scholarly journals Assessing Intestinal Health. In Vitro and Ex vivo Gut Barrier Models of Farm Animals: Benefits and Limitations

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Ghiselli ◽  
Barbara Rossi ◽  
Andrea Piva ◽  
Ester Grilli
Keyword(s):  
Ex Vivo ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Clear Definition ◽  
Gut Health ◽  
Intestinal Health ◽  
Animal Science ◽  
Production Animals ◽  
Definition Of

Animal performance is determined by the functionality and health of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Complex mechanisms and interactions are involved in the regulation of GIT functionality and health. The understanding of these relationships could be crucial for developing strategies to improve animal production yields. The concept of “gut health" is not well defined, but this concept has begun to play a very important role in the field of animal science. However, a clear definition of GIT health and the means by which to measure it are lacking. In vitro and ex vivo models can facilitate these studies, creating well-controlled and repeatable conditions to understand how to improve animal gut health. Over the years, several models have been developed and used to study the beneficial or pathogenic relationships between the GIT and the external environment. This review aims to describe the most commonly used animals' in vitro or ex vivo models and techniques that are useful for better understanding the intestinal health of production animals, elucidating their benefits and limitations.

scholarly journals Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Cellular Heterogeneity of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Zhang ◽  
Xueshuai Han ◽  
Jingkun Liu ◽  
Lei Chen ◽  
Ying Lei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Mesenchymal Stem Cells ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Cellular Heterogeneity ◽  
Multipotent Progenitor Cells ◽  
Definition Of

Ex vivo-expanded mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been demonstrated to be a heterogeneous mixture of cells exhibiting varying proliferative, multipotential, and immunomodulatory capacities. However, the exact characteristics of MSCs remain largely unknown. By single-cell RNA sequencing of 61,296 MSCs derived from bone marrow and Wharton's jelly, we revealed five distinct subpopulations. The developmental trajectory of these five MSC subpopulations were mapped, revealing a differentiation path from stem-like active proliferative cells (APCs) to multipotent progenitor cells, followed by the branching into two paths - adipogenesis or osteochondrogenesis - and subsequent differentiation into unipotent prechondrocytes. The stem-like APCs, expressing the perivascular mesodermal progenitor markers CSPG4/MCAM/NES, uniquely exhibited strong proliferation and stemness signatures. Remarkably, the prechondrocyte subpopulation specifically expressed immunomodulatory genes and was able to suppress activated CD3+ T cell proliferation in vitro, supporting the role of this population in immunoregulation. In summary, our analysis mapped the heterogeneous subpopulations of MSCs and identified two subpopulations with potential functions in self-renewal and immunoregulation. Our findings advance the definition of MSCs by identifying the specific functions of its heterogeneous cellular composition, allowing for more specific and effective MSC application through the purification of its functional subpopulations.

scholarly journals Butyric and Citric Acids and Their Salts in Poultry Nutrition: Effects on Gut Health and Intestinal Microbiota

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (19) ◽  
pp. 10392
Author(s):  
Mebratu Melaku ◽  
Ruqing Zhong ◽  
Hui Han ◽  
Fan Wan ◽  
Bao Yi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Organic Acids ◽  
Growth Performance ◽  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
Intestinal Inflammation ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Gut Health ◽  
Intestinal Health ◽  
Poultry Products ◽  
Poultry Nutrition

Intestinal dysfunction of farm animals, such as intestinal inflammation and altered gut microbiota, is the critical problem affecting animal welfare, performance and farm profitability. China has prohibited the use of antibiotics to improve feed efficiency and growth performance for farm animals, including poultry, in 2020. With the advantages of maintaining gut homeostasis, enhancing digestion, and absorption and modulating gut microbiota, organic acids are regarded as promising antibiotic alternatives. Butyric and citric acids as presentative organic acids positively impact growth performance, welfare, and intestinal health of livestock mainly by reducing pathogenic bacteria and maintaining the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) pH. This review summarizes the discovery of butyric acid (BA), citric acid (CA) and their salt forms, molecular structure and properties, metabolism, biological functions and their applications in poultry nutrition. The research findings about BA, CA and their salts on rats, pigs and humans are also briefly reviewed. Therefore, this review will fill the knowledge gaps of the scientific community and may be of great interest for poultry nutritionists, researchers and feed manufacturers about these two weak organic acids and their effects on intestinal health and gut microbiota community, with the hope of providing safe, healthy and nutrient-rich poultry products to consumers.

scholarly journals Beneficial Effects of Organosulfur Compounds from Allium cepa on Gut Health: A Systematic Review

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1680
Author(s):  
Enrique Guillamón ◽  
Pedro Andreo-Martínez ◽  
Nuria Mut-Salud ◽  
Juristo Fonollá ◽  
Alberto Baños
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Allium Cepa ◽  
Dietary Intervention ◽  
Biological Properties ◽  
Organosulfur Compounds ◽  
Gut Health ◽  
Intestinal Health ◽  
Beneficial Effects

Dietary changes affect the composition and structure of gut microbiota (GM) in animals and humans. One of the beneficial effects of consuming products derived from plants is the positive influence on immunity and gastrointestinal health. Species belonging to the genus Allium contain many organosulfur compounds (OSCs) that have been widely studied showing their biological properties and beneficial effects on intestinal health and GM. This is the first systematic review of OSCs from Allium performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and it is based on the evidence that we found in literature about the benefits on the GM and intestinal health demonstrated by OSCs from Allium, and specifically from onion. OSCs from Allium cepa have shown a significant antibacterial activity against a broad spectrum of antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, the intake of OSCs from onion was able to modulate the composition of GM, increasing the beneficial bacterial populations in animal models. Moreover, the beneficial effects observed in murine models of colitis suggest that these compounds could be suitable candidates for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or reverse the dysbiosis caused by a high-fat diet (HFD). Despite the evidence found both in vitro and in vivo, we have not found any article that tested OSCs different from allicin in clinical trials or dietary intervention studies in humans. In this sense, it would be interesting to conduct new research that tests the benefits of these compounds in human GM.

From the globular to the fibrous state: protein structure and structural conversion in amyloid formation

1998 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARGARET SUNDE ◽  
COLIN C. F. BLAKE
Keyword(s):  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Amyloid Formation ◽  
Post Mortem ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Structural Conversion ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Experimental Systems ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Definition Of

The term ‘amyloid’ was used originally to describe certain deposits found post- mortem in organs and tissues, which gave a positive reaction when stained with iodine (Virchow, 1854). Only later was it realized that the material was in fact predominantly proteinaceous, although it is known to be associated with carbohydrates, particularly glucosoaminoglycans, when obtained from many ex vivo sources. With the increasing precision in the definition of amyloid, initially from its characteristic green birefringence when stained with the dye Congo Red (Missmahl & Hartwig, 1953), and later from its particular appearance under the electron microscope (Cohen & Calkins, 1959) and its X-ray diffraction pattern (Eanes & Glenner, 1968), it has become evident that it is a specific fibrillar protein state, which can also be formed by some proteins when denatured in vitro (Burke & Rougvie, 1972), and by synthetic oligopeptides (Bradbury et al. 1960) that may form amyloid spontaneously when placed in pure aqueous medium (Serpell, 1996). Although these latter may form useful experimental systems for the study of amyloid, its major interest at present is that it is associated with a number of prominent lethal diseases (Benson & Wallace, 1989; Pepys, 1994).

scholarly journals Unbiased definition of a shared T-cell receptor motif enables population-based studies of tuberculosis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. S. DeWitt ◽  
K. K. Quan ◽  
D. Wilburn ◽  
A. Sherwood ◽  
M. Vignali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
T Cell ◽  
T Cell Receptor ◽  
Genetic Background ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Cell Receptor ◽  
Lipid Antigens ◽  
Host Genetic ◽  
Definition Of

ABSTRACTPeptide-specific T cells that are restricted by highly polymorphic major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins express diverse T-cell receptors (TCRs) that are rarely shared among unrelated individuals. T-cells can also recognize bacterial lipid antigens that bind the relatively non-polymorphic CD1 family of proteins. However, genetic variation in human CD1 genes and TCR diversity expressed by CD1-restricted T-cells have not been quantitatively determined. Here, we show that CD1B is nearly nucleotide-identical across all five continental ancestry groups, providing evidence for purifying selection during human evolution. We used CD1B tetramers loaded with a mycobacterial glycolipid antigen to isolate T-cells from four genetically unrelated South African adults and cataloged thousands of TCRs from in-vitro expanded T-cells using immunosequencing. We identified highly conserved motifs that were co-expressed as a functional heterodimer and significantly enriched among tetramer-positive T-cells sorted directly from peripheral blood. Finally, we show that frequencies of these TCR motifs are increased in the blood of patients with active tuberculosis compared to uninfected controls, a finding that is confirmed by ex-vivo frequencies of tetramer-positive T-cells determined by flow cytometry. These data provide a framework for unbiased definition of TCRs targeting lipid antigens, which can be tested for clinical associations independently of host genetic background.Brief SummaryWe used human genetics and immunosequencing to define a shared T-cell receptor motif that is specific for a mycobacterial lipid antigen and associated with tuberculosis independently of host genetic background.

scholarly journals Opportunities and challenges in applying genomics to the study of oogenesis and folliculogenesis in farm animals

Reproduction ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Bonnet ◽  
R Dalbiès-Tran ◽  
M A Sirard
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Translational Regulation ◽  
Data Exchange ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Early Embryo ◽  
Farm Animals ◽  
Single Experiment ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Biological Phenomena

Ovarian oogenesis and folliculogenesis are complex and coordinated biological processes which require a series of events that induce morphological and functional changes within the follicle, leading to cell differentiation and oocyte development. In this context, the challenge of the researchers is to describe the dynamics of gene expression in the different compartments and their interactions during the follicular programme. In recent years, high-throughput arrays have become a powerful tool with which to compare the whole population of transcripts in a single experiment. Here, we review the challenges of applying genomics to this model in farm animal species. The first limitation lies in limited the availability of biological material, which makes the study of the follicle compartments (oocyte, granulosa cells and thecal cells) or early embryo much more difficult. The concept of observing all transcripts at once is very attractive but despite progress in sequencing, the genome annotation remains very incomplete in non-model species. Particularly, oogenesis and early embryo development relate to the high proportion of unknown expressed sequence tags. Then, it is important to consider post-transcriptional and translational regulation to understand the role of these genes. Ultimately, these new inferred insights will still have to be validated by functional approaches. In addition toin vitroorex vivofunctional approaches, both ‘natural mutant’ ewe models and RNA interference represent, at the moment, the best hope for functional genomics. Advances in our understanding of reproductive physiology should be facilitated by gene expression data exchange and translation into a better understanding of the underlying biological phenomena.

Effects of the Tibetan herbal preparation PADMA 28 on blood lipids and lipid oxidisability in subjects with mild hypercholesterolaemia

VASA ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brunner-La Rocca ◽  
Schindler ◽  
Schlumpf ◽  
Saller ◽  
Suter
Keyword(s):  
Endothelial Dysfunction ◽  
Blood Lipids ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Hdl Cholesterol ◽  
Blood Lipid ◽  
Tibetan Medicine ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Intraarterial Infusion ◽  
Padma 28

Background: Previous studies showed an anti-atherosclerotic effect of PADMA 28, an herbal formula based on Tibetan medicine. As the mechanisms of action are not fully understood, we investigated whether PADMA 28 may lower blood lipids and lipid oxidisability, and affect early endothelial dysfunction. Patients and methods: Sixty otherwise healthy subjects with total cholesterol ≥5.2 mmol/l and < 8.0 mmol/l were randomly assigned to placebo or PADMA 28, 3 x 2 capsules daily, for 4 weeks (double-blind). Blood lipids (total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, Apo-lipoprotein A1 and B) and ex vivo lipid oxidisability were measured before and after treatment. In a subset of 24 subjects, endothelial function was assessed using venous occlusion plethysmography with intraarterial infusion of acetylcholine. Isolated LDL and plasma both untreated and pre-treated with PADMA 28 extract were oxidised by the radical generator AAPH. Conjugated diene formation was measured at 245 nm. Results: Blood lipids did not change during the study in both groups. In contrast to previous reports in mild hypercholesterolaemia, no endothelial dysfunction was seen and, consequently, was not influenced by therapy. Ex vivo blood lipid oxidisability was significantly reduced with PADMA 28 (area under curve: 5.29 ± 1.62 to 4.99 ± 1.46, p = 0.01), and remained unchanged in the placebo group (5.33 ± 1.88 to 5.18 ± 1.78, p > 0.1). This effect persisted one week after cessation of medication. In vitro experiments confirmed the prevention of lipid peroxidation in the presence of PADMA 28 extracts. Persistent protection was also seen for LDL isolated from PADMA 28-pretreated blood after being subjected to rigorous purification. Conclusions: This study suggests that the inhibition of blood lipid oxidisability by PADMA 28 may play a role in its anti-atherosclerotic effect.

The Role of Polyphenols in the Modulation of Plasma Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC)

2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Serafini ◽  
Giuseppa Morabito
Keyword(s):  
Antioxidant Capacity ◽  
Dietary Intervention ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dietary Polyphenols ◽  
Enzymatic Antioxidant ◽  
Endogenous Antioxidant

Dietary polyphenols have been shown to scavenge free radicals, modulating cellular redox transcription factors in different in vitro and ex vivo models. Dietary intervention studies have shown that consumption of plant foods modulates plasma Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Capacity (NEAC), a biomarker of the endogenous antioxidant network, in human subjects. However, the identification of the molecules responsible for this effect are yet to be obtained and evidences of an antioxidant in vivo action of polyphenols are conflicting. There is a clear discrepancy between polyphenols (PP) concentration in body fluids and the extent of increase of plasma NEAC. The low degree of absorption and the extensive metabolism of PP within the body have raised questions about their contribution to the endogenous antioxidant network. This work will discuss the role of polyphenols from galenic preparation, food extracts, and selected dietary sources as modulators of plasma NEAC in humans.

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