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The protein content of infant formula is above what is naturally found in human breast milk. High consumption of dietary proteins and insulinogenic amino acids (IAA) in early life are believed to increase the risk of metabolic diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of IAA restriction at two different doses on glucose tolerance and growth of suckling piglets as a model for human infants. Thirtytwo seven-day-old Yorkshire barrows were assigned to three milk-based diets for three weeks: 1) control (CON): 0% IAA restriction (i.e., Leu, Ile, Val, Thr, Phe, Arg and Ala); 2) 50R: 50% IAA restriction; and 3) 75R: 75% IAA restriction. All experimental diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric. At week 2, following an over-night fast, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in all pigs via oral gavage of a 50% dextrose solution dissolved in sterile saline (1 g of glucose/kg body weight). Blood glucose (BG) concentration was recorded using a hand-held glucometer prior to and at 30-, 60-, 90-, and 120-minutes (min) post glucose administration. Growth parameters were recorded for three weeks. The data were analyzed via Univariate GLM with Dunnett's post-hoc (SPSS®). Compared to CON, 75R decreased the 120-min BG and total BG under the curve by 22% and 17%, respectively, following OGTT (P = 0.03). No differences among groups were observed on body weight and heart girth (P > 0.05). Relative to CON, pigs in 75R had a lower wither height on weeks 2 and 3 and body length on week 3 (P < 0.05). Pigs in 50R and 75R groups had a reduced rectal temperature than those in CON on week 2 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, restriction of dietary IAA by 75% improved the glucose clearance with no effects on body weight in a piglet model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very low-protein (VLP) diets are beneficial for reducing the nitrogen excretion from swine production, but these diets depress the performance of pigs while supplemented with first four limiting amino acids (FFL; i.e. Lys, Met, Thr and Trp). The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of supplementation of Val and Ile above NRC (2012) levels on performance, thermal radiation and blood metabolites of pigs fed with VLP diets. Three-week-old weaned barrows (n = 40) were assigned to: positive control (PC): normal protein diet; negative control (NC): VLP diet containing FFL at NRC levels; HV: NC with Val above NRC; HI: NC with Ile above NRC; HVI: NC with both Val and Ile above NRC. After 5 weeks of data collection, blood samples were collected. Univariate GLM with Tukey post-hoc test was used to analyze the data (SPSS). Pigs fed with NC had a decreased average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) compared with PC (P< 0.05). HVI pigs had less ADG than PC, but greater ADG than NC (P< 0.05). ADFI of pigs fed with HVI was similar to PC and it was greater than NC (P< 0.05). HVI pigs had a higher thermal radiation than NC (P< 0.05). While HVI pigs had greater blood glucose than PC and NC at baseline (P< 0.05), no differences among these groups were observed on postprandial blood glucose concentration. HVI pigs had less blood triglycerides than PC. All groups increased the blood cholesterol compared with PC (P< 0.05). There were no differences in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) for NC vs. PC; however, pigs fed with HVI reduced the BUN compared with NC (P< 0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of Val and Ile greater than NRC into VLP diets partially restored the performance and fully recovered the ADFI, reduced the blood triglycerides and BUN, and improved the glucose tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cisplatin is a cytotoxic agent in cancer therapy. Nephrotoxicity is considered as a side effect of cisplatin usage. Using rate models, we studied the possible protective impact of corn-silk (CS) extract against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity., Materials and Methods: Thirty-five experimental rats were divided into five groups (n=7 per each group) as follow: C1: Control received distilled water only; C2: received one dose of cisplatin, and CS: received 300 mg/kg/day of CS. Both CS1 and CS2 received 200 and 300 mg/kg/day of the CS extract orally, individually, for eight consecutive days. CS1 and CS2 received a single dose of cisplatin on the first day only. The specific biochemical markers and histopathological alterations were evaluated., Result: According to our results, cisplatin administration could have induced severe degeneration in all parts of the nephron tubules and liver. Pre-treatment with CS exhibited a significant decrease in the malondialdehyde (MDA) levels as compared to the values obtained after treatment with cisplatin alone (P<0.01). Moreover, the CS extract with 200 mg dose showed significant (P<0.01) protection against the cisplatin-induced elevation of blood urea nitrogen. Further, the serum levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase were higher in the cisplatin-treated groups, when compared to the control group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the hepatic function was also improved in cisplatin-treated animals, which were pre-treated with CS., Conclusion: CS has the potential to attenuate nephrotoxicity and lipid peroxidation induced by cisplatin in rats., Competing Interests: All authors declare there is no any conflict of interest in presenting the current work., (Copyright© 2018, Galen Medical Journal.)