The role of different dietary Zn sources in modulating heat stress-related effects on some thermoregulatory parameters of New Zealand white rabbit bucks

The present work was conducted to assess the effect of diets supplementation to heat-stressed buck rabbits with different zinc (Zn) sources on the thermoregulatory and hematobiochemical parameters, and antioxidant status. A total of 24 mature buck rabbits (32-36 weeks of age) were randomly distributed into four groups (6 each). Group 1, non-heat-stressed control (NHSC), was reared in the absence of heat stress (HS) conditions and received the basal diet only. The other three groups (groups 2, 3 and 4) were kept in HS conditions. Group 2, heat-stressed control (HSC), received the basal diet only. The diet supplemented with 75 mg Zn/kg diet either in the inorganic form (Zn sulfate) or in the organic form (Zn picolinate) for groups 3 and 4, respectively. Zn supplementation to rabbits' diets lowered the heat stress-related increase of serum urea, alanine transaminase and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. These supplementations also increased the concentration of testosterone under HS conditions. Zn picolinate was more effective than Zn sulfate in restoring serum concentrations of urea, testosterone, and MDA. In conclusion, Zn addition to rabbits' diets from different sources, especially Zn picolinate, exhibits an ameliorative effect against the harmful impact of HS on hematobiochemical parameters and antioxidant status.

Effect of dietary supplementation of Bacillus subtilis spores on growth performance, oxidative status, and digestive enzyme activities in Japanese quail birds

The present trial investigated the feeding effect of B. subtilis spores on growth performance, blood metabolites, antioxidative status, and digestive enzyme activities in growing quails. A total of 750 1-day-old Japanese quail chicks were randomly allotted equally into five experimental groups: control (BS0) fed a maize-soybean basal diet with no additives, the others were supplemented with: B. subtilis spores with the levels of 1 × 10³ (BS3), 1 × 10⁵ (BS5), 1 × 10⁷ (BS7), and 1 × 10⁹ (BS9)/kg diet. Quails fed on B. subtilis diets exhibited linearly increasing live body weight and body weight gain and decreased feed-to-gain ratio compared with the control group. Daily feed intake was not significantly altered. Increasing levels of B. subtilis led to a linear increase in serum total protein and albumin levels, and a linear decrease in concentrations of glucose, creatinine, urea-N, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase. Hypolipidemic impact of feeding B. subtilis spores was greatly observed and enhanced by increasing its dietary inclusion level. Triiodothyronine and thyroxine activities were significantly elevated in treated groups. Glutathione content and catalase activities were linearly increased in groups BS7, BS9, and BS5, while lipid peroxidation was decreased in all treatment groups. Duodenal proteolytic, lipolytic, and amylolytic activities as well as nutrient digestibility were linearly increased in treated groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of B. subtilis spores almost at all studied levels was able to promote the antioxidative status and digestive enzymes activities, while only the high concentrations (BS7 and BS9) could improve the nutrient digestion and growth performance of growing Japanese quail.

NIR spectroscopy-multivariate analysis for discrimination and bioactive compounds prediction of different Citrus species peels

Near Infrared (NIR) method combined with chemometrics was utilized to achieve the target of deeper insight into the chemical diversity and to discriminate the different species and chemovarieties of Citrus peels. Unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were used for comparing of samples. A clear separation among the eight investigated species and cultivars was revealed, except for the red and white C. paradisi peels samples. Furthermore, fingerprint-bioflavonoids content relationship was modeled by partial least squares regression. A practical approach based on reflectance NIR measurements and partial least squares regression (PLSR) was demonstrated for quantitative determination of the bioflavonoids hesperidin and diosmin and compared to other reported methods. The regression coefficients (R²) between predicted values and pre-determined hesperidin and diosmin content were >0.98, indicating the possibility to simultaneously quantify hesperidin and diosmin in Citrus samples directly from NIR measurements using an adequate PLS regression. Citrus sinensis followed by Citrus reticulata samples were found the most enriched in the bioflavonoids hesperidin and diosmin. NIR-multivariate analysis can therefore be used for discrimination of different varieties and selection of citrus species with desired amounts of specific bioflavonoids which could successfully be analyzed in such complex plant matrices which can prove useful for further pharmaceutical implementation.

Rapid Authentication and Quality Evaluation of Cinnamomum verum Powder Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Multivariate Analyses

Parallel to the growing global interest in alternative medical therapies, high measures of counterfeit pharmaceuticals enter the global market and, therefore, detection of such marketed products is essential. This article throws an illuminating spot on the adulteration of Cinnamomum verum (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) with Cinnamomum cassia and exhaustively extracted C. verum. A speedy and nondestructive near-infrared method in conjunction with the mathematical tools of chemometrics was used to distinguish between genuine cinnamon and its common adulterants. The principal component analysis and the hierarchical cluster analysis models successfully discriminated between unadulterated and adulterated samples. In the second part of the work, soft independent modeling of class analogy was implemented to construct a chemometric model to authenticate C. verum samples. The constructed model could successfully predict and judge the quality of C. verum powder without any misleading predictions. Finally, partial least squares regression was approached to establish the correlation for adulterated samples regarding their cassia and exhausted cinnamon content. The R2 of calibration and validation were all higher than 0.9, while the root mean square errors were all lower than 0.05, indicating that the established models were successful. Overall, the developed models were shown to have significant potential as time-saving and accurate methods for identification of true cinnamon powder, which can help guarantee both quality aspects of identity and purity of the herbal drug by avoiding its adulteration and could be implemented as a routine screening in its quality control with no need for any sample preparation.

Hepatoprotective effects of Astragalus kahiricus root extract against ethanol-induced liver apoptosis in rats

The hepatoprotective activity of the ethanol extract of Astragalus kahiricus (Fabaceae) roots against ethanol-induced liver apoptosis was evaluated and it showed very promising hepatoprotective actions through different mechanisms. The extract counteracted the ethanol-induced liver enzymes leakage and glutathione depletion. In addition, it demonstrated anti-apoptotic effects against caspase-3 activation and DNA fragmentation that were confirmed by liver histopathological examination. Moreover, the phytochemical study of this extract led to the isolation of four cycloartane-type triterpenes identified as astrasieversianin II (1), astramembrannin II (2), astrasieversianin XIV (3), and cycloastragenol (4). The structures of these isolates were established by HRESI-MS and 1D and 2D NMR experiments. The antimicrobial, antimalarial, and cytotoxic activities of the isolates were further evaluated, but none of them showed any activity.