Maternal obesity induces placental dysfunction and intestinal microbial dysbiosis. However, the associations between intestinal microbiota and placental dysfunction are still unclear. In the present ...study, a gilt model was used to investigate the role of maternal obesity on placental oxidative stress, mitochondrial function, and fecal microbiota composition, meanwhile identifying microbiota markers associated with placental oxidative stress. Twenty gilts were divided into two groups based on their backfat thickness on parturition day: namely Con group (average backfat thickness = 33 mm), and Obese group (average backfat thickness = 39 mm). The results showed that Obese group was lower than Con group in the birth weight of piglets. Compared with the Con group, the Obesity group exhibited an increased oxidative damage and inflammatory response in placenta, as evidenced by the increased concentrations of placental reactive oxygen species (ROS), protein carboxyl, and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Obesity group was lower than Con group in the concentrations of placental adenosine triphosphate, citrate synthase, and complex I activity. In addition, lower propionate level and Bacteroidetes abundance in feces were seen in the Obese Group. Furthermore, the concentrations of placental ROS, protein carboxyl, and IL-6 were positively correlated with the abundance of
Christensenellaceae_
R-7_group and negatively correlated with that of
norank_f_Bacteroidales
_S24-7_group. In conclusion, these findings suggest that maternal obesity might impair oxidative and inflammatory response in placenta through modulating intestinal microbiota composition.
Based on the new curriculum reform and big data technology, this paper uses the radial function and RBF neural network algorithm in the multidimensional data analysis method to obtain the center, ...variance and output layer power of the neurons of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics. Construct the teaching evaluation model of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics according to the RBF neural network algorithm and screen 25 secondary indicators from the three aspects of teachers, students, and course content, thus forming the teaching evaluation index system of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics. Determine the evaluators and evaluation methods, according to the specific implementation of the evaluation. The evaluation model of “Teaching Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics” based on the RBF neural network is tested for reliability and validity. The results show that the evaluation values of 25 indicators in the indicator system of the RBF-based evaluation model for the teaching of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics are all out of the range of 8.010-9.0, and |
| = 16.392≥2.241, |
| = 10.052≥2.241 in the examination scores of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics from the second semester of the academic year 2018/2019 to the second semester of the academic year 2020/2021, i.e., the examination scores of the course for the five semesters as a whole do not obey a normal distribution. This study enables students to better master the theoretical knowledge of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics, which is of great significance to the educational reform and practical exploration of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics in colleges and universities.
It is deemed that meat quality of kids' is better than that of adults' for Hainan black goat. Generally, meat quality is affected by many indicators, such as intramuscular fat (IMF) content, muscle ...fiber diameter and shear force. It is indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play essential roles in meat quality of goats. However, it is unclear whether and how lncRNAs and genes play their roles in meat quality of Hainan Black goats. Here, we firstly compared the meat quality between two-month-old kids (kids) and adult goats (adults). Then, the lncRNA-seq and RNA-seq data were integrated and analyzed to explore the potential functions of lncRNAs and genes. The results showed that adults' IMF content and muscle fiber diameter were extremely significantly higher than that of kids (P<0.01). For the sequenced data, average 84,970,398, and 83,691,250 clean reads were obtained respectively for Kids and adults, among which ~96% were mapped to the reference genome of goats. Through analyzing, 18,242 goat annotated genes, 1,429 goat annotated lncRNAs and 2,967 novel lncRNAs were obtained. Analysis of differential expression genes (DEGs) and lncRNAs (DELs) showed that 328 DEGs and 98 DELs existed between kids and adults. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis revealed that a number of DEGs and DELs were mainly associated with IMF. Primarily, DGAT2 expressed higher in adults than that in kids and CPT1A expressed higher in kids than that in adults. Both of them were overlapped by DEGs and targets of DELs, suggesting the two DEGs and the DELs targeted by the two DEGs might be the potential regulators of goat IMF deposition. Taken together, our results provide basic support for further understanding the function and mechanism of lncRNAs and genes in meat quality of Hainan black goats.
The blood vessels of the placenta are crucial for fetal growth. Here, lower vessel density and ornithine (Orn) content were observed in placentae for low-birth-weight fetuses versus ...normal-birth-weight fetuses at day 75 of gestation. Furthermore, the Orn content in placentae decreased from day 75 to 110 of gestation. To investigate the role of Orn in placental angiogenesis, 48 gilts (Bama pig) were allocated into four groups. The gilts in the control group were fed a basal diet (CON group), while those in the experimental groups were fed a basal diet supplemented with 0.05% Orn (0.05% Orn group), 0.10% Orn (0.10% Orn group), and 0.15% Orn (0.15% Orn group), respectively. The results showed that 0.15% Orn and 0.10% Orn groups exhibited increased birth weight of piglets compared with the CON group. Moreover, the 0.15% Orn group was higher than the CON group in the blood vessel densities of placenta. Mechanistically, Orn facilitated placental angiogenesis by regulating vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A). Furthermore, maternal supplementation with 0.15% Orn during gestation increased the jejunal and ileal villi height and the concentrations of colonic propionate and butyrate in suckling piglets. Collectively, these results showed that maternal supplementation with Orn promotes placental angiogenesis and improves intestinal development of suckling piglets.
In the present study, the feasibility of sugarcane top (ST) application in the goat’s diet was evaluated. A total of 20 goats were randomly divided into four groups. The dietary treatments were set ...as follows: animals were fed with king grass (KG), KG with exogenous enzymes (KGE), ST, and ST with exogenous enzymes (STE). The animals were given free access to feed and water. After 15 days of adaptation and 60 days of the experiment, the growth performance, plasma parameters, and rumen microbiota of goats were assessed. The results showed that the KG, ST, and exogenous enzyme supplement had no significant effects on the growth performance and plasma parameters. The diet affected the rumen microbiota diversity and structure, and the alpha and beta diversity in the animals fed with ST were dramatically greater compared with the animals fed with KG. The abundances of
Proteobacteria
,
Cyanobacteria
, and
Elusimicrobia
were significantly decreased in the animals fed with KG or KGE, while the abundances of
Firmicutes
and
Euryarchaeota
were significantly higher in the animals fed with KG or KGE. Furthermore, the microbial communities were also different at the genus level. Moreover, the exogenous enzymes had a slight effect on rumen microbiota. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis showed that the greatest differences were found in bacterial taxa, and these specific taxa could be used as biomarkers to distinguish rumen microbiota. Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) functional profile prediction indicated that the dietary treatments of ST and KG could also alter the gene expression pattern in nutrient and energy metabolism, as well as replication and repair of genetic information pathways. Collectively, the dietary treatments of KG and ST in the absence or presence of exogenous enzymes had similar effects on the growth performance and plasma parameters of goats. Besides, the KG and ST diets could affect the rumen microbiota community and function of goats. Therefore, ST could be used as a promising alternative feed resource for ruminants without the addition of exogenous enzymes in tropical regions.
A growth trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of L-methionine (L-Met) or 2-hydroxy-4-(methylthio) butanoic acid (HMTBa) as dietary methionine source on growth, whole-body composition, and ...ascorbic acid concentrations in serum and liver of turbot (Psetta maxima). Five levels (0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2 and 1.5% dry matter) of L-Met or HMTBa were added to a practical basal diet, which was limiting in methionine (0.59%) and cystine (0.42%). The basal control diet and 10 experimental diets were fed to groups (n=5) of juvenile turbot (initial weight: 5.6g), which were reared in a flow-through seawater system. Fish were fed twice daily to satiation for 75days. Fish fed the basal diet displayed significantly (P<0.05) lower specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), feed intake (FI), protein efficiency ratio (PER), productive protein value (PPV), whole-body protein and lipid contents, but higher whole-body moisture and ash contents compared to those fed with L-Met or HMTBa supplemented diets. Ascorbic acid concentrations in serum increased significantly with dietary L-Met or HMTBa levels (P<0.05), but not in liver (P>0.05). On the basis of SGR or FI, the dietary total methionine requirement of juvenile turbot was estimated to be 1.58 and 1.59% (3.31 and 3.27% of dietary protein) based on L-Met or 1.56% and 1.49% (3.25% and 3.19% of dietary protein) based on HMTBa, respectively, using second-order polynomial regression analysis. Furthermore, fish fed HMTBa, in addition, showed higher PER and ascorbic acid concentrations in serum than those fed L-Met. In conclusion, turbot can use HMTBa as effectively as or better than L-Met to achieve a higher maximum performance.
•Effects of Met and HMTBa on growth and antioxidative response of turbot were studied.•Based on the SGR, dietary Met requirement of turbot was 1.58%.•Based on the SGR, dietary HMTBa requirement of turbot was 1.56%.•Turbot can use HMTBa as effectively as or better than Met.
Intestinal vessels play a critical role in nutrient absorption, whereas the effect and mechanism of low birth weight (LBW) on its formation remain unclear. Here, twenty newborn piglets were assigned ...to the control (CON) group (1162 ± 98 g) and LBW group (724 ± 31 g) according to their birth weight. Results showed that the villus height and the activity of maltase in the jejunum were lower in the LBW group than in the CON group. LBW group exhibited a higher oxidative stress level and impaired mitochondrial function in the jejunum and was lower than the CON group in the intestinal vascular density. To investigate the role of oxidative stress in intestinal angiogenesis, H2O2 was employed to induce oxidative stress in porcine intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2). The results showed that the conditioned media from IPEC-J2 with H2O2 treatment decreased the angiogenesis of porcine vascular endothelial cells (PVEC). Transcriptome analysis revealed that a higher expression level of dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2) was found in the intestine of LBW piglets. Knockdown of DUOX2 in IPEC-J2 increased the proliferation and decreased the oxidative stress level. In addition, conditioned media from IPEC-J2 with DUOX2-knockdown was demonstrated to promote the angiogenesis of PVEC. Mechanistically, the knockdown of DUOX2 decreased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, thus increasing the angiogenesis in a matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) dependent manner. Conclusively, our results indicated that DUOX2-induced oxidative stress inhibited intestinal angiogenesis through MMP3 in a LBW piglet model.
Antibiotic resistance of pathogens, which is caused by the abuse of in-feed antibiotics, threatens the sustainable development of livestock production. The present study aimed to investigate the ...efficiency of porcine intestinal antimicrobial peptide (PIAP) as an alternative to in-feed antibiotics in terms of growth performance, intestinal morphology, digestive enzymes and immunity, and microbiota community of the post-weaning piglets. A total of 204 piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, weaned at 28 d age) with a similar body weight of 7.97 ± 1.04 kg were randomly allocated to 4 groups (51 piglets per group): (1) control group: basal diet; (2) AB group: antibiotic, basal diet + chlortetracycline (1000 mg/kg from d 1 to 24; 500 mg/kg from d 25 to 37); (3) P1 group: basal diet + a relatively low dose of PIAP (400 mg/kg from d 1 to 24; 300 mg/kg from d 25 to 37); (4) P2 group, basal diet + a relatively high dose of PIAP (600 mg/kg from d 1 to 24; 500 mg/kg from d 25 to 37). The results showed that serum indicators of hepatocyte damage and relative organ weight were not affected by these treatments (P > 0.05). Compared with the AB treatment, the P1 treatment remarkably decreased jejunal crypt depth and increased jejunal and ileal villus height:crypt depth ratio (P < 0.05). The values of jejunal maltase, lactase, sucrase, intestinal alkaline phosphatase, and secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in the P1 group were sharply increased compared with those in the control and P2 groups (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the P1 group decreased serum concentrations of D-lactate, diamine oxidase, and endotoxin (P < 0.05), and increased the abundance of Lactobacillus reuteri (P < 0.05) in the colonic feces. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the abundance of L. reuteri and the concentrations of maltase, lactase, sucrase, and SIgA (P < 0.05). Collectively, dietary supplementation with a relatively low dose of PIAP (400 mg/kg from d 1 to 24; 300 mg/kg from d 25 to 37) demonstrates beneficial effects on intestinal morphology, digestive enzymes, immunity, and permeability by shaping the gut microbiota composition in weaned piglets. This study will provide a valuable reference for using PIAP as an in-feed antibiotic alternative in swine production.
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Exogenous supplementation of guanidinoacetic acid can mechanistically regulate the energy distribution in muscle cells. This study aimed to investigate the effects of guanidinoacetic acid ...supplementation on liver and breast muscle fat deposition, lipid levels, and lipid metabolism-related gene expression in ducks. We randomly divided 480 42 days-old female Jiaji ducks into four groups with six replicates and 20 ducks for each replicate. The control group was fed the basal diet, and the experimental groups were fed the basal diet with 400, 600, and 800 mg/kg (GA400, GA600, and GA800) guanidinoacetic acid, respectively. Compared with the control group, (1) the total cholesterol (
= 0.0262), triglycerides (
= 0.0357), malondialdehyde (
= 0.0452) contents were lower in GA400, GA600 and GA800 in the liver; (2) the total cholesterol (
= 0.0365), triglycerides (
= 0.0459), and malondialdehyde (
= 0.0326) contents in breast muscle were decreased in GA400, GA600 and GA800; (3) the high density lipoprotein (
= 0.0356) and apolipoprotein-A1 (
= 0.0125) contents were increased in GA600 in the liver; (4) the apolipoprotein-A1 contents (
= 0.0489) in breast muscle were higher in GA600 and GA800; (5) the lipoprotein lipase contents (
= 0.0325) in the liver were higher in GA600 and GA800; (6) the malate dehydrogenase contents (
= 0.0269) in breast muscle were lower in GA400, GA600, and GA800; (7) the
(
= 0.0326),
(
= 0.0412), and
(
= 0.0235) relative expression were higher in GA400, GA600, and GA800 in the liver; (8) the
(
= 0.0269),
(
= 0.0234), and
(
= 0.0425) relative expression were increased in GA400, GA600, and GA800 in breast muscle. In this study, the optimum dosage of 600 mg/kg guanidinoacetic acid improved the liver and breast muscle fat deposition, lipid levels, and lipid metabolism-related gene expression in ducks.
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