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Aim of the Study: The effects of sardine by-products (SBy-P) and fillet proteins (SF-P) were compared to casein (Cas) ; these effects were assessed on blood pressure, glycemic control, reverse cholesterol transport, lipid peroxidation and total antioxidant capacity in obese rats., Materials and Methods: Eighteen male Wistar rats were subjected for three months, to a high-fat diet. The obese rats were divided into three groups and consumed the same high-fat diet for 28 days after addition of either, 20% SBy-P, SF-P or Cas., Results: The sardine proteins (SBy-P and SF-P) compared respectively to Cas, reduced diastolic (-14%, -11% P<0.05) and systolic pressures (-12%, -8% P<0.05), blood glucose (-24%, -21% P<0.05), glycated hemoglobin (-28%, -21% P<0.05), insulinemia (-29%, -18% P<0.05) and HOMA-IR index (-29%, -18% P<0.05). They improve the reverse cholesterol transport by increasing the lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity (+43%, +30% P<0.05) and high-density lipoproteins in cholesterol esters (+108%, +88% P<0.05), and decreasing the atherogenicity ratios and membrane fluidity (P<0.05). Furthermore, SBy-P and SF-P induced a reduction of reactive thiobarbituric acid substances concentrations in heart (-45%, -25% P<0.05), aorta (-62%, -41% P<0.05), liver (-40%, -21% P<0.05) and adipose tissue (-50%, -37% P<0.05) with an improvement in antioxidant capacity., Conclusion: Sardine proteins, in particular those extracted from by-products, because of their hypotensive, hypoglycemic, anti-atherogenic and antioxidant properties, may have protective effects against the cardiovascular risk associated with obesity., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Fish by-products valorization on account of their richness in bioactive compounds may represent a better alternative to marine products with a view to economic profitability and sustainable development. In this study, we compared the effect of sardine by-product proteins (SBy-P), with those of the fillets (SF-P) or casein (Cas), on growth parameters, serum leptin level, lipids disorders, lipid peroxidation and reverse cholesterol transport, in diet-induced obese rats., Main Methods: Obesity was induced by feeding rats a high-fat diet (20% sheep fat), during 12 weeks. At body weight (BW) of 400 ± 20 g, eighteen obese rats were divided into three homogenous groups and continue to consume the high-fat diet for 4 weeks containing either, 20% SBy-P, SF-P or Cas., Key Findings: The results showed that SBy-P, compared to SF-P and Cas, efficiently reduced food intake (FI), BW gain and serum leptin level, and improved blood lipids levels and reverse cholesterol transport by reducing total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerols (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-HDL 1 -C) serum levels, increasing the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL 2 -C and HDL 3 -C), and enhancing lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity. Furthermore, they attenuated lipid peroxidation by increasing atheroprotective activity of the paraoxonase-1 (PON-1)., Significance: Sardine by-product proteins due to their richness in certain essential amino acids, highlight weight-loss, lipid-lowering, antioxidant and anti-atherogenic potentials, contributing to the improvement of the complications associated with obesity., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The present study is the first of a series of experiments designed to investigate the possibilities of reconstructing the severely injured spinal cord by means of transplantation techniques. Special attention has been given here to the capability of transplanted embryonic neurons to extend axons into autologous peripheral nerve grafts (PNGs). A cavity, made unilaterally in the cervical enlargement of the spinal cord of adult rats, was filled with solid pieces of different embryonic tissues: spinal cord (SC), cortex (CT) or dorsal root ganglia (DRG). In more than half of the transplanted animals, one end of a PNG was inserted into the center of the transplants, while the other, extraspinal end, was crushed and tied to peripheral tissues. After a postgrafting period ranging from 1 to 6 months, we found that the 3 types of transplants in general had survived and become integrated with the host spinal cord, although their overall organization remained atypical. Surviving graft neurons had developed processes, some of which had become myelinated. The ability of the grafted neurons to extend axons into the PNG differed strikingly from one type of graft to another, being apparently non-existent for cortical grafts, moderate for spinal cord grafts and quite extensive for dorsal root ganglia transplants. Interestingly, these differences reflected what was observed for the corresponding, fully differentiated qeurons in adult animals, when their cut axons were put in contact with non-neuronal components of peripheral nerves.