Design of a Novel Oxygen Therapeutic Using Polymeric Hydrogel Microcapsules Mimicking Red Blood Cells.

The goal of this research was to develop a novel oxygen therapeutic made from a pectin-based hydrogel microcapsule carrier mimicking red blood cells. The study focused on three main criteria for developing the oxygen therapeutic to mimic red blood cells: size (5-10 μm), morphology (biconcave shape), and functionality (encapsulation of oxygen carriers; e.g.

Novel tocotrienols of rice bran suppress cholesterogenesis in hereditary hypercholesterolemic swine.

A tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF(25)) and novel tocotrienols (d-P(21)-T3 and d-P(25)-T3) of rice bran significantly lowered serum and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in chickens. The present study evaluated the effects of novel tocotrienols on lipid metabolism in swine expressing hereditary hypercholesterolemia. Fifteen 4-mo-old genetically hypercholesterolemic swine were divided into five groups (n = 3).

Identification of a mutation in the low density lipoprotein receptor gene associated with recessive familial hypercholesterolemia in swine.

Elevated blood plasma cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) in humans. Genetic dissection of polygenic lipid and lipoprotein disorders in swine, a key animal model for the study of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and CAD, led to the isolation of a monogenic subphenotype (FH-r), that is inherited in the recessive (r) manner. A genome scan mapped the FH-r locus close to the centromere of chromosome 2.

Genes specifying receptors for F18 fimbriated Escherichia coli, causing oedema disease and postweaning diarrhoea in pigs, map to chromosome 6.

The study comprised 236 pigs selected for resistance or susceptibility to oedema disease. The susceptibility to colonization of the small intestine by an Escherichia coli strain causing oedema disease was determined: (1) by monitoring faecal excretion of weaned pigs orally inoculated with E. coli strain O139:K12(B):H1:F18ab serotype; and (2) by an in vitro adhesion assay using an F18ab positive E.

Effects of simvastatin on plasma lipids and apolipoproteins in familial hypercholesterolemic swine.

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FHC) in swine, which resembles human familial combined hyperlipidemia, is a complex lipid and lipoprotein disorder associated with the development of severe coronary lesions similar to those occurring in advanced human coronary disease. The disorder is characterized by elevated plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoproteins (apo) B, C-III, and E, and by decreased levels of HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), apoA-I, and lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity. A dose-response study with simvastatin, a specific inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, was conducted in four treatment groups of FHC animals, exhibiting TC > or = 250 mg/dL.