Project description:Early weaning commonly results in gastrointestinal disorders, inflammation and diarrhea in infants and young animals. Resveratrol, a plant phenol, affords protection against inflammation and cancer.A porcine model was used to investigate the effects of maternal resveratrol supplementation on diarrhea, intestinal inflammation and intestinal morphology in offspring during weaning. The intestinal gene expression was measureed by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis. Results that weaning-associated intestinal inflammation and diarrhea in pig offspring were alleviated and intestinal morphology was improved by maternal resveratrol supplementation. In weaning piglets (21-day-old), RNA-seq showed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched for T cell receptor, primary immunodeficiency, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Ras signaling pathway. In post-weaning piglets (28-day-old), RNA-seq showed that DEGs were enriched in the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathway and pathways related to metabolism. This study provided insight into molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of maternal dietary resveratrol.
Project description:Background and study aims
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commoncancers among humans worldwide. Recent studies demonstrated that the composition of the bacterial community in the human gut, as well as inflammation occurring in the gut, are some of the factors that modify the risk of an individual to develop CRC. The human gut is home to more than 1000 bacterial species, including health-promoting species and disease-causing species.
The consumption of rice bran, a by-product of rice milling, was previously shown to positively modify bacterial composition in the gut among healthy adults. The protective effect of a long-term rice bran consumption against CRC among individuals known to have higher risk of CRC, such as older individuals who are regular smokers and having a family history of CRC, needs to be established.
This study aims to investigate whether the implementation of a 24-week dietary programme involving rice bran consumption among adults at high risk of CRC is feasible, and whether it has any effect in inducing a health-promoting modification of the bacterial community, as well as a reduction of inflammation, in the gut of these individuals.
Who can participate?
Chinese adults of either gender, who are aged 50 or above and are categorised to be in the high risk CRC group by the Asian-Pacific Colorectal Screening tool, in which classification is based on age, smoking status and family history of CRC.
What does the study involve?
After the recruited subjects were screened for eligibility of study participation and written informed consent had been obtained from them, they were randomly assigned into either Group A or Group B. Participants in Group A were given packets of rice bran and were asked to consume 30 grams of the rice bran at 24-hour intervals for 24 weeks. Participants in Group B were given packets of rice powder that has similar appearance and colour as the rice bran, and were asked to consume 30 grams of the rice powder, also at 24-hour intervals for 24 weeks. All participants were asked to provide a stool sample and blood sample at various time points during the study, namely just before rice bran consumption, as well as 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks after the start of rice bran consumption. Laboratory tests were conducted on these samples. All participants were also instructed to complete a log book, detailing the date and time of rice bran or rice powder intake each day, and the amount consumed. The participants also completed a faecal diary where they documented the frequency of egestion, and the shape and amount of stool egested each day, as well as the occurrence of any abdominal discomfort or pain.
Project description:The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of dietary Spirulina and lysozyme supplementation over the muscle proteome of piglets during the post-weaning stage. Thirty piglets were randomly distributed among three diets: control (no microalga), SP (10% Spirulina) and SP+L (10% Spirulina + 0.01% lysozyme). They were fed ad libitum for 4 weeks, after which they were sacrificed and samples of the longissimus lumborum muscle were taken. The muscle proteome was analysed using a Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based quantitative approach.
Project description:The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of cooked navy bean powder or rice bran consumption on the stool microbiome and metabolome of colorectal cancer survivors and healthy adults.
Project description:Zinc deficiency during pregnancy and postnatal life can adversely affect the health and predispose to an increased risk of developing human diseases at adulthood. The present study was designed to evaluate whether dietary zinc deficiency or supplementation during the pregnancy, lactation and juvenile stages interferes with the development of mammary tumors induced by 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) in female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Pregnant females SD were allocated into three groups: dams received diets containing adequate (35 mg/Kg chow), deficient (3 mg/Kg chow) or supplemented (180 mg/Kg chow) zinc levels during gestational day 10 (GD 10) until the litters weaning. Female offspring were allocated into three groups and received the same diets as their dams until postnatal day (PND) 51. At PND 51, females SD (n=16 each group) received a single dose of DMBA (50 mg/kg, ig) for initiation of mammary carcinogenesis, adequate zinc diets and were euthanized at PND 180. Tumors samples were collected and processed for histological evaluation and microarray analysis. Dietary zinc deficiency induced a significant reduction in female offspring body weight evolution at parturition, weaning and pubertal phases. At late in life, the early in life dietary zinc deficiency or supplementation did not alter the latency, incidence, multiplicity and volume or histological types of mammary tumors in relation to the adequate zinc group, and changed the expression of a small amount of genes. The present findings indicate that early-in life dietary zinc deficiency or supplementation did not significantly modify the susceptibility to development of mammary tumors induced by DMBA.
Project description:Rice grains are rich in starch but are deficient in proteins containing essential amino acids such as lysine and threonine. Therefore, efforts have been made to improve the nutritional value of rice by overexpressing the genes involved in lysine biosynthesis and/or suppression of lysine catabolism that led to the increased protein content in rice grains. Despite the economic and nutritional benefits rice, the protein accumulation mechanisms are largely elusive. Therefore, to explore the comprehensive proteome profiles, three different parts of rice grains including embryo, endosperm, bran were harvested from weedy rice cultivars (cv. Dharial) and its EMS mutant (DM) having 9.3 and 14.8% of protein content in rice grains, respectively. Here, we utilized a label-free quantitative proteomic analysis and this approach led to the identification of total 5,821 proteins. Of these, 322, 723, and 550 proteins revealed significant differences in their abundance in rice embryo, endosperm, and bran, respectively. Functional classification of identified proteins revealed that enrichment of proteins associated with nitrogen compound biosynthesis and transport, intracellular transport, localization, protein/amino acid synthesis, and photosynthesis, among others were observed in endosperm and bran of high protein mutant rice cultivar. Taken together, the current study uncovers the proteome changes and highlight the various functions of metabolic pathways associated with protein accumulation in rice.
Project description:Background: Environmental influences fluctuate throughout the life course of an organism. It is therefore important to understand how the timing of exposure impacts the molecular response. Here we examine the responses of two key molecular markers of dietary stress – variant-specific methylation at ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and small RNA distribution including tRNA fragments – in a mouse model of protein restriction (PR) with exposures pre- and/or post-weaning. Results: We first confirm that pre-weaning PR exposure modulates the methylation state of rDNA in a genotype-dependent manner whereas post-weaning PR exposure has no such effect. Conversely, post-weaning PR induces a shift in small RNA distribution, but there is no effect in the pre-weaning PR model. Intriguingly, mice exposed to PR throughout their lives show neither of these two dietary stress markers, similar to controls.
Project description:Here comparative transcriptomic analyses of Penicillium oxalicum grown on wheat bran (WB), WB plus rice straw (WR) and WB plus Avicel (WA) as the sole carbon source under solid-state fermentation (SSF) revealed that most of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in metabolism specifically carbohydrate metabolism.