No abstract

No abstract

Butyric acid (BA), one of the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), has positive actions on the metabolism, inflammation, etc. However, whether it influences the reproductive physiology and if so the detail mechanism involved has not yet been determined. In this study, the porcine granulosa cells (PGCs) were treated with gradient concentrations of BA. After 24h culture, 0.05mM BA significantly stimulated the progesterone (P) secretion (P<0.05), 5mM and 10mM BA significantly inhibited the P secretion (P<0.05). Simultaneously, BA up-regulated the estradiol (E) secretion in a dose dependent manner, 5mM and 10mM BA significantly promoted the E level (P<0.05). In addition, 10mM BA significantly promoted the G-protein-coupled receptor 41/43 mRNA (P<0.05). Interestingly, 5mM BA treatment significantly down-regulated cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) content (P<0.05), steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR), steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1), P450scc in the mRNA and/or protein level (P<0.05), and these actions were reversed by cAMP activator forskolin (FK). Moreover, the co-treatment of 5mM BA and bupivacaine (BPC, the cAMP inhibitor) significantly accumulated the inhibition action of BPC on cAMP, the secretion of P, and the abundance of StAR mRNA (P<0.05), inhibited the up-regulation of 5mM BA on the E secretion (P<0.05). Further, the Global Proteome and KEGG pathway analysis found that 5mM BA significantly up-regulated the I3LM80 proteins (P<0.05), which is involved in the steroid biosynthesis signaling pathway. 5mM BA significantly decreased the F2Z5G3 protein level (P<0.05), and the cAMP signaling pathway. In conclusion, present findings for the first time demonstrated that BA could regulate the P and E hormone synthesis in PGCs via the cAMP signaling pathway.

Weaning is stressful for piglets involving nutritional, physiological, and psychological challenges, leading to an increase in the secretion of cortisol, changes in gut microbiome and metabolites, whereas the underlying relationships remain unclear. To elucidate this, 14 Meishan female piglets were divided into the weaning group and the suckling group at the age of 21 days paired by litter and body weight. After 48 h of experiment, weaned piglets had lower body weight, but higher salivary cortisol level than that of their suckling litter mates ( P < 0.05). The composition of the colonic bacterial community and metabolites were different between the two groups, and the first predominant genus of the suckling and weaned piglets colonic microbiome were Bacteroides and Prevotellaceae-NK3B31 group respectively. The suckling piglets had higher proportions of phylum Bacteroidetes and Lentisphaerae , and genus Bacteroides and Lactobacillus in the colonic microbial community, but lower abundance of genus Prevotellaceae-NK3B31 group than that of the weaned piglets ( P < 0.05). Accordingly, there were 15 colonic metabolites differed between the two groups, in which 2 metabolites (phenylacetic acid and phenol) negatively related to the abundant of Lactobacillus genus ( P < 0.05), while 9 metabolites (acetic acid, arabitol, benzoic acid, caprylic acid, cholesterol, dihydrocholesterol, galactinol, glucose phenol, phenylacetic acid, and oxamic acid, glycerol, propionic acid) positively associated with the proportion of Prevotellaceae-NK3B31 group genus ( P < 0.05). Furthermore, the salivary cortisol level negatively associated with the abundance of phylum Lentisphaerae , but positively associated with the phylum Bacteroidetes and the genus Prevotellaceae-NK3B31 group ( P < 0.05) respectively. These results provide us with new insights into the cause of the gut microbiome and stress, and the contributions of gut microbiome in metabolic and physiological regulation in response to weaning stress.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) could differentiate into various cell types including adipocytes and myocytes, which had important scientific significance not only in the field of tissue regeneration, but also in the field of agricultural science. In an attempt to exhibit the characterization and differentiation into adipocytes and myocytes of porcine BMSCs, we isolated and purified porcine BMSCs by red blood cell lysis method and percoll gradient centrifugation. The purified cells presented a stretched fibroblast-like phenotype when adhered to the culture plate. The results of flow cytometry analysis and immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that the isolated cells were positive for mesenchymal surface markers CD29, CD44 and negative for hematopoietic markers CD45 and the adhesion molecules CD31. Cells were induced to differentiate into adipocytes with adipogenic medium containing insulin, dexamethasone, oleate and octanoate. Oil Red O staining demonstrated that the porcine BMSCs successfully differentiated to adipocytes. Moreover, the findings of real time PCR and western blotting indicated that the induced cells expressed adipogenic marker genes (PPAR-γ, C/EBP-α, perilipin, aP2) mRNA or proteins (PPAR-γ, perilipin, aP2). On the other hand, porcine BMSCs were induced into myoctyes with myogenic medium supplemented with 5-azacytidine, basic fibroblast growth factor, chick embryo extract and horse serum. Morphological observation by hochest 33342 staining showed that the induced cells presented as multi-nucleus muscular tube structure. And myogenic marker genes (Myf5, desmin) mRNA or proteins (Myf5, MyoD, myogenin, desmin) were found in the induced cells. In addition, the results of immunofluorescence staining revealed that myogenic marker (Myf5, MyoD, myogenin, desmin, S-MyHC) proteins was positive in the induced cells. Above all, these results suggested that the isolated porcine BMSCs were not only consistent with the characterization of mesenchymal stem cells, but also exhibited the multipotential capacity to form adipocytes and myocytes, which provide the basis to investigate the regulation mechanism involved in the selective differentiation of porcine BMSCs.

No abstract

Potassium diformate (KDF), as an acidifier, has been shown to improve growth performance in pigs, but it is not yet known whether KDF regulates gastric function. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of dietary KDF on gastric function in weaning piglets. One hundred and eighty Landrace × Large White piglets (bodyweight = 5.80 ± 0.15 kg) were weaned at 28 days old and randomly allocated into two groups, with six pens in each group and 15 piglets in each pen. Piglets in the control group were fed the basal diet, whereas the KDF-treated group was fed the basal diet supplemented with 10 g/kg KDF. After 35 days of feeding, the KDF treatment improved the bodyweight (P = 0.034) and reduced the relative weight of stomach (P = 0.050), decreased the hydrochloric acid concentration (P = 0.016) in the gastric digesta and the pepsin activity in the gastric oxyntic mucosa (P = 0.001) and increased the lactic acid concentration (P = 0.001) in the gastric digesta. Furthermore, KDF treatment increased the level of somatostatin (SS) (P = 0.009), but did not change the concentration of gastrin (P = 0.497) and the activity of H+-K+-ATPase (P = 0.575) in the gastric oxyntic mucosa. However, KDF treatment downregulated the expression of SS mRNA in the gastric oxyntic mucosa (P = 0.031) and upregulated the mRNA expression of gastrin (P < 0.001) and H+-K+-ATPase (P < 0.001) in the gastric oxyntic mucosa. These results suggest that the effects of KDF on weaning piglets may be related to the regulation of gastric function gene expression.

Currently, the importance of gut microbiota to the health of their host has been well discussed, yet the knowledge about the host hormonal effect on the gut microbiota is limited. In this study, a combination of the high-throughput 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing and the Mass Spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics techniques were used to investigate the stool microbial composition and microbial metabolites at different gestation day in Meishan sows. The results showed that, the stool steroid hormones including estradiol (E 2 ), progesterone (P 4 ) and cortisol (CORT) were increased at gestation day 90 (P<0.05), when compared to gestation day 30. In coincide with the changes of steroid hormones, the relative abundance of Burkholderiales and Selenomonadales of the stool microbiota at d90 of pregnancy was significantly increased than that of at d30 of pregnancy at the order level (P<0.05). However, no significant difference of the richness estimators (ACE and Chao), and the diversity indices (Shannon and Simpson) were found between the d30 and d90 of gestation. Further, the metabolomics profile revealed 13 metabolites changed greatly from the gestation day 30 to 90, including amino acid metabolic pathway, lipid and carbohydrate metabolic pathway (P<0.001). The results suggest that the interaction of the steroid hormones and the gut bacteria may account for the metabolic changes throughout the length of pregnancy.