Dietary supplementation of proteases on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood characteristics and gut microbiota of growing pigs fed sorghum-based diets.

Low-tannin sorghum is an excellent energy source in pig diets. However, sorghum contains several anti-nutritional factors that may have negative effects on nutrient digestibility. The impacts of proteases on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood parameters, and gut microbiota of growing pigs fed sorghum-based diets were studied in this study. Ninety-six pigs (20.66 ± 0.65 kg BW) were allocated into three groups (eight pens/group, four pigs/pen): (1) CON (control diet, sorghum-based diet included 66.98% sorghum), (2) PRO1 (CON + 200 mg/kg proteases), (3) PRO2 (CON + 400 mg/kg proteases) for 28 d. No differences were observed in growth performance and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients between CON and PRO1 groups. Pigs fed PRO2 diet had increased (P < 0.05) BW on d 21 and 28, and increased (P < 0.05) average daily gain during d 14-21 and the overall period compared with pigs fed CON diet. In addition, pigs fed PRO2 diet had improved (P < 0.05) ATTD of gross energy, CP, and DM compared with pigs fed CON and PRO1 diets. Pigs fed PRO2 diet had lower (P < 0.05) plasma globulin (GLB) level and higher (P < 0.05) plasma glucose, albumin (ALB) and immunoglobulin G levels, and ALB/GLB ratio than pigs fed CON and PRO1 diets. Furthermore, pigs fed PRO2 diet had decreased (P < 0.05) the relative abundance of Acidobacteriota at the phylum level and increased (P < 0.05) the relative abundance of Prevotella_9 at the genus level. The linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis also showed that pigs fed PRO2 diet had significantly enriched short-chain fatty acid-producing bacteria, such as Subdoligranulum and Parabacteroides. In conclusion, protease supplementation at 400 mg/kg improved the growth performance of growing pigs fed sorghum-based diets, which may be attributed to the improvement of nutrient digestibility, host metabolism, immune status and associated with the altered gut microbiota profiles.

Effects of dietary methionine supplementation from different sources on growth performance and meat quality of barrows and gilts.

Methionine is indispensable for growth and meat formation in pigs. However, it is still unclear that increasing dietary sulphur-containing amino acid (SAA) levels using different methionine sources affects the growth performance and meat quality of barrows and gilts. To investigate this, 144 pigs (half barrows and half gilts) were fed the control (100% SAA, CON), DL-Methionine (125% SAA, DL-Met)-supplemented, or OH-Methionine (125% SAA, OH-Met)-supplemented diets during the 11-110 kg period. The results showed that plasma methionine levels varied among treatments during the experimental phase, with increased plasma methionine levels observed following increased SAA consumption during the 25-45 kg period. In contrast, pigs fed the DL-Met diet had lower plasma methionine levels than those fed the CON diet (95-110 kg). Additionally, gilts fed the DL-Met or OH-Met diets showed decreased drip loss in longissimus lumborum muscle (LM) compared to CON-fed gilts. OH-Met-fed gilts had higher pH45min values than those fed the CON or DL-Met diets, whereas OH-Met-fed barrows had higher L45min values than those fed the CON or DL-Met diets. Moreover, increased consumption of SAA, regardless of the methionine source, tended to decrease the shear force of the LM in pigs. In conclusion, this study indicates that increasing dietary levels of SAA (+25%) appeared to improve the meat quality of gilts by decreasing drip loss and increasing meat tenderness.

Compound bioengineering protein supplementation improves intestinal health and growth performance of broilers.

Currently, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are of growing interest as potential substitutes for antibiotic growth promoters in animal production. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of bioengineering artificial Parasin I protein (API) and artificial plectasin protein (APL) (named as compound bioengineering protein, CBP) on growth performance and intestinal health of broilers. A total of 450 one-day-old Arbor Acres male healthy broilers were randomly allotted to 5 dietary groups with 10 replicates of 9 individuals in each replicate and supplemented with 0, 250, 500, 750, and 1,000 mg/kg CBP for 6 wk. Dietary CBP supplementation increased (P < 0.01) body weight (6 wk), average daily gain (0-6 wk), and average daily feed intake (3-6 wk and 0-6 wk). CBP addition enhanced antioxidant capacity, which was accompanied by the higher (P < 0.05) activity of serum total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (750 mg/kg), jejunal glutathione peroxidase (750 mg/kg), and T-AOC (500 and 1,000 mg/kg). Dietary CBP addition improved intestinal health, reflecting by the increased (P < 0.05) villus height to crypt depth ratio in the duodenum, the upregulated (P < 0.01) mRNA levels of claudin-1 (500 and 750 mg/kg) in the ileum, the downregulated (P < 0.01) mRNA expression of occludin (500 mg/kg) in the duodenum and claudin-1 (500 mg/kg) and occludin (500 and 750 mg/kg) in the jejunum, and the upregulated mRNA expression of (P < 0.01) mucin2 (MUC2) (1,000 mg/kg) in the duodenum. In addition, CBP upregulated (P < 0.01) IL-10 (1,000 mg/kg) in duodenum and ileum, and downregulated (P < 0.05) the mRNA expression of IL-6 (750 and 1,000 mg/kg), interferon-γ (1,000 mg/kg) in the jejunum and TNF-α (250 mg/kg) in the ileum. Furthermore, dietary CBP increased (P < 0.01) the abundance of total bacteria and Lactobacillus (500 and 750 mg/kg), and reduced (P < 0.05) the abundance of Escherichia coli (750 mg/kg) in the cecum. In conclusion, CBP supplementation enhances the antioxidant capacity, intestinal health, immune function, and ameliorates the gut microflora population, thus improving the growth performance of broilers. Dietary supplementation of 750 mg/kg CBP exhibits a better beneficial effect.

[Review and perspective of clinical research involving chest tightness variant asthma in China].

Chest tightness variant asthma (CTVA) was first reported and named by Chinese scholars in 2013. It is a new clinical type of asthma characterized by chest tightness as the only or primary symptom, without typical asthma manifestations such as recurrent wheezing and shortness of breath, and without wheezing sounds heard during lung auscultation. The overall epidemiological data on CTVA is currently unavailable. Its pathogenesis is similar to that of typical asthma, involving eosinophilic airway inflammation. Due to the lack of typical clinical manifestations, insufficient knowledge of this disease in some clinicians and some other reasons, CTVA is susceptible to misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis. Currently, the diagnostic criteria for CTVA are: chest tightness as the only or primary symptom, without typical asthma symptoms and signs such as wheezing and shortness of breath, and with any one of the objective indicators of variable airflow limitation. Effective anti-asthma treatment is required, and other diseases that cause chest tightness, such as cardiovascular, digestive, nervous, muscular, and mental diseases should be excluded. CTVA treatment follows that of typical asthma, but the specific treatment duration is uncertain and may require long-term management. Traditional Chinese medicine has shown some therapeutic effects on CTVA. Most CTVA patients have a good prognosis after active anti-asthma treatment. This paper analyzes and summarizes the research of CTVA in China from 2013 and provides new perspectives for further exploration of CTVA.

The addition of protein-bound amino acids in low-protein diets improves the metabolic and immunological characteristics in fifteen- to thirty-five-kg pigs.

This study was to evaluate the effects of supplementation of AA form (crystalline vs. protein bound) in low-protein diets on growth, metabolic, and immunological characteristics of pigs. A total of 80 barrows (PIC 327 × 1050; 15.57 ± 0.13 kg BW and 48 ± 2 d of age), housed in 4 pigs per pen with 5 pens per treatment, were assigned to 4 dietary treatments of 17, 15, and 13% CP and 13% CP plus casein for 28 d. The crystalline AA were supplemented to meet the requirement of indispensable AA in pigs. Results showed that pigs fed the 13% CP diet or the 13% CP plus casein diet had lower ( < 0.01) ADG and ADFI and a greater ( < 0.01) feed:gain ratio than pigs fed the 17% CP or 15% CP diets over the 4-wk study period. Compared with other diets, pigs fed the 13% CP diet had decreased concentrations of plasma urea nitrogen, albumin ( < 0.01), and mRNA expressions of Toll-like receptor 4 (), nuclear factor kappa B (; < 0.05), and Toll-interacting protein (; < 0.01) in the ileum and also increased activity of plasma glutamate-pyruvate transaminase ( < 0.05) and concentrations of IL-1ß ( < 0.05) and tumor necrosis factor-α ( < 0.01); however, these characteristics were partly normalized by feeding the 13% CP plus casein diet. Furthermore, the plasma concentration of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1; < 0.01) and mRNA expressions of protein kinase B (), mammalian target of rapamycin (), and ribosomal protein S6 kinase () in longissimus muscle were increased ( < 0.05) in pigs fed the 13% CP plus casein diet relative to pigs fed the 17% CP or 15% CP diets. In summary, reducing dietary CP level from 17% to 15% had no effect on growth, metabolic, and immunological characteristics of 15- to 35-kg pigs. A further reduction of dietary CP level up to 13% would lead to poor growth performance, but metabolic and immunological characteristics were partly normalized using protein-bound AA to replace synthesized AA in the 13% CP diet.

Effects of Inulin Supplementation in Low- or High-Fat Diets on Reproductive Performance of Sows and Antioxidant Defence Capacity in Sows and Offspring.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of inulin supplementation in low- or high-fat diets on both the reproductive performance of sow and the antioxidant defence capacity in sows and offspring. Sixty Landrace × Yorkshire sows were randomly allocated to four treatments with low-fat diet (L), low-fat diet containing 1.5% inulin (LI), high-fat diet (H) and high-fat diet containing 1.5% inulin (HI). Inulin-rich diets lowered the within-litter birth weight coefficient of variation (CV, p = 0.05) of piglets, increased the proportion of piglets weighing 1.0-1.5 kg at farrowing (p < 0.01), reduced the loss of body weight (BW) and backfat thickness (BF) during lactation (p < 0.05) and decreased the duration of farrowing as well as improved sow constipation (p < 0.05). Sows fed fat-rich diets gained more BW during gestation (p < 0.01), farrowed a greater number of total (+1.65 pigs, p < 0.05) and alive (+1.52 pigs p < 0.05) piglets and had a heavier (+2.06 kg, p < 0.05) litter weight at birth as well as a decreased weaning-to-oestrous interval (WEI, p < 0.01) compared with sows fed low-fat diets. However, it is worth noting that the H diet significantly decreased the serum activities of superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and increased the serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in sows and piglets (p < 0.05). In contrast, HI diet enhanced the activities of T-SOD and GSH-Px and decreased the serum MDA concentrations (p < 0.05) in sows and piglets. In summary, the fat-rich diets fed to sows during gestation had beneficial effects on reproductive performance, but aggravated the oxidative stress in sow and piglets. Inulin-rich diets fed to sow during gestation had beneficial effects on within-litter uniformity of piglet birthweight and enhanced the antioxidant defence capacity of sows and piglets.

Effects of low-protein diets supplemented with indispensable amino acids on growth performance, intestinal morphology and immunological parameters in 13 to 35 kg pigs.

The objective of this study was to determine if a moderate or high reduction of dietary CP, supplemented with indispensable amino acids (IAA), would affect growth, intestinal morphology and immunological parameters of pigs. A total of 40 barrows (initial BW=13.50±0.50 kg, 45±2 day of age) were used in a completely randomized block design, and allocated to four dietary treatments containing CP levels at 20.00%, 17.16%, 15.30% and 13.90%, respectively. Industrial AA were added to meet the IAA requirements of pigs. After 4-week feeding, blood and tissue samples were obtained from pigs. The results showed that reducing dietary CP level decreased average daily gain, plasma urea nitrogen concentration and relative organ weights of liver and pancreas (P<0.01), and increased feed conversion ratio (P<0.01). Pigs fed the 13.90% CP diet had significantly lower growth performance than that of pigs fed higher CP at 20.00%, 17.16% or 15.30%. Moreover, reducing dietary CP level decreased villous height in duodenum (P<0.01) and crypt depth in duodenum, jejunum and ileum (P<0.01). The reduction in the dietary CP level increased plasma concentrations of methionine, alanine (P<0.01) and lysine (P<0.05), and decreased arginine (P<0.05). Intriguingly, reducing dietary CP level from 20.00% to 13.90% resulted in a significant decrease in plasma concentration of IgG (P<0.05), percentage of CD3+T cells of the peripheral blood (P<0.01), also down-regulated the mRNA abundance of innate immunity-related genes on toll-like receptor 4, myeloid differentiation factor 88 (P<0.01) and nuclear factor kappa B (P<0.05) in the ileum. These results indicate that reducing dietary CP level from 20.00% to 15.30%, supplemented with IAA, had no significant effect on growth performance and had a limited effect on immunological parameters. However, a further reduction of dietary CP level up to 13.90% would lead to poor growth performance and organ development, associated with the modifications of intestinal morphology and immune function.

Eosinophil differentiation in the bone marrow is promoted by protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2.

SHP2 participates in multiple signaling events by mediating T-cell development and function, and regulates cytokine-dependent granulopoiesis. To explore whether and how SHP2 can regulate bone-marrow eosinophil differentiation, we investigate the contribution of SHP2 in the bone-marrow eosinophil development in allergic mice. Blockade of SHP2 function by SHP2 inhibitor PHPS-1 or conditional shp2 knockdown by adenovirus-inhibited bone-marrow-derived eosinophil differentiation in vitro, with no detectable effects on the apoptosis of eosinophils. Furthermore, SHP2 induced eosinophil differentiation via regulation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway. Myeloid shp2 conditional knockout mice (LysM(cre)shp2(flox/flox)) failed to induce eosinophilia as well as airway hyper-responsiveness. The SHP2 inhibitor PHPS-1 also alleviated eosinophilic airway inflammation and airway hyper-responsiveness, accompanied by significantly reduced levels of systemic eosinophils and eosinophil lineage-committed progenitors in allergic mice. We demonstrate that inhibition of eosinophil development is SHP2-dependent and SHP2 is sufficient to promote eosinophil formation in vivo. Our data reveal SHP2 as a critical regulator of eosinophil differentiation, and inhibition of SHP2 specifically in myeloid cells alleviates allergic airway inflammation.

Effects of Dietary Supplementation of ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate on Sow Performance and mRNA Expression of Myogenic Markers in Skeletal Muscle of Neonatal Piglets.

The effects of dietary ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation during gestation on reproductive performance of sows and the mRNA expression of myogenic markers in skeletal muscle of neonatal pigs were determined. At day 35 of gestation, a total of 20 sows (Landrace × Yorkshire, at third parity) were randomly assigned to two groups, with each group receiving either a basal diet or the same diet supplemented with 4 g/day ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate calcium (HMB-Ca) until parturition. At parturition, the total and live litter size were not markedly different between treatments, however, the sows fed HMB diet had a decreased rate of stillborn piglets compared with the sows fed the control (CON) diets (p < 0.05). In addition, piglets from the sows fed HMB diet tended to have an increased birth weight (p = 0.08), and a reduced rate of low birth weight piglets (p = 0.05) compared with piglets from the CON sows. Nevertheless, lower feed intake during lactation was observed in the sows fed the HMB diet compared with those on the CON diet (p < 0.01). The relative weights of the longissimus dorsi (LD) and semitendinosus (ST) muscle were higher (p < 0.05) in neonatal pigs from the HMB than the CON sows. Furthermore, maternal HMB treatment increased the mRNA levels of the myogenic genes, including muscle regulatory factor-4 (MRF4, p < 0.05), myogenic differentiation factor (MyoD) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1, p < 0.01). In conclusion, dietary HMB supplementation to sows at 4 g/day from day 35 of gestation to term significantly improves pregnancy outcomes and increases the expression of myogenic genes in skeletal muscle of neonatal piglets, but reduces feed intake of sows during lactation.

Effect of dietary N-carbamylglutamate levels on reproductive performance of gilts.

The effect of dietary N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) supplementation during the entire gestation on reproductive performance of gilts was determined. At the initial day of gestation, forty-five cross-bred (Landrace × Large white) gilts were randomly assigned to five groups receiving a basal diet (control group) and basal diet supplemented with 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15% and 0.20% NCG until parturition, respectively. At parturition, total litter size, live litter size and rate of stillbirth were not markedly affected by NCG supplementation. However, gilts in 0.05% NCG-supplemented group had more pigs born alive than gilts in control group (+1.11 pigs, p = 0.12), and live litter weight was increased (+12.13-19.17%, p < 0.05) in 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.15% NCG-supplemented groups relative to control group. And also, average birthweight of piglets born alive was higher (+6.57%, p < 0.05) in 0.05% NCG-supplemented group than in control group. Furthermore, on days 30, 60, 90 and 110 of gestation, concentrations of arginine and ornithine in plasma were higher (p < 0.05) in 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.15% and 0.20% NCG-supplemented groups than in control group, respectively. In addition, the chorioallantois gene expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), placental growth factor (PLGF) and angiopoietin-2 (ANG-2) was all increased (p < 0.05) in 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.15% NCG-supplemented groups than in control group. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with 500 mg/kg NCG during the entire gestation significantly improves pregnancy outcomes in gilts, which may be associated with the improved concentrations of arginine in plasma and placental angiogenic factors gene expression of gilts.

Effect of threonine on immunity and reproductive performance of male mice infected with pseudorabies virus.

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary threonine (Thr) supplement on reproductive performance and immune function of the male mice challenged with pseudorabies virus (PRV). Kun-Ming male mice were assigned randomly to four groups with different Thr levels (0.70%, 0.88%, 1.10% and 1.30%). Half of the mice in each group were injected with PRV or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) after 5 weeks' adaptation to diets. The second experiment examined the effects of dietary Thr level on copulation rate, pregnancy rate and average number per litter of PRV- or PBS-challenged male mice that copulated with adult female mice on the 9th day post PRV challenge. Sperm quality and testosterone of mice were decreased after PRV infection, but this effect was attenuated by increasing Thr levels. Copulation and conception rates were increased with increasing Thr levels (P = 0.14), but litter size was not affected (P > 0.05). In the PBS and PRV groups, mice fed higher levels of Thr had increased immunoglobulin (Ig)G, IgA and IgM concentrations. The PRV-specific antibody level, interleukin (IL)-1ß and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α concentration in PRV groups enhanced with increasing Thr levels; however, there was no difference in PBS groups. Furthermore, higher toll-like receptor (TLR)2 and TLR9 expressions in testis were observed by PRV challenge compared with PBS groups, and higher Thr supplement attenuated PRV-challenged induced the upregulation effect of TLR2 and TLR9 mRNA expression in testis (P < 0.05). These data suggest that higher Thr consumption was recommended in order to counteract the deleterious effects of virus invasion, possibly through the downregulated expression of TLRs, and thus to improve immunity and reproduction performance of male mice challenged with PRV.