Nanotechnology is the science and technology of small and specific things that are <100 nm in size. Because of the size of nanomaterials, new changes in their chemical and physical structure may occur, and indicate higher reactivity and solubility. Many of nanotechnology applications in food and agricultural production are being developed in research and development settings. Global challenges are related to animal production, including environmental sustainability, human health, disease control, and food security. Nanotechnology holds promise for animal health, veterinary medicine, and some areas of animal production. Nanotechnology has had application in several other sectors, and its application in food and feed science is a recent case. Especially, natural nano antimicrobials obtained from different techniques such as nano-propolis are useful to veterinary medicine in terms of health, performance, and reliable food production. Nano-propolis is a nano-sized (1-100 nm in diameter) propolis particles tied together to make it more effective without changing its properties by changing the size of propolis by different methods. Propolis have many advantages such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antifungal activity, etc. The consumption of free form of propolis restricts these benefits due to low bioavailability, low solubility, low absorption, and untargeted release. Different nanoencapsulation technologies are used to obtain nano-propolis. Nano-propolis are more easily absorbed by the body because they have a size smaller. Nano-propolis is also more effective than propolis in terms of antibacterial and antifungal activity. This review focuses on some recent work concerning the uses of nanotechnology in animal health or human health using animal models, and the effectiveness of nanotechnology on natural supplements such as propolis used in animal nutrition and animal health.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the possible protective effects of chrysin on oxidative status and histological alterations against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver and kidney tissue in rats. The animals were randomly divided into four groups; the control, chrysin (100 mg/kg), CCl4 (0.5 ml/kg) and chrysin + CCl4 groups. Liver and kidney injuries were assessed by biochemical and histopathological examinations. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were measured in tissues. Serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, and creatinine levels were also measured in blood samples. MDA, serum TNF-α, AST, ALT, urea, and creatinine levels (p < 0.05) were significantly higher, and SOD activity and GSH level were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the CCl4 group than in the control group. Treatment with chrysin in the chrysin + CCl4 group decreased MDA, AST, ALT, creatinine, and TNF-α levels (p < 0.05), and increased SOD activity, GSH levels (p < 0.05), and serum TNF-α levels (p < 0.05). In addition, body weight change (BWC) (p < 0.05) and feed intake (FI) were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the CCl4 group than in the control group. Moreover, treatment with chrysin increased BWC and FI in the chrysin + CCl4 group compared with that in the CCl4 group. These findings also confirmed by histopathological examination. The chrysin treatment ameliorated the CCl4-induced biochemical and pathological alterations. These results demonstrated that chrysin provided amelioration on the rat liver and kidney tissues CCl4-induced injury by increasing the antioxidant activity.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of grape seed (GS) supplementation to basal diet on performance, carcass characteristics, some biochemical parameters, and antioxidant status of tissues of Japanese quail in growth phase with different plumage colors exposed to heat stress (HS). A total of 144 eight-day-old Japanese quail including 72 (36 females, 36 males) grey and 72 (36 females, 36 males) golden were used in this study. The quail were kept under HS (16 h at 34 ºC, 8h at 22 ºC) and thermo-neutral (24 h at 22ºC) conditions between 15 and 43 days of age. All quail were fed a basal diet (control) and basal diet supplemented with GS at both 10 g/kg and 20 g/kg ratios. Each feeding treatment was repeated three times including four quail (two females and two males) per replicate. Heat stress considerably decreased the live weight gain on days 29-36, 36-43, and 15-43. Golden quail had higher live weight from the beginning of the trial. The increase of live weight on days 15-43 was higher in the golden group than in the grey group. Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of liver and kidney tissues increased in heat-stress group compared with thermo-neutral group (P<0.001). In HS, significant increases were determined only in catalase (CAT) in the liver and in glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), CAT, and glutathione (GSH) in the kidney (P<0.05). Addition of dietary GS decreased MDA and antioxidant levels, which increased in liver and kidney of quail during HS. Plasma total cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were higher in quail under HS. Plasma total cholesterol, glucose, triglyceride, AST, and ALT levels of quail under HS decreased due to addition of 10 g/kg GS.

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This study was performed to determine the effects of chitosan-coated nano-propolis (NP), which is synthesized via a green sonochemical method, and propolis on the side effects of cisplatin (CP), which is a widely used drug in the treatment of cancer. For this aim, 56 rats were divided into seven groups, balancing their body weights (BW). The study was designed as Control, CP (3 mg/kg BW at single dose of CP as intraperitoneal, ip), Propolis (100 mg/kg BW per day of propolis by gavage), NP-10 (10 mg/kg BW of NP per day by gavage), CP + Propolis (3 mg/kg BW of CP and 100 mg/kg BW of propolis), CP + NP-10 (3 mg/kg CP and 10 mg/kg BW of NP), and CP + NP-30 (3 mg/kg BW of CP and 30 mg/kg BW of NP). Propolis and NP (especially NP-30) were preserved via biochemical parameters, oxidative stress, and activation of apoptotic pathways (anti-apoptotic protein: Bcl-2 and pro-apoptotic protein: Bax) in liver and kidney tissues in the toxicity induced by CP. The NP were more effective than propolis at a dose of 30 mg/kg BW and had the potential to ameliorate CP’s negative effects while overcoming serious side effects such as liver and kidney damage.

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Antioxidant effect of dietary soapwort extract supplementation was studied in growing Japanese quails suffering from chronic intermittent cold stress. For this purpose, a total of ninety 15-d-old quails were divided into three groups with three replicates. Chronic intermittent cold stress was applied every night between 22.00 to 06.00 h; starting at 14 °C for the first week, and gradually weekly lowered to 8 °C. Three groups were fed with corn-soy based standard diets supplemented with 0, 50, and 100 ppm soapwort extract for four weeks. At the end of the study, three males and three females were slaughtered to determine total antioxidant and oxidant status of serum, malondialdehyde, glutathione, glutathione peroxidase activity, superoxide dismutase of liver and heart tissues. Although the dietary soapwort extract had no effect on serum total antioxidant capacity, it significantly lowered the total oxidant status of serum in cold stressed quails. Glutathione and superoxide dismutase enzyme activity of liver and heart tissues were similar among groups. While the dietary soapwort extract had no effect on glutathione peroxidase activity of the heart tissue, it significantly increased glutathione peroxidase activity in the liver tissue. In relation to the control group, malondialdehyde concentrations in the liver and heart tissues were significantly lower in soapwort extract groups. These data suggest that dietary soapwort extract could alleviate the detrimental effects of oxidative stress in growing Japanese quails exposed to cold stress. Malondialdehyde, glutathione peroxidase, saponin, total antioxidant status, total oxidant status