical model construction. In practice, wind tunnel laboratories have to simplify physical topsides models. They also use metal meshes to cover the topsides modules to compensate for the force reduction due to the simplification. In order to help establish physical modeling practices of wind tunnel model test, we performed extensive tests using a single topsides module. The original topsides module without simplification and mesh was tested first. Then, two simplifications were adopted in the physical model construction. The module was covered with and without metal mesh of different porosities. Thorough test quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) were performed to ensure data quality. Test setup, quality assurance (QA) and results are presented in the paper. The results can be used not only for appropriate physical modeling practices of complex topsides modules, but also for validation of numerical predictions such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), as well as empirical formulas.

We previously reported that dietary supplementation with cholic acid (CA), the primary 12α-hydroxylated (12αOH) bile acid (BA), reduces plasma adiponectin concentration in rats. The aim of this study was to examine the distribution of adiponectin in the body of CA-fed rats and its influence on mucosal immunoglobulin A concentration in the intestine. Rats were fed a diet supplemented with or without CA (0.5 g CA/kg diet) for 13 weeks. A reduction in plasma adiponectin level was observed from week 3. At the end of the experiment, the CA diet reduced plasma adiponectin concentration both in the portal and aortic plasma. Accumulation of adiponectin was accompanied by an increase in cadherin-13 mRNA expression in the ileal mucosa of CA-fed rats. No increase was observed in adiponectin mRNA expression in the ileal and adipose tissues of the CA-fed rats. Immunoglobulin A concentration in the ileal mucosa was elevated in the CA-fed rats and was correlated with the ileal adiponectin concentration. 12αOH BAs may modulate mucosal immune response that are involved in the accumulation of adiponectin in the ileum.