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In the last years, great importance has been given to the beneficial effects of polyphenols. Among the most relevant health promoting effects, there is the capacity to reduce the amount of free radicals and stimulate the immune response. In this study, polyphenols extracted from olive mill wastewater (OMWW), were fed to adult ‘Casertana’ pigs during the finishing period. No significant differences in the length of the jejunum-ileum villi and the depth of the colon crypts were detected between control and polyphenols fed pigs. Instead, intra-epithelial and lamina propria leukocytes were more abundant in pigs fed polyphenols (p

In this study, evidence for leptin receptor (LR) and gastric leptin immunoreactivity along the digestive tract of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), is reported. Besides this, the regulation of gastric leptin and its transcript by fatty acids was analyzed in vitro. LR was detected mainly in the cells of the stomach gastric glands and in the brush border of the epithelium of the anterior, middle and distal intestine. In the stomach LR was co-distributed with leptin. The regulation of gastric leptin and its transcript by fatty acids was analyzed by in vitro incubations. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies anti rainbow trout leptin were developed and employed to detect leptin concentration in the stomach and in the incubation medium. Stomach slices were incubated with butyric (4:0), oleic (18:1n-9), α-linolenic (18:3n-3) and arachidonic fatty acids (20:4n-6). All fatty acids caused an increase in the protein in both the stomach and culture medium, while leptin transcript was not modified. Overall, the results confirm the gastric leptin release upon nutritional modulation.

Orexin A and B peptides and the receptor OX2R were studied in sea bass and goldfish gastroenteric tract by immunoblotting combined with densitometric analysis using NIH Image J software and immunohistochemical techniques. These teleost species present a different gut organization and diverse feeding habits. Immunoblotting experiments showed one band of 16 kDa corresponding to prepro-orexin, and one band of 38 kDa corresponding to the OX2R receptor. Immunohistochemical localization of OXA and OXB was observed in the enteric nervous system throughout the gastroenteric tract of both species. OXA and OXB immunoreactive cells were found in the gastric and intestinal regions of sea bass, and were mainly found in the basal region of folds in intestinal bulb, and in the midgut and hindgut of goldfish. The distribution of OX2R was mainly detected in the mucosa of the gastroenteric tract of sea bass and goldfish. This distribution suggests an endocrine action of OXA and OXB in the gastrointestinal tract as well as involvement in the peripheral control of food intake and digestive processes in both species. This study might also serve to determine the productive factors in breeding and as a baseline for future experimental studies on the regulation of the gastroenteric functions in non-mammalian vertebrates. Anat Rec, 299:1121-1129, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In this study, we report nesfatin-1 immunoreactivity in the gastrointestinal tract of Casertana breed pig. The newly discovered anorexigenic peptide nesfatin-1 has been shown to possess physiological relevance in regulating food intake and energy homeostasis at a central level, although evidence has been accumulating that it may also play important functions at a more local gastroenteric level. Nesfatin-1 immunoreactive endocrine cells have been detected in the gastric fundus and ileocecal valve. Nesfatin-1 immunopositive neurons and nerve fibers have been observed mainly in the enteric plexuses. Western blot analysis confirmed the immunohistochemical observations, showing immunoreactive bands in all analyzed gastrointestinal tracts with the exception of the rectum. Nesfatin-1 immunodetection in the swine digestive system reinforces the importance of the role played by nesfatin-1 at the gastrointestinal level and sustains the necessity to study the role of this peptide in the regulation of food intake in farm species for which weight gain is essential for optimizing production.

Orexin A and B peptides and the receptor OX2R were studied in sea bass and goldfish gastroenteric tract by immunoblotting combined with densitometric analysis using NIH Image J software and immunohistochemical techniques. These teleost species present a different gut organization and diverse feeding habits. Immunoblotting experiments showed one band of 16 kDa corresponding to prepro-orexin, and one band of 38 kDa corresponding to the OX2R receptor. Immunohistochemical localization of OXA and OXB was observed in the enteric nervous system throughout the gastroenteric tract of both species. OXA and OXB immunoreactive cells were found in the gastric and intestinal regions of sea bass, and were mainly found in the basal region of folds in intestinal bulb, and in the midgut and hindgut of goldfish. The distribution of OX2R was mainly detected in the mucosa of the gastroenteric tract of sea bass and goldfish. This distribution suggests an endocrine action of OXA and OXB in the gastrointestinal tract as well as involvement in the peripheral control of food intake and digestive processes in both species. This study might also serve to determine the productive factors in breeding and as a baseline for future experimental studies on the regulation of the gastroenteric functions in non-mammalian vertebrates. Anat Rec, 299:1121-1129, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This study provides an immunohistochemical approach to the expression of leptin in the gastrointestinal tract of the monogastric South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens), and the poligastric bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). The specific organization of the gastrointestinal tract is examined in relation to the neuroendocrine regulation of the gut exerted by leptin. In the South American sea lion some leptin-like-immunoreactive (ir) cells, and endocrine type cells, were found in the pit of gastric mucosal folds and in the epithelium of duodenum as well as numerous neurons were detected in the submucosal and myenteric plexuses of the stomach. In the bottlenose dolphin, many leptin-like-ir cells, and exocrine type cells, were identified in the mucosal layer of the main stomach as well as several neurons and nervous fibers were detected in nervous plexuses of main stomach, pyloric stomach, proximal, and middle intestine. Our data suggest that the distribution of leptin-like peptides is similar in the two species, notwithstanding the different anatomical organization of the gastrointestinal apparatus of South American sea lion and bottlenose dolphin. These findings "suggest" the presence of a basal plan in the regulation of food intake, body weight, energy balance and of the gastrointestinal functions in general also in marine mammals with different and specific feeding habits.

KEY WORDS ghrelin; Carassius auratus; Dicentrarchus labrax; immunohistochemistry;gastrointestinal tractABSTRACT The occurrence and localization of ghrelin peptide in the gastrointestinal tract ofCarassius auratus and Dicentrarchus labrax, two fish species that exhibit different feeding behav-ior, different habitats, and different anatomical organizations of the gastroenteric tract, wereexamined by immunohistochemical methods and western blotting analysis. All of the gastrointesti-nal segments studied displayed immunohistochemical localizations of ghrelin peptide. Numeroussingle or clustered immunoreactive cells were found along the gastric folds, particularly in the py-loric region of Dicentrarcus labrax, whereas scattered ghrelin immunoreactive cells were observedin the intestinal epithelium of both fish species. Double immunolabeling PGP 9.5/ghrelin demon-strated the localization of ghrelin peptide also in nerve fibers and neuronal cells of the submucosaland myenteric plexuses, often in association with vascular structures. Western blotting analysisconfirmed the presence of ghrelin peptide in the gatrointestinal tract of both species studied, whosemolecular weight was similar to that of the corresponding mammalian prepro-ghrelin. The findingscould support the hypothesis that this peptide is an important appetite regulator in fish and couldconfirm the presence of the ghrelin peptide, starting from its precursor proteins, in the gastrointes-tinal tract of the goldfish and the sea bass. Microsc. Res. Tech. 00:000–000, 2009.