Influence of dietary vitamin E and zinc on performance, oxidative stability and some blood measures of broiler chickens reared under heat stress (35 °C)This study was conducted to determine the effects of vitamin E (αTA; dL-α-Tocopheryl acetate) and zinc (Zn; ZnCl2) on performance, oxidative stability and some blood measures of broiler chickens under normal and hot temperatures. One hundred sixty 10-day-old male chicks were assigned to four groups in four replicates. The birds received two diets, control and enriched with two levels of vitamin E and Zn (100 and 50 mg/kg of diet, respectively) under two ambient temperatures (22 °C and 35 °C). Although the diets enriched with the antioxidant vitamin and element compared with un-enriched diets resulted in the better performance of the birds, significant differences were related to temperature conditions, as the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the highest body weight (BW) were observed in the group fed the enriched diet under normal temperature. The serum malondialdehyde (MDA), cholesterol (C), triglycerides (TG), glucose (G), total protein (TP), and hematocrit and heterophil: lymphocyte ratio levels were significantly lower in birds reared under 22 °C compared with the group under 35 °C but the hematocrit was not significantly lower in groups fed enriched diets and exposed to normal conditions (P>0.05). It was concluded that a combination of 100 mg of vitamin E and 50 mg of Zn provides the better performance and the least blood C and TG levels accompanying the better oxidative stability in male broilers under normal temperature (22 °C) and that this combination can be considered as a protective strategy in broiler diets for reducing the negative effects of heat stress.

Introduction: Diabetic burn wounds and ulcers are significant complications of diabetic patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of platelet rich-plasma (PRP) and/or keratinocyte-like cells (KLCs) in diabetic thermal wound rat model and to evaluate EGF, FGF-2, TGF-β1, COL1α2, MCP-1 and VEGF-α as wound healing markers at gene expression level. Method: In this study, we used adipose tissue as the source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and differentiated MSCs into KLCs. KLCs were characterized and transferred to the burn areas on the dorsum of streptozotocine (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. We prepared PRP from rat blood and evaluated its effect alone or in combination with KLCs. On 3rd, 7th, 10th and 14th days after treatment, wound areas were measured and biopsy samples were excised from the wound areas of the KLCs and/or PRP-treated and untreated diabetic rats to analyze gene expression levels of wound healing markers by qPCR. Results: We observed that, wound contraction started earlier in the PRP and/or KLCs-treated groups in comparison to the control group. However, PRP and KLCs when applied in combination showed additive affect in wound healing. In all groups treated with KLCs and/or PRP, the gene expression levels of evaluated growth factors and COL1α2 increased, while MCP-1 levels decreased when compared to the untreated diabetic rats. In addition, the most prominent difference in qPCR results belongs to combined PRP and KLCs-treated group. Conclusion: We demonstrated that applying PRP and KLCs in combination has a greater potential for treatment of diabetic burn wounds.

Influence of dietary fish oil supplementation on humoral immune response and some selected biochemical parameters of broiler chickensThe objective of this experiment was to evaluate the influence of fish oil (FO) supplementation in the diet of broiler chickens on the humoral immune response as well as some blood parameters. Two hundred and sixteen one day old broiler chickens were divided into four dietary groups 0, 1, 2, or 4% FO with 3 replicates of 18 birds. Four chicks randomly selected and marked from each replicate were immunized intramuscularly with 0.2 ml of 5% sheep red blood cells (SRBC) as a non-infectious antigen, at the ages of 15 and 35 days and blood samples were taken 7 days after each immunization. The highest BW was observed in the 2% FO dietary group (T3), followed by T2 (P<0.01). The serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels significantly decreased in the FO groups at the age of 42 days (P<0.01). In addition, the inclusion of FO in broiler diets significantly increased the blood glucose (G) level and decreased the total protein (TP), albumin (A) and globulin (GL) concentrations. Fish oil-treated birds had significantly more serum antibody (predominantly immunoglobulin M, IgM) to SRBC than the control group. The highest response to primary and secondary injections of SRBC after 7 days, were detected for group 4 (4% FO), followed by 2% FO group (P<0.05). The results indicate that the addition of 2 % FO to broiler chick's diet may stimulate the development of the immune response and improve blood indices, while 4% level was not recommended because of probable off-flavours in the product.

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