Project description:Feed additives aiming to improve gastrointestinal health are frequently supplied to piglets after weaning but might be more effective when administered before weaning. In this period, feed additives can either be administered directly to neonates, or indirectly via sow’s feed. It is yet unknown what the effect of the administration route is on gut functionality and health. Therefore, we compared the effect of different dietary interventions on gut functionality after maternal administration (lactation feed) to the neonatal administration route (oral gavage). These feed interventions included medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), beta-glucans (BG), and galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS). We measured intestinal gene expression and microbiota composition after birth (d1) and after weaning (d31). Our results show that the type of intervention and the administration route influence gut functionality (microbiome and gene expression profiles). MCFA administration led to a more differentially orchestrated response when comparing the neonatal and maternal administration route then the other two additives, indicating the route of administration of the feed interventions is determinative for the outcome. This implies that for each nutritional intervention in early life of a pig the optimal route of administration needs to be determined.
Project description:Increasing the consumption of dietary fibre has been proposed to alleviate the progression of non-communicable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, yet the effect of dietary fibre on host physiology remains unclear. In this study, we performed a multiple diet feeding study in C57BL/6J mice to compare high fat and high fat modified with dietary fibre diets on host physiology and gut homeostasis by combining proteomic, metagenomic, metabolomic and glycomic techniques with correlation network analysis. We observed significant changes in physiology, liver proteome, gut microbiota and SCFA production in response to high fat diet. Dietary fibre modification did not reverse these changes but was associated with specific changes in the gut microbiota, liver proteome, SCFA production and colonic mucin glycosylation. Furthermore, correlation network analysis identified gut bacterial-glycan associations.
Project description:In order to provide more evidence to prove that BCAAs catabolism mediates the expressions of FASN and ACLY by altering histone acetylation in melanoma, ChIP-seq of xenografted A2058 tumors implanted in mice receiving BCAA dietary interventions (normal or high BCAA diet) was employed to idenfity the enrichment of histone acetylation on the promoter of FASN and ACLY.
Project description:Dietary, genetic and pharmacological interventions can extend health- and lifespan in diverse model organisms whilst delaying the onset of age-related pathologies. In the context of the brain, several of these interventions have shown to improve molecular, structural and cognitive hallmarks of brain aging. However, there is limited quantitative knowledge on where in the brain these interventions are most active and to what degree their molecular mechanisms overlap. Here we performed region-resolved RNA-seq of the brain of aged mice either subjected to acute dietary restriction (aDR), injection of young mouse plasma (YMP), as well as their corresponding controls (ad libitium feeding and PBS injection, respectively). This encompasses 229 samples dissected from 15 regions. We reveal that each rejuvenation intervention impacts gene expression in a region-dependent manner, varying in timing, magnitude and biological function.
Project description:Here we show that a specific diet in which dietary protein content has been replaced with a defined-amino acid formula enriched with BCAA, has a remarkable effect in treating heart failure (HF). In particular, we demonstrate that our dietary intervention has a theraputic relevance in the setting of preestablished disease, providing a critical rationale for further development of dietary interventions for HF.
