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Reconstructed embryos derived from intersubspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) have poorer developmental potential than those from intrasubspecies SCNT. Based on our previous study that Holstein dairy bovine (HD) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype compatibility between donor karyoplast and recipient cytoplast is crucial for SCNT embryo development, we performed intersubspecies SCNT using HD as donor karyoplast and Luxi yellow heifer (LY) as recipient cytoplast according to mtDNA haplotypes determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. The results demonstrated that intersubspecies mtDNA homotype SCNT embryos had higher pre- and post-implantation developmental competence than intrasubspecies mtDNA heterotype embryos as well as improved blastocyst reprogramming status, including normal H3K9 dimethylation pattern and promoter hypomethylation of pluripotent genes such as Oct4 and Sox2, suggesting that intersubspecies SCNT using LY oocytes maintains HD cloning efficiency and may reprogram HD nuclei to develop into a normal cloned animal ultimately. Our results indicated that karyoplast-cytoplast interactions and mtDNA haplotype compatibility may affect bovine intersubspecies SCNT efficiency. This study on bovine intersubspecies SCNT is valuable for understanding the mechanisms of mtDNA haplotype compatibility between karyoplast and cytoplast impacting the bovine SCNT efficiency, and provides an alternative and economic resource for HD cloning.

We have investigated the protective effect of polysaccharides from Curcuma kwangsiensis (CKP) against oxidative injury in rats fed high-fat diet. The protective effect of CKP was compared with Lovastatin, a well-known antioxidant. Sixty SD rats were used for the experimental study. Oxidative injury was induced by feeding high-fat diet for 3 weeks. The blood profiles, total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels during experimental period were significantly increased in untreated model control group, whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels and antioxidant enzymes activities significantly decreased in untreated model control group. The levels of TC, TG, LDL-c levels in CKP-treated rats were decreased significantly when compared to the untreated model control group, which were brought down to near normal in CKP-treated group. HDL-c level and antioxidant enzymes activities were found to be significantly increased in serum of CKP-treated group compared to the untreated model control group. The protective effect of CKP against oxidative injury was comparable to that of Lovastatin. Our data suggest that CKP exerts its protective effect by modulating the extent of lipid peroxidation and augmenting antioxidant defense system and thus protects the experimental animals against oxidative injury induced by high-fat diet treatment.

The aim of this study was to investigate the pharmacological effect of polysaccharides from Lentinus edodes on serum oxidative status and expression of VCAM-1mRNA of thoracic aorta endothelial cell in high-fat-diet rats. Forty male rats received two different diets during 40 days: standard chow (SC) and high-fat-diet (HF). The result indicates that the administration of polysaccharides from L. edodes significantly reduced serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and enhanced serum antioxidant enzyme activity and thymus and liver index in high-fat rats. In addition, the administration of polysaccharides from L. edodes significantly decreased the increased expression level of VCAM-1mRNA in group (V) (P

microRNA (miRNA) is a class of non-coding small RNA molecules with roughly 22 nucleotides in length, regulating gene expression on post-transcriptional level and playing an important role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis process. Based on the conservation of miRNAs sequence, we compared the known miRNAs among five mammals, i.e., human, mouse, cattle, pig and dog with the sequence of sheep genome that is highly homologous to goat genome, published on the NCBI, and 11 candidate miRNAs were eventually obtained. RT-PCR analysis showed the expression of the 11 miRNAs in brain and 5 in liver, indicating that they might be novel miRNAs. The methodology provides an alternative approach to the exploration of new miRNAs in goat.

Bleaching is a necessary step in the production of refined camellia oil (Camellia oleifera Abel) since crude oil has a dark brown color, due to pigments extracted from the seed coat during pressing, which is unacceptable to consumers. In order to understand the quality change and oxidative state of camellia oil in the bleaching step, measurements of various quality parameters, i.e. peroxide value (POV), free fatty acids (FFA), UV absorbance, and the volatile profiles of crude and bleached oils, were carried out. The results showed that FFA, K270, and K232 increased, whereas POV decreased, with increase of the activated earth dosage of 0–4% and of bleaching time from 0 to 40 min at 110 °C. As the amount of activated earth was increased from 0 to 4% with bleaching at 110 °C for 30 min, various classes of volatile compounds increased in concentration: aldehydes (23.7 µg/g), alcohols (13.2 µg/g), esters (8.0 µg/g), alkenes (2.0 µg/g) and ketones (1.9 µg/g). Likewise, when bleaching was carried out at 110 °C with 3% activated earth and the bleaching time varied between 0 and 40 min, the concentrations of volatile compounds also increased: aldehydes (27.7 µg/g), alcohols (18.2 µg/g), esters (7.3 µg/g), ketones (3.2 µg/g) and alkenes (0.6 µg/g). These findings indicate that hydroperoxides in the oil were decomposed into lower-molecular-weight products in the process of bleaching and that the extent of this decomposition can be controlled by time and amount of activated earth.

Fatty acid composition, total phenols, phenolic and volatile profile data are presented for cold-pressed and refined camellia oil, in comparison to other commercially available oils – avocado, pumpkin, sesame and soybean – representing a cross-section of bulk, “bland” oils (e.g., soybean) through to more boutique oils consumed primarily for taste (e.g., pumpkin). Camellia oil has a high oleic acid content, low polyunsaturated acid content, and levels of endogenous phenols comparable, in quantity and diversity, to cold-pressed oils. Volatile profiles of camellia oil are also comparable to cold-pressed oils, in that alkanals are the dominant headspace compounds, as measured by solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography. These factors suggest that camellia oil may find much wider commercial acceptance outside its current market range, southern China.

Background The interaction between the karyoplast and cytoplast plays an important role in the efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. It is generally accepted that in nuclear transfer embryos, the reprogramming of gene expression is induced by epigenetic mechanisms and does not involve modifications of DNA sequences. In cattle, oocytes with various mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes usually have different ATP content and can further affect the efficiency of in vitro production of embryos. As mtDNA comes from the recipient oocyte during SCNT and is regulated by genes in the donor nucleus, it is a perfect model to investigate the interaction between donor nuclei and host oocytes in SCNT. Results We investigated whether the in vitro development of reconstructed bovine embryos produced by SCNT would be influenced by mtDNA haplotype compatibility between the oocytes and donor cells. Embryos from homotype A-A or B-B showed significantly higher developmental ability at blastocyst stages than the heterotype A-B or B-A combinations. Post-implantation development ability, pregnancy rate up to day 90 of gestation, as well as percent of term births were higher in the homotype SCNT groups than in the heterotype groups. In addition, homotype and heterotype SCNT embryos showed different methylation patterns of histone 3-lysine 9 (H3K9) genome-wide and at pluripotency-related genes (Oct-4, Sox-2, Nanog). Conclusion Both histone and DNA methylation show that homotype SCNT blastocysts have a more successful epigenetic asymmetry pattern than heterotype SCNT blastocysts, which indicates more complete nuclear reprogramming. This may result from variability in their epigenetic patterns and responses to nuclear reprogramming. This suggests that the compatibility of mtDNA haplotypes between donor cells and host oocytes can significantly affect the developmental competence of reconstructed embryos in SCNT, and may include an epigenetic mechanism.

microRNA (miRNA) is a class of non-coding small RNA molecules with roughly 22 nucleotides in length, regulating gene expression on post-transcriptional level and playing an important role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis process. Based on the conservation of miRNAs sequence, we compared the known miRNAs among five mammals, i.e., human, mouse, cattle, pig and dog with the sequence of sheep genome that is highly homologous to goat genome, published on the NCBI, and 11 candidate miRNAs were eventually obtained. RT-PCR analysis showed the expression of the 11 miRNAs in brain and 5 in liver, indicating that they might be novel miRNAs. The methodology provides an alternative approach to the exploration of new miRNAs in goat.

Camellia oil is widely used in some parts of the world partly because of its high oxidative stability. The effect of heating a refined camellia oil for 1 h at 120 degrees C or 2 h at 170 degrees C with exogenous antioxidant, namely, caffeic acid and tyrosol, was studied. Parameters used to assess the effect of heating were peroxide and K values, volatile formation, and fatty acid profile. Of these, volatile formation was the most sensitive index of change as seen in the number of volatiles and the total area count of volatiles in gas chromatograms. Hexanal was generally the dominant volatile in treated and untreated samples with a concentration of 2.13 and 5.34 mg kg(-1) in untreated oils heated at 120 and 170 degrees C, respectively. The hexanal content was significantly reduced in heated oils to which tyrosol and/or caffeic acid had been added. Using volatile formation as an index of oxidation, tyrosol was the more effective antioxidant of these compounds. This is contradictory to generally accepted antioxidant structure-activity relationships. Changes in fatty acid profiles after heating for up to 24 h at 180 degrees C were not significant.