Background Dandelion is becoming an exploitable alternative to the widely prohibited antibiotics in the poultry production. This research aimed to investigate the effects of dandelion on the growth performance and intestinal barrier function of broiler chickens maintained under standard condition of management. One-hundred and sixty 1-day-old Arbor Acres (AA) male broiler chickens were randomly divided into four groups, with five replicates of eight birds each. The birds were fed a basal diet supplemented without (control group, [CON]) or with 500 (low dose [LD]) or 1000 (high dose [HD]) mg/kg dandelion or with 250 mg/kg chlortetracycline 20% premix (CTC) for 42 days, including the starter phase (d 1 to 21) and the grower phase (d 22 to 42). Body weight (BW) of each bird and feed consumption of each replicate were measured at d 21 and d 42. The ileal tissues were collected on day 21 and 42 to determine expression of genes coding for tight junction protein and mucin as well as ELISA analysis for immune factor. The ileal digesta was collected for microbiota and short chain fatty acids analysis. Results Compared with CON group, during day 1–21, the average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed/gain ratio (F/G) of LD group were lower (P < 0.05); during day 22–42, the F/G of LD and CTC group tended to be lower (P = 0.07); during the overall phase, the ADFI of HD and CTC groups were decreased (P < 0.05), and the F/G of dandelion and CTC groups tended to be decreased (P = 0.07). On day 21, the relative mRNA expression of claudin, occludin-1 and mucin1 in dandelion groups were up-regulated (P < 0.05), and the ZO-1 mRNA expression in CTC group was increased (P < 0.05); on day 42, the claudin and mucin1 transcripts in LD group and ZO-1 transcripts in HD and CTC group were up-regulated (P < 0.05), while the occludin-1 and mucin1 transcripts in CTC group was significantly down-regulated (P < 0.05). In addition, the contents of TNF-α in dandelion groups were lower than that in CTC group (P < 0.05). In the analysis of ileal microbiota, on day 21, decreased α-diversity was observed in HD and CTC groups (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, on day 21, the relative abundance of Firmicutes in dandelion groups tended to be higher (P = 0.09), the relative abundance of Lactobacillus in LD and CTC group were increased (P < 0.05), while Bacteroidete, Bacteroides, and Alistipes relative abundance in dandelion and CTC groups were decreased (P < 0.05). On day 42, the Actinobacteriota relative abundance in CTC group tended to be higher (P = 0.05), and Lysinibacillus relative abundance of CTC group was higher (P = 0.02). Compared with CON group, on day 21, the propionic acid and butyric acid content in CTC group were higher, the butyric acid content in HD group was lower (P < 0.10). Conclusion In summary, dietary dandelion supplementation at 500 mg/kg of diet enhanced growth performance of broilers by improving the intestinal barrier function. Dandelion can be supplemented in the diet as an antibiotics alternative to enhance production in poultry industry.
Early detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) is important for the clinical diagnosis of cervical cancer. However, to date, the pathogenesis of cervical cancer is still unclear. Autophagy is a dynamic process that contributes to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Here, we investigate whether variants of autophagy genes affect the occurrence of cervical cancer. In this study, our results indicate that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of autophagy-related protein 4 (ATG4), including rs4036579, rs5973822, rs807181, rs807182 and rs807183, have a significant relationship with cervical cancer risk. Furthermore, stratified analysis suggests that the homozygous variant genotype could decrease the risk of cervical cancer and should be considered when investigating the role of HPV in cervical cancer. We aim to investigate whether SNPs of ATG4A contribute to HPV infection in the population of Southwestern China. The association of both single SNPs and SNP-SNP interactions with HPV was evaluated in a sample of cancer cases and healthy control subjects. The interaction of rs807181 and rs807183 was associated with HPV infection in case and control subjects (combined P=2.00×10−3 and 3.22×10−2, respectively). This result showed that ATG4A SNP interactions may affect HPV infection in the population of Southwestern China. Notably, the autophagy gene ATG4A may contribute to cervical cancer.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been revealed to be involved in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the mechanism remains to be fully elucidated. Smad-interacting protein 1 (SIP1) is a transcriptional repressor, which serves a pivotal role in cell metastasis. In the present study, the role of SIP1 in HBx-induced hepatocyte EMT and cancer aggressiveness was examined. It was found that HBV X protein (HBx) increased the expression of SIP1 and recruited it to the promoter of E-cadherin, resulting in depression of the transcription of E-cadherin. Histone deacetylase 1 was also found to be involved in the repressive complex formation. Furthermore, in an orthotopic tumor transplantation model in vivo, HBx promoted tumor growth and metastasis, whereas the knockdown of SIP1 attenuated the effect of HBx. These results indicate a novel mechanism for the development of HBV-related liver cancer.
Intestinal barrier dysfunction and gut microbiota disorders have been associated with various intestinal and extraintestinal diseases. Fermented wheat bran polysaccharides (FWBP) are promising natural products for enhancing the growth performance and antioxidant function of zebrafish. The present study was conducted, in order to investigate the effects of FWBP on the intestinal motility and barrier function of zebrafish, which could provide evidence for the further potential of using FWBP as a functional food ingredient in the consideration of gut health. In Experiment 1, the normal or loperamide hydrochloride-induced constipation zebrafish larvae were treated with three concentrations of FWBP (10, 20, 40 μg/mL). In Experiment 2, 180 one month-old healthy zebrafish were randomly divided into three groups (six replicates/group and 10 zebrafish/tank) and fed with a basal diet, 0.05% FWBP, or 0.10% FWBP for eight weeks. The results showed that FWBP treatment for 6 h can reduce the fluorescence intensity and alleviate constipation, thereby promoting the gastrointestinal motility of zebrafish. When compared with control group, zebrafish fed diets containing FWBP showed an increased villus height (p < 0.05), an up-regulated mRNA expression of the tight junction protein 1α, muc2.1, muc5.1, matrix metalloproteinases 9 and defensin1 (p < 0.05), an increased abundance of the phylum Firmicutes (p < 0.05), and a decreased abundance of the phylum Proteobacteria, family Aeromonadaceae, and genus Aeromonas (p < 0.05). In addition, 0.05% FWBP supplementation up-regulated the intestinal mRNA expression of IL-10 and Occludin1 (p < 0.05), enhanced the Shannon and Chao1 indexes (p < 0.05), and increased the abundance of Bacteroidota and Actinobacteriota at the phylum level (p < 0.05). Additionally, 0.1% FWBP supplementation significantly improved the villus height to crypt depth ratio (p < 0.05) and increased the mRNA expression of IL-17 (p < 0.05). These findings reveal that FWBP can promote the intestinal motility and enhance the intestinal barrier function, thus improving the intestinal health of zebrafish.
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