Improving maternal welfare during gestation has positive outcomes on neonatal survival and modulates offspring immune response in pigs.

Improving the housing of pregnant sows by giving them more space and access to deep straw had positive effects on their welfare, influenced their maternal behavior and improved the survival of their offspring. The present study aimed at determining whether these effects were actually due to environmental enrichment and whether the provision of straw pellets and wood can partly mimic the effects of straw bedding during gestation. Three graded levels of enrichment were used, that were, collective conventional pens on slatted floor (C, n = 26), the same pens with manipulable wood materials and distribution of straw pellets after the meals (CE, n = 30), and larger pens on deep straw litter (E, n = 27).

Housing Systems Influence Gut Microbiota Composition of Sows but Not of Their Piglets.

Different housing systems can be used in pig production and little is known about their effect on gut microbiota composition. In this study we characterized fecal microbiota by sequencing the rRNA genes in sows kept during gestation in conventional pens with a slatted floor and in enriched pens with a floor covered with deep straw. After farrowing, microbiota of 1- and 4-day-old piglets were also monitored.

Curcuma and Scutellaria plant extracts protect chickens against inflammation and Salmonella Enteritidis infection.

After a ban on the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in farm animals in the European Union in 2006, an interest in alternative products with antibacterial or anti-inflammatory properties has increased. In this study, we therefore tested the effects of extracts from Curcuma longa and Scutellaria baicalensis used as feed additives against cecal inflammation induced by heat stress or Salmonella Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) infection in chickens.

Heat stress causes oxidative stress but not inflammatory signaling in porcine skeletal muscle.

Heat stress is associated with death and other maladaptions including muscle dysfunction and impaired growth across species. Despite this common observation, the molecular effects leading to these pathologic changes remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which heat stress disrupted redox balance and initiated an inflammatory response in oxidative and glycolytic skeletal muscle.

Rescue of dystrophic skeletal muscle by PGC-1α involves restored expression of dystrophin-associated protein complex components and satellite cell signaling.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is typically diagnosed in the preschool years because of locomotor defects, indicative of muscle damage. Thus, effective therapies must be able to rescue muscle from further decline. We have established that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (Pgc-1α) gene transfer will prevent many aspects of dystrophic pathology, likely through upregulation of utrophin and increased oxidative capacity; however, the extent to which it will rescue muscle with disease manifestations has not been determined.