Detection of the EGFP sequence in breast muscle of 3-year-old chicken after transfection using sonoporation.

In our continuing effort to generate transgenic chickens, sonoporation was chosen to insert an exogenous gene into the chicken genome. An EGFP expression vector (pCAG-EGFPac) and microbubbles were injected into the central disc of stage-X blastoderm or the germinal crescent of stage-4 embryos, followed by ultrasonic vibration. Nineteen chicks out of 108 treated embryos hatched, six females and six males out of these 19 chicks grew to sexual maturity and two females and three males lived for 3 years. Genomic DNA from 17 out of 35 gonads from embryos and chicks that died before sexual maturity was EGFP-positive by PCR. No EGFP sequence was detected in the genomic DNA of 322 embryos from six sexually mature females and the semen from four sexually mature males by PCR. When genomic DNA was obtained from various tissues of five 3-year-old chickens, the EGFP sequence was amplified from the genomic DNA of the breast muscle of a female (No. 85). The above sequence was subjected to DNA sequencing and verified to be the EGFP sequence. These results showed that sonoporation is an effective tool for the transduction of exogenous genes into chicken embryos for the generation of transgenic chickens.

Amino acid mixture improves training efficiency in athletes.

This review discusses some of the beneficial effects of a dietary amino acid supplement on muscle function, fatigue, and recovery in exercising athletes. The supplement, a mixture of amino acids that included the branched-chain amino acids, arginine and glutamine, was studied chronically at several daily dose levels for extended periods of time (10, 30, and 90 d). Outcome variables included physical measures of muscle strength, fatigue and damage, and blood indices of muscle damage and oxygen-carrying capacity. One beneficial effect of the amino acid supplement was a quicker recovery from the muscle fatigue that followed eccentric exercise training. A dose-response study of the amino acid mixture at 2.2, 4.4, and 6.6 g/d for 1 mo showed that at the highest dose, indices of blood oxygen-carrying capacity were increased and those of muscle damage were decreased at the end of the trial. When the amino acid mixture was given for 90 d to elite rugby players during training at a dose of 7.2 g/d, a blood-component analysis indicated improvements in the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. Together, the studies suggest that the amino acid supplement contributed to an improvement in training efficiency through positive effects on muscle integrity and hematopoiesis.

Effect of a selected amino acid mixture on the recovery from muscle fatigue during and after eccentric contraction exercise training.

The effect of an amino acid mixture on the recovery from muscle fatigue after eccentric exercise (ECEX) training was examined in twenty-two male college students. The administration of 5.6 g of the amino acid mixture twice daily resulted faster recovery of muscle strength than that with a placebo. The oral administration of the amino acid mixture was proved to effective for muscle strength recovery after the eccentric exercise.