Molecular characterization and evidencing of the porcine CRH gene as a functional-positional candidate for growth and body composition.

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), a major regulator of neuroendocrine response to stress, is involved in the control of energy balance and thus may affect body composition and growth. The porcine CRH (pCRH) gene was studied as a comparative-positional candidate for QTL for longissimus muscle area, average backfat thickness, carcass length, and average daily gain on test on porcine chromosome 4. Sequence of the complete transcriptional unit of pCRH gene spanning 2068bp was determined along with 582bp of the 5'-flanking region.

Synthesis and absorption of intestinal microbial lysine in humans and non-ruminant animals and impact on human estimated average requirement of dietary lysine.

Purpose Of Review: While there are reports on the nature of synthesis and absorption of intestinal microbial lysine in humans and non-ruminant animals, there are few efforts to quantify microbial amino acid absorption in human subjects. We review the available information on the synthesis of microbial lysine and the quantification of its absorption and utilization by the human host and monogastric model animals. In addition, we explore the impact of microbial lysine on the current estimated average requirement of dietary lysine.

Influence of Fusarium-toxin contaminated feed on initial quality and meiotic competence of gilt oocytes.

Mycotoxins are contaminants of animal feed that can impair fertility and cause abnormal fetal development in farm animals. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of Fusarium-toxin contaminated feed on cumulus morphology and maturation of pig oocytes. Naturally with the Fusarium-toxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZON) contaminated wheat was included in feed for gilts at increasing proportions which resulted in increasing dietary concentrations of both toxins (in mgtoxin/kg feed: Group 1 (control), 0.

Experimental evidence for the influence of cumulus-oocyte-complexes on sperm release from the porcine oviductal sperm reservoir.

In the pig, a temporal relationship is suggested between sperm release from the sperm reservoir (SR) and ovulation, but the mechanism(s) is still under discussion. In two experiments, the influence of transferred ova on the release of SR-spermatozoa at ovulation and the effect of supplementation with non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan (HA) on embryo development and the number of accessory spermatozoa, respectively, were examined. PMSG/hCG primed ovectomized gilts that had previously received endoscopic low-dose insemination into the cranial uterine horn were used as an experimental model.

Intraduodenal infusion of alpha-ketoglutarate decreases whole body energy expenditure in growing pigs.

Background And Aims: alpha-Ketoglutarate (AKG) has been suggested to play a particular role as an oxidative fuel for the gut, and thus may have a sparing function for fuels such as glutamate and aspartate. Using the pig model we aimed to quantify how the route of administration (intravenous, i.v.

Effects of diets with cereal grains contaminated by graded levels of two Fusarium toxins on selected immunological and histological measurements in the spleen of gilts.

Feeding experiments with diets containing Fusarium toxin-contaminated wheat were conducted to clarify the pathogenesis of immunological effects of Fusarium toxins to porcine spleen cells. Contaminated diets were fed to 36 Landrace prepubertal gilts for 35 d. Concentrations (as-fed basis) of the indicator toxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZON), respectively, were 210 and 4 (control--group I), 3,070 and 88 (group II), 6,100 and 235 (group III), and 9,570 and 358 microg/kg (group IV).

Bovine NALP5, NALP8, and NALP9 genes: assignment to a QTL region and the expression in adult tissues, oocytes, and preimplantation embryos.

A 3204-bp full-length cDNA of bovine NALP9 was cloned and its genomic organization was analyzed. The 2988-bp open reading frame covers 9 exons and encodes a deduced protein of 996 amino acids containing Pyrin, Nacht and leucine-rich repeat domains like the human NALP gene family members. Mapping with the WGRH5000 panel and fluorescence in situ hybridization assigned NALP9 in close vicinity to BM2078 (LOD score 25.

Polar phospholipids from bovine endogenously oxidized low density lipoprotein interfere with follicular thecal function.

The role of endogenously oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in follicular steroidogenic regulation is unknown. Information may be important in order to elucidate ovulatory dysregulation in disordered lipid metabolism. To obtain specific data, we studied the effect of polar phospholipids (PL) isolated from oxLDL with different endogenous levels of lipohydroperoxides (LHP) on the thecal expression of mRNA encoding steroidogenic enzymes and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and on the thecal production of superoxide and progesterone.

Intraruminal infusion of n-butyric acid induces an increase of ruminal papillae size independent of IGF-1 system in castrated bulls.

The objective of this study was to explore morphological alterations of rumen papillae induced by n-butyric acid in relation to the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system in adult castrated bulls. Three animals fitted with rumen cannula were fed twice daily at a low and high nutritional level (LL and HL), i.e.

Preslaughter handling of pigs and the effect on heart rate, meat quality, including tenderness, and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) transport.

It is known that stress applied to pigs can be of influence on meat quality combined with disturbed regulation of the intracellular Ca(2+) concentration. However, the effect on meat tenderness is not sufficiently known. In an experiment with pigs two kinds of stress (immobilisation by a nose snare (nose) and the use of an electrical goad (goad)) for 5min just before slaughter were used and the results compared with minimum stress pigs (control).

Measurements of heat production for estimation of maintenance energy requirements of Hereford steers.

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that maintenance energy requirement (MEm) can be estimated from continuous heat production measurements during a change from a near maintenance feeding level to far below maintenance for two consecutive days. The MEm of eight Hereford steers weighing 286 +/- 5 kg (mean +/- SE) was determined in a balance trial. In addition, during the 10-d collection period, the animals were kept in open-circuit respiration chambers to measure 24-h gas exchange continuously at 10-min intervals.

NF-kappaB factors are essential, but not the switch, for pathogen-related induction of the bovine beta-defensin 5-encoding gene in mammary epithelial cells.

Expression of the bactericidal peptide beta-defensin 5 (BNBD5) is strongly induced by bacterial infections of the udder (mastitis). In situ hybridizations showed that bacteria elicit a strong, locally restricted expression of BNBD5 in mammary epithelial cells (MEC). We defined the BNBD5 promoter by primer extension and showed with reporter gene assays in murine HC-11 and primary bovine mammary epithelial cell (pbMEC) cultures that a 1kb segment of the promoter is induced about 3-fold by heat-killed bacteria, LPS, IL-1beta and TNFalpha.

Activation of Akt (protein kinase B) stimulates metaphase I to metaphase II transition in bovine oocytes.

In somatic cells, the serine/threonine kinase Akt (or protein kinase B) was shown to contribute to processes linked to cellular growth, cell survival and cell cycle regulation. In contrast to these findings, the function of Akt during the meiosis of mammalian oocytes remains to be investigated. We analysed the phosphorylation pattern and the activity of Akt during meiotic maturation (transition from prophase I to metaphase II) of bovine oocytes.

Developmental competence of HMC(TM) derived bovine cloned embryos obtained from somatic cell nuclear transfer of adult fibroblasts and granulosa cells.

To enable us to handle a large number of oocytes at a given time and to have an increased throughput of cloned embryos, we attempted the Handmade cloning (HMC) technique, a zona-free method of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer. Our objective was to study the developmental competence of the HMC derived embryos obtained using different types of somatic cells. A total of 6,874 cumulus-oocyte-complexes were used with either 7th or 11th passage fibroblasts (1st and 2nd groups, respectively), which were prepared from male animals, or granulosa cells (3rd group) as nuclei donors.

Longterm effects of pre- and postnatal exposure to low and high dietary protein levels. Evidence from epidemiological studies and controlled animal experiments.

The purpose of this short review is to summarize the available evidence from observational studies and rodent models for an association between maternal protein intake, birth weight, pre- and post-weaning body mass gain and adult body fatness in the offspring.

In vitro and in vivo effects of deoxynivalenol (DNV) on regulators of cap dependent translation control in porcine endometrium.

Deoxynivalenol (DNV) is the most frequently encountered trichothecene in grain-based foods, and is able to produce toxic effects resulting in various diseases in farm and laboratory animals. The molecular mechanisms that control this mycotoxin mediated effects in porcine endometrial cells are far from being completely understood. Recent results show that DNV inhibits protein synthesis in actively proliferating tissues.

Identification of functional candidate genes for body composition by expression analyses and evidencing impact by association analysis and mapping.

This study aims to identify hepatic genes affecting traits related to muscularity and obesity by combining expression analyses, association studies, and gene mapping. Functional candidate genes with trait-associated expression were obtained by hybridising custom made application-specific cDNA microarrays with targets of discordant sib pairs of a porcine experimental population. Out of 238 genes addressed, nine genes were regulated by the factor>or=2 between the sib pairs.

Effects of the compact mutant myostatin allele Mstn (Cmpt-dl1Abc) introgressed into a high growth mouse line on skeletal muscle cellularity.

The murine myostatin mutation Mstn(Cmpt-dl1Abc) (Compact; C) was introduced into an inbred mouse line with extreme growth (DUHi) by marker-assisted introgression. To study the allelic effects on muscle fibre hyperplasia and hypertrophy, myonuclear proliferation, protein accretion, capillary density, and muscle fibre metabolism, samples from M. rectus femoris (RF) and M.

Endocrine, morphological, and cytological effects of a depot GnRH agonist in bovine.

The present study was conducted to assess effects of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) triptorelin in dairy heifers. The peptide was released from a commercial 4-week depot formulation (Decapeptyl Depot) administered at animals' estrus (day 0). First experiment (EXP I, n=5), which was aimed to explore the availability of peptide, detected a maximum of triptorelin concentration between day 2 and 5 after depot injection, and the peptide remained detectable by RIA in peripheral blood for about 3 weeks.

Regulation of endometrial fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF-7) and its receptor FGFR2IIIb in gilts after sex steroid replacements, and during the estrous cycle and early gestation.

The aim of this study was to characterize the effect of ovarian steroids and early gestation on the expression of fibroblast growth factor 7 (FGF-7) and its receptor (FGFR2IIIb) in the porcine endometrium. In Experiment 1, gilts were ovariectomized (OVX) on day 10 of the estrous cycle and treated thereafter with vehicle (VEH), progesterone (P4), estradiol benzoate (EB), or P4+EB. Days 12 and 20 cyclic gilts (C12 and C20) were used to determine the influence of physiologically low and high plasma estradiol and progesterone concentrations on their expression.

Influence of ovarian steroid hormones or platelet-activating factor on mRNA of platelet-activating factor receptor in endometrial explant perfusion cultures from ovariectomized bovine.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) and its receptors are involved in inflammatory-like processes of the uterus associated with increased vascular permeability. PAF is supposed to be influenced by ovarian steroid hormones. The present study was undertaken to examine whether progesterone (P(4)), estradiol (E(2)) or PAF influence the PAF receptor gene expression in perfused endometrial explants derived from ovariectomized bovine.