The effect of dietary inclusion of white lupin seed (WLS) on the milk composition and yield of rabbit does as well as the performance of their litters was studied. Two lactation diets having identical digestible protein (DP):DE ratio and two weaning diets having identical DP:DE ratio were formulated. The first lactation diet (SL) contained soybean meal (SBM; 13.0%) and sunflower meal (5.0%) as the main CP sources, whereas the second lactation diet (LL) was based on WLS (25.0%). As a result, the LL diet had a greater ether extract (EE) content than did the SL diet. The first weaning diet (SW) included SBM (7.0%) as the main CP source, whereas the second weaning diet (LW) diet was based on WLS (12.0%). No additional fat was added to any of the diets. A total of 32 (16 per treatment) Hyplus PS 19 does (4,225 ± 607 g BW, at the second parturition) were fed 1 of the 2 lactation diets. The litters were standardized to 9 kits (564 ± 81 g BW) on the day of birth and were fed 1 of the 2 weaning diets from d 17 to 69 of age. At d 30 of age (weaning), 66 rabbits on each weaning diet (689 ± 71 g BW; 3 per cage) were used to evaluate performance. Feed intake and doe BW were not affected by the dietary treatments. Milk yield tended to be higher between d 1 and 30 of lactation in does fed the LL diet (P = 0.094), a finding that is related to the higher dietary EE content and intake in the LL diet. When expressed per kilogram of metabolic weight, milk output (P < 0.05) and fat output (P < 0.05) were greater in these does. Improved G:F (P < 0.05) between d 1 and 21 of lactation and greater ADG (P = 0.072) and milk efficiency (P < 0.05) of litters was observed in does fed the LL diet. The milk of does fed the LL diet contained less linoleic acid (P < 0.05) and arachidonic acid (C 20:4n-6; P < 0.05) and more oleic acid (P < 0.05), α-linolenic acid (P < 0.05), and eicosapentaenic acid (P < 0.05), with a corresponding increase in the total PUFA n-3:C 20:4n-6 ratio (P < 0.05). The performance of fattening rabbits was not affected by dietary treatment. The number of ill plus dead rabbits caused by digestive disease was lower (P < 0.05) in rabbits fed the LW diet. Therefore, WLS is a suitable dietary CP source for lactating does that can replace traditionally used CP sources without adverse effects on feed intake and milk yield or on the growth and viability of their litters. Due to its fatty acid (FA) composition, the use of WLS in the lactation diet has the potential to improve the milk FA composition of does.
- MeSH
- Diet veterinary MeSH
- Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena MeSH
- Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena MeSH
- Rabbits * growth & development physiology MeSH
- Animal Feed analysis MeSH
- Lactation drug effects physiology MeSH
- Lupinus * MeSH
- Fatty Acids chemistry metabolism MeSH
- Milk chemistry physiology MeSH
- Seeds * MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Rabbits * growth & development physiology MeSH
- Female MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
The severity and spatial extent of bark-beetle outbreaks substantially increased in recent decades worldwide. The ongoing controversy about natural forest recovery after these outbreaks highlights the need for individual-based long-term studies, which disentangle processes driving forest regeneration. However, such studies have been lacking. To fill this gap, we followed the fates of 2,552 individual seedlings for 12 years after a large-scale bark-beetle outbreak that caused complete canopy dieback in mountain Norway spruce (Picea abies) forests in southeast Germany. We explore the contribution of advance, disturbance-related, and post-disturbance regeneration to forest recovery. Most seedlings originated directly within the three-year dieback of canopy trees induced by bark-beetle outbreak. After complete canopy dieback, the establishment of new seedlings was minimal. Surprisingly, advance regeneration formed only a minor part of all regeneration. However, because it had the highest survival rate, its importance increased over time. The most important factor influencing the survival of seedlings after disturbance was their height. Survival was further modified by microsite: seedlings established on dead wood survived best, whereas almost all seedlings surrounded by graminoids died. For 5 cm tall seedlings, annual mortality ranged from 20 to 50% according to the rooting microsite. However, for seedlings taller than 50 cm, annual mortality was below 5% at all microsites. While microsite modified seedling mortality, it did not affect seedling height growth. A model of regeneration dynamics based on short-term observations accurately predicts regeneration height growth, but substantially underestimates mortality rate, thus predicting more surviving seedlings than were observed. We found that P. abies forests were able to regenerate naturally even after severe bark-beetle outbreaks owing to advance and particularly disturbance-related regeneration. This, together with microsite-specific mortality, yields structurally and spatially diverse forests. Our study thus highlights the so far unrecognized importance of disturbance-related regeneration for stand recovery after bark-beetle outbreaks.
- MeSH
- Coleoptera physiology MeSH
- Herbivory * MeSH
- Forests MeSH
- Population Dynamics MeSH
- Seedlings physiology MeSH
- Picea physiology MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Germany MeSH
HTS-1 is a new kind of pistillody wheat. All or parts of its stamen are transformed into pistils or pistil-like structures, and it has more seed sets per floret than normal wheat under normal cultivation conditions. To investigate the expression divergence in this mutant, an annealing control primer system was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the young spikelets. As a result, three DEGs, including HDB2, HGF2, and HCG4, were detected, with variable expression in HTS-1 and the control. After further confirmation using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis, these genes were overexpressed in HTS-1 wheat. NGF2 was identified in the double ridge to floret differentiation stages; HDB2 and HCG4 were identified in the stage of pistil and stamen-differentiating. Therefore, we inferred that the homeotic transformation of stamens into pistil-like structures occurred during the early stage of stamen development. Sequence alignment analysis revealed that HDB2 encodes a putative protein of 189 amino acids, with high homology to the DEAD-box ATP-dependent RNA helicase, and HCG4 was identical to the Chinese spring wheat cDNA clone predicted protein according to GenBank. However, NGF2 was not found to have significant similarity to any reported proteins, suggesting it is a new functional gene in wheat. The results suggest that HDB2, HCG4, and HGF2 are minor genes contributing to pistillody trait formation in HTS-1.
- MeSH
- Cytoplasm metabolism MeSH
- DNA Primers genetics MeSH
- DNA, Plant chemistry genetics MeSH
- Phenotype MeSH
- DNA, Complementary chemistry genetics MeSH
- Flowers genetics growth & development MeSH
- Molecular Sequence Data MeSH
- Mutation MeSH
- Triticum genetics growth & development MeSH
- Gene Expression Regulation, Plant * MeSH
- Plant Proteins genetics metabolism MeSH
- Amino Acid Sequence MeSH
- Sequence Analysis, DNA MeSH
- Sequence Alignment MeSH
- Seeds genetics growth & development MeSH
- Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
Až na výjimky charakteristickým problémem kultivace rostlinných explantátů v kulturách in vitroje nízká produkce sekundárních metabolitů těmito kulturami. Jednou z metod, kterou je možnédosáhnout zvýšení produkce přírodních látek v kulturách in vitro, je elicitace buněčných kultur. Bylsledován vliv biotického elicitoru Pseudomonas aeruginosa ve formě homogenátu a vodní suspenzemrtvých buněk na produkci anthracenových derivátů tkáňovou kulturou Rheum palmatum L.různého stáří a původu. Kultura byla kultivována na médiu podle Murashigeho a Skooga s přídav-kem 10 mg.l -1 kyseliny a-naftyloctové. Maximální obsah anthracenových derivátů, zjištěný fotomet-rickým stanovením podle ČSL 4, byl prokázán u osmileté kultury (1,027 %) po 6 hodinové elicitacivodní suspenzí mrtvých buněk Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1,7 mg sušiny/1 ml roztoku). Kultura nověodvozená z kořene intaktní rostliny Rheum palmatum L. reagovala na elicitaci citlivěji než kulturaodvozená ze semene, obsah anthracenových derivátů byl však nižší než u osmileté kultury.
With a few exceptions, the characteristic problem of cultivation of plant explants in in vitro culturesis a low production of secondary metabolites by these cultures. One of the methods, which canachieve an increase in the production of natural substances in in vitro cultures, is elicitation of cellcultures. The effect of the biotic elicitor Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the form of a homogenate andan aqueous suspension of dead cells on the production of anthracene derivatives by the tissue cultureof Rheum palmatum L. of different age and origin was examined. The culture was cultivated ona Murashige-Skoog medium with an addition of 10 mg.l -1 of a-naphthylacetic acid. The maximalcontent of anthracene derivatives found by photometric determination according to PhBs 4 wasdemonstrated in an eight years old culture (1.027 %) after sixhour elicitation with an aqueoussuspension of dead cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1.7 mg of dry matter/1 ml of solution). Theculture newly derived from the root of the intact plant Rheum palmatum L. responded to elicitationmore sensitively than the culture derived from the seed; nevertheless the content of anthracenederivatives was lower than in the eight years old culture.
Various types of nanofibers are increasingly used in tissue engineering, mainly for their ability to mimic the architecture of tissue at the nanoscale. We evaluated the adhesion, growth, viability, and differentiation of human osteoblast-like MG 63 cells on polylactide (PLA) nanofibers prepared by needle-less electrospinning and loaded with 5 or 15 wt % of hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles. On day 7 after seeding, the cell number was the highest on samples with 15 wt % of HA. This result was confirmed by the XTT test, especially after dynamic cultivation, when the number of metabolically active cells on these samples was even higher than on control polystyrene. Staining with a live/dead kit showed that the viability of cells on all nanofibrous scaffolds was very high and comparable to that on control polystyrene dishes. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed that the concentration of osteocalcin was also higher in cells on samples with 15 wt % of HA. There was no immune activation of cells (measured by production of TNF-alpha), associated with the incorporation of HA. Moreover, the addition of HA suppressed the creep behavior of the scaffolds in their dry state. Thus, nanofibrous PLA scaffolds have potential for bone tissue engineering, particularly those with 15 wt % of HA.
- MeSH
- Cell Adhesion MeSH
- Cell Differentiation * MeSH
- Cell Line MeSH
- Durapatite chemistry MeSH
- Bone Substitutes MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Nanofibers chemistry MeSH
- Osteoblasts cytology metabolism MeSH
- Osteocalcin biosynthesis MeSH
- Polyesters chemistry MeSH
- Tissue Engineering methods MeSH
- Cell Survival MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
Chromium-enriched diamond-like carbon (DLC) layers were prepared by a hybrid technology using a combination of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and magnetron sputtering. XRD revealed no chromium peaks, indicating that the layers are mostly amorphous. Carbon (sp(2) and sp(3) bonds) and chromium bonds were determined by XPS from C 1s, O 1s, and Cr 2p photoelectron peaks. Depending on the deposition conditions, the concentration of Cr in DLC layers moved from zero to 10 at.% for as-received sample surfaces, and to about 31 at.% after mild sputter-cleaning by argon ion cluster beam. It should be noted that the most stable Cr(3+) bonding state is in Cr2O3 and Cr(OH)3, and that there is the toxic Cr(6+) state in CrO3. The surface content of hexavalent chromium in the Cr 2p3/2 spectra is rather low, but discernible. The population density of Saos-2 cells was the highest in samples containing higher concentrations of chromium 7.7 and 10 at.%. This means that higher concentrations of chromium supported the cell adhesion and proliferation. In addition, as revealed by a LIVE/DEAD viability/cytotoxicity kit, the cells on all Cr-containing samples maintained high viability (96 to 99%) on days 1 and 3 after seeding. However, this seemingly positive cell behavior could be associated with the risk of dedifferentiation and oncogenic transformation of cells.
- MeSH
- Biocompatible Materials chemistry toxicity MeSH
- Chromium chemistry MeSH
- Diamond chemistry MeSH
- Lasers MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Cell Line, Tumor MeSH
- Cell Survival drug effects MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
BACKGROUND: Nanofibrous scaffolds loaded with bioactive nanoparticles are promising materials for bone tissue engineering. METHODS: In this study, composite nanofibrous membranes containing a copolymer of L-lactide and glycolide (PLGA) and diamond nanoparticles were fabricated by an electrospinning technique. PLGA was dissolved in a mixture of methylene chloride and dimethyl formamide (2:3) at a concentration of 2.3 wt%, and nanodiamond (ND) powder was added at a concentration of 0.7 wt% (about 23 wt% in dry PLGA). RESULTS: In the composite scaffolds, the ND particles were either arranged like beads in the central part of the fibers or formed clusters protruding from the fibers. In the PLGA-ND membranes, the fibers were thicker (diameter 270 ± 9 nm) than in pure PLGA meshes (diameter 218 ± 4 nm), but the areas of pores among these fibers were smaller than in pure PLGA samples (0.46 ± 0.02 μm(2) versus 1.28 ± 0.09 μm(2) in pure PLGA samples). The PLGA-ND membranes showed higher mechanical resistance, as demonstrated by rupture tests of load and deflection of rupture probe at failure. Both types of membranes enabled the attachment, spreading, and subsequent proliferation of human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells to a similar extent, although these values were usually lower than on polystyrene dishes. Nevertheless, the cells on both types of membranes were polygonal or spindle-like in shape, and were distributed homogeneously on the samples. From days 1-7 after seeding, their number rose continuously, and at the end of the experiment, these cells were able to create a confluent layer. At the same time, the cell viability, evaluated by a LIVE/DEAD viability/cytotoxicity kit, ranged from 92% to 97% on both types of membranes. In addition, on PLGA-ND membranes, the cells formed well developed talin-containing focal adhesion plaques. As estimated by the determination of tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels in the culture medium and concentration of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, MG-63 cells, and RAW 264.7 macrophages on these membranes did not show considerable inflammatory activity. CONCLUSION: This study shows that nanofibrous PLGA membranes loaded with diamond nanoparticles have interesting potential for use in bone tissue engineering.
- MeSH
- Cell Adhesion MeSH
- Cell Line MeSH
- Diamond chemistry MeSH
- Bone Substitutes chemistry MeSH
- Lactic Acid chemistry MeSH
- Polyglycolic Acid chemistry MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Actin Cytoskeleton metabolism MeSH
- Microscopy, Electron, Scanning MeSH
- Mice MeSH
- Nanoparticles chemistry ultrastructure MeSH
- Nanomedicine MeSH
- Nanofibers chemistry ultrastructure MeSH
- Osteoblasts cytology immunology physiology MeSH
- Cell Proliferation MeSH
- Materials Testing MeSH
- Tissue Engineering methods MeSH
- Tissue Scaffolds chemistry MeSH
- Microscopy, Electron, Transmission MeSH
- Cell Survival MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Mice MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
