ABSTRACT
Adding lysolecithin to feed has reportedly improved the performance of broiler chickens. Lysolecithin is generated by phospholipase catalyzed hydrolysis of lecithin. The enzymatic reaction converts various phospholipids into the corresponding lysophospholipids, with lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) one of the primary products. Here we compared supplementation with a commercial lysolecithin (Lysoforte®) with comparable levels of highly purified LPC for effects on broilers. Despite no differences in weight gain during the starter period, we discovered a significant increase in average villus length with lysolecithin and an increase in villus width with purified LPC. High-throughput gene expression microarray analyses revealed many more genes were regulated in the epithelium of the jejunum by lysolecithin compared to purified LPC. The most up-regulated genes and pathways were for collagen, extracellular matrix, and integrins. Staining sections of the jejunum with Picrosirius Red confirmed the increased deposition of collagen fibrils in the villi of broilers fed lysolecithin, but not purified LPC. Thus, lysolecithin elicits gene expression in the intestinal epithelium, leading to enhanced collagen deposition and villus length. Purified LPC alone as a supplement does not mimic these responses. Feed supplementation with lysolecithin triggers changes in the intestinal epithelium with the potential to improve overall gut health and performance.
Subject(s)
Avian Proteins/genetics , Chickens/physiology , Collagen/genetics , Jejunum/drug effects , Lysophosphatidylcholines/metabolism , Animal Feed/analysis , Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena/drug effects , Animals , Avian Proteins/metabolism , Chickens/genetics , Collagen/metabolism , Diet/veterinary , Dietary Supplements/analysis , Intestinal Mucosa/drug effects , Intestinal Mucosa/physiology , Jejunum/physiology , Lysophosphatidylcholines/administration & dosage , MaleABSTRACT
Changes of lipase and lipoxygenase specific activities were monitored during wheat and barley germination. Statistically significant correlation (r2 = 0.8148, P < or = 0.02) was found between the specific activities of lipase and lipoxygenase during wheat germination, whereas such correlation did not occur during barley germination.
Subject(s)
Hordeum/enzymology , Lipase/analysis , Lipoxygenase/analysis , Plant Proteins/analysis , Triticum/enzymology , Germination/physiologyABSTRACT
Let S be a set of n objects. A binary tree of S is a binary tree whose leaves are labeled without repetition from S. The operation of pruning a tree T is that of removing some leaves from T and suppressing all inner vertices of degree 2 which are formed by this deletion. Given two trees T and U, an agreement tree is a tree that can be obtained from T as well as from U by pruning the fewest number of leaves from the two trees. A quadratic algorithm is presented for doing this and two metrics are defined based on agreement trees.
