Quantifying morphologies of developing neuronal cells using deep learning with imperfect annotations

The functionality of human intelligence relies on the interaction and health of neurons, hence, quantifying neuronal morphologies can be crucial for investigating the functionality of the human brain. This paper proposes a deep learning (DL) based method for segmenting and quantifying neuronal structures in fluorescence microscopy images of developing neuronal cells cultured in vitro. Compared to the majority of supervised DL-based segmentation methods that heavily rely on creating exact corresponding masks of neuronal structures for the preparation of training samples, the proposed approach allows for imperfect annotation of neurons, as it only requires tracing the centrelines of the neurites. This ability accelerates the preparation of training data by several folds. Our proposed framework is built on a modified version of PSPNet with an EfficientNet backbone pre-trained on the CityScapes dataset. To handle the imperfectness of training samples, we incorporated a weighted combination of two loss functions, namely the Dice loss and Lovász loss functions, into our network. We evaluated the proposed framework and several other state-of-the-art methods on a published dataset of approximately 900 manually quantified cultured mouse neurons. Our results indicate a close correlation between the proposed method and manual quantification in terms of neuron length and the number of branches while demonstrating improved analysis speed. Furthermore, the proposed method achieved high accuracy in neuron segmentation, as evidenced by the evaluation of the neurons' length and number of branches.

Post-harvest ultraviolet irradiation induces changes in physical-chemical properties and levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and gene expression in mulberry fruit

BACKGROUND

Earlier studies reported that post-harvest ultraviolet (UV) irradiation could increase the health-promoting compounds in fruit but the effects of UV irradiation on the reduction of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content in mulberries remain less known. Black mulberry fruit were exposed to two UV illumination dosages (3.5 and 7 kJ m-2 ) and were stored for 4, 8, and 12 days.

RESULTS

Mulberries treated in this way displayed higher antioxidant enzyme activity and phenolic compound content in comparison with a control condition. The transcription factors (TFs) MdoMYB121, MdoMYB155, MdbZIP2, and MdbZIP48 were strongly expressed in two UV illumination dosages (about 45-95% higher than the control). The fluorine (Flu) and naphthalene (Nap) content in treated fruit decreased by 21-85% in comparison with the control condition.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study indicate that UV irradiation can be considered as a promising technique to remove some PAHs in black mulberries, to increase their health-promoting potential, and indirectly to improve their aesthetic quality due to the resulting desirable color parameters. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Evaluation of hackberry (Celtis australis L.) fruits as sources of bioactive compounds

Hackberry (Celtis australis L.) is native to the Mediterranean region and is distributed in Europe, Turkey, North Africa, and Iran. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted on C. australis L. in the Arasbaran region, Iran. In the present study, total phenol (TP), flavonoid (TF), antioxidant capacity based on DPPH and FRAP assays and phenolic compounds and sugars profiles were investigated. According to the results, the range of antioxidant capacity based on DPPH and FRAP assays was 14.12-88.24% and 44.35-117.87 mg Fe²⁺/100 g, respectively. Also, the range of gallic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, rutin, p-coumaric acid, rosmaric acid, cinnamic acid, and apigenin content was 2.59-26.32, 2.03-9.32, 0.94-11.35, 1.80-4.857, 2.32-9.52, 4.74-51.38, 0.18-2.10 and 0.27-1.37 mg/g, respectively. The results of factor analysis showed that the C12, C14, C15, C20, C8, C16, C3, and C20 genotypes are positively characterized by the first principal component (PCA1) that have a higher caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, rutin, p-coumaric acid, rosmaric acid, quercetin, cinnamic acid, and apigenin phenolic compounds. Based on cluster analysis, the twenty genotypes were located in 2 main clusters. In general, the obtained results can be useful for breeding programs and the introduction of cultivars in Celtis australis L.

Cardiac telomere attrition following changes in the expression of shelterin genes in pulmonary hypertensive chickens

1. The alterations of relative telomere length and expression of shelterin genes (TRF1, TRF2, RAP1, POT1, and TPP1) were evaluated from the chickens' right heart ventricle in the early and last stages of cold-induced pulmonary hypertension (PHS) at 21 and 42 d of age.2. The relative telomere length in the right ventricular tissues was significantly shorter in the PHS group of broilers than in the control group at 42 d, but did not statistically change at 21 d of age. There was a significant negative correlation between relative telomere length and RV:TV ratio in the broilers at 42 d of age.3. The relative expression of POT1, RAP1 and TPP1 genes in the right ventricular tissues was significantly lower in the PHS group than in the control group at 21 d. The relative expression of the TRF2 gene was only higher in the PHS group of broilers than control at 42 d. The mRNA level of the TRF2 gene exhibited a significant positive correlation with RV:TV ratio at 42 d.4. It was concluded that most shelterin genes are dysregulated in the early stage of PHS (right ventricular hypertrophy) while telomere attrition occurs only at the last stage (heart dilation/failure).

An Expanded MLP Neural Network for Fast Angiodysplasia Lesions Segmentation in Capsule Endoscopy Images

In this paper, an expanded multilayer perceptron (EMLP) neural network is proposed to automatically segment angiodysplasia regions in wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) images The main idea is to minimize the distance between the input image and the corresponding binary ground truth, i.e., the mask image. After the training phase, when a test image is given to the network, the lesion pixels will be close to “one” and the other pixels will be close to “zero” and finally, the lesion area can be segmented using thresholding. Since angiodysplasia lesions appear in images with different spectrums of red color, the classical MLP neural network cannot be trained with a wide range of red color, hence leads to undesirable network accuracy. To solve this problem, we proposed an EMLP neural network for image segmentation. In the EMLP neural network, neurons are divided into several groups, each of which is for learning a spectrum of the lesion. The EMLP is able to learn a wider range of red colors. The proposed method is able to segment WCE images containing angiodysplasia faster than the existing methods. Our investigation shows that our method also outperforms existing methods in terms of segmentation scores.

Using a Blur Metric to Estimate Linear Motion Blur Parameters

Motion blur is a common artifact in image processing, specifically in e-health services, which is caused by the motion of a camera or scene. In linear motion cases, the blur kernel, i.e., the function that simulates the linear motion blur process, depends on the length and direction of blur, called linear motion blur parameters. The estimation of blur parameters is a vital and sensitive stage in the process of reconstructing a sharp version of a motion blurred image, i.e., image deblurring. The estimation of blur parameters can also be used in e-health services. Since medical images may be blurry, this method can be used to estimate the blur parameters and then take an action to enhance the image. In this paper, some methods are proposed for estimating the linear motion blur parameters based on the extraction of features from the given single blurred image. The motion blur direction is estimated using the Radon transform of the spectrum of the blurred image. To estimate the motion blur length, the relation between a blur metric, called NIDCT (Noise-Immune Discrete Cosine Transform-based), and the motion blur length is applied. Experiments performed in this study showed that the NIDCT blur metric and the blur length have a monotonic relation. Indeed, an increase in blur length leads to increase in the blurriness value estimated via the NIDCT blur metric. This relation is applied to estimate the motion blur. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated by performing some quantitative and qualitative experiments.

A Computer-Aided Method for Digestive System Abnormality Detection in WCE Images

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a powerful tool for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases. The output of this tool is in video with a length of about eight hours, containing about 8000 frames. It is a difficult task for a physician to review all of the video frames. In this paper, a new abnormality detection system for WCE images is proposed. The proposed system has four main steps: (1) preprocessing, (2) region of interest (ROI) extraction, (3) feature extraction, and (4) classification. In ROI extraction, at first, distinct areas are highlighted and nondistinct areas are faded by using the joint normal distribution; then, distinct areas are extracted as an ROI segment by considering a threshold. The main idea is to extract abnormal areas in each frame. Therefore, it can be used to extract various lesions in WCE images. In the feature extraction step, three different types of features (color, texture, and shape) are employed. Finally, the features are classified using the support vector machine. The proposed system was tested on the Kvasir-Capsule dataset. The proposed system can detect multiple lesions from WCE frames with high accuracy.

Changes in the expression of cardiac genes responsive to thyroid hormones in the chickens with cold-induced pulmonary hypertension

Cold stress is an environmental cause of pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS) in broiler chickens. This factor could increase the rate of metabolic activity via thyroid hormones (T3 and T4). To evaluate the effect of these hormones on the heart, the plasma concentration of T3, T4, and the gene expression of their receptors (THRα and THRβ) and many contractile proteins (ACTC1, MHCα, MHCβ, RYR2, SERCA2, THRα, THRβ, and troponin I) were measured in the right ventricle in 2 periods of age (21 and 35 d). Plasma T3 concentration was significantly higher in the PHS group of chickens than in the control one at 21 and 35 d while plasma T4 did not change. The relative expression of MHCα, RYR2, SERCA2, and THRα genes in the right ventricle tissues was only higher in PHS group of broilers than control group at 21 d (P < 0.05) whereas the expression of ACTC1, MHCβ, and troponin I did not differ at 2 periods of age. The positive correlations between MHCα, RYR2, SERCA2, and T3, THRα were confirmed. The expression of THRβ gene was only higher in PHS group of broilers than control at 35 d (P < 0.05). The data determined that cold stress could increase thyroid hormones and the gene expression of their receptor (THRα) in the pick of chicken growth (21 d) that they themselves elevates the expression of many genes related to contractile elements (MHCα, RYR2, and SERCA2), leading to adaptive right ventricle hypertrophy.

Treatment Failure in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Patients Referred to the School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences during 2008-2017

Background:

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a vector borne disease predominantly found in tropical and subtropical countries, including Iran. For more than 6 decades, pentavalent antimonials have been used successfully worldwide for the treatment of leishmaniasis, but over the past few years, clinical resistance to these medications has increased. In this study, we evaluated CL patients who did not show any desirable responses to the anti-leishmanial treatment within a 10-year period (2008 to 2017).

Methods:

All patients from different parts of Iran suspected of having cutaneous leishmaniasis, who were referred to the laboratory of leishmaniosis in Tehran University of Medical Sciences from 2008–2017 were parasitological examined.

Results:

During this period, a total of 1480 suspected CL patients were referred to the laboratory of leishmaniosis. Samples from 655 patients (70.8%) suspected of having CL were positive microscopically. The failure rate in patients treated with anti-leishmaniasis medications for a minimum of three complete treatment periods was 1.83% (12 cases). There was no association between the number and size of skin lesions and patient characteristics. Also, the route of drug administration had no significant effect on the number and size of lesions.

Conclusion:

In the present study, treatment failure was found in some confirmed CL patients treated with meglumine antimoniate. Over the past few years, it seems that had been increased in resistance to these medications. So, a review of the correct implementation of the treatment protocol and/or a combination therapy may be helpful in preventing an increase in the rate of treatment failure.

Physiological, biochemical and gene-expressional responses to water deficit in apple subjected to partial root-zone drying (PRD)

Water scarcity is one of the major factors limiting apple production. Partial root-zone drying (PRD) is a water-saving irrigation technique necessary to improve the efficiency of irrigation techniques to optimize the amount of fruit produced with the volume of water used. The apple trees cv. Red Delicious were exposed to four treatments, including (1) control with 100% of the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) needs; (2) alternate partial root-zone drying with 75% of the ETc needs (APRD75); (3) fixed partial root-zone drying with 75% of the ETc needs (FPRD75); (4) fixed partial root-zone irrigation with 50% of the ETc needs (FPRD50) in a semiarid region of Iran. Results showed that leaf water potential (Ψ _leaf), and chlorophyll were significantly decreased in FPRD50 compared to control and other PRD treatments. APRD75 and FPRD75 treatments significantly enhanced (+) -catechin (+C), epicatechin (EC), chlorogenic acid (CGA), caffeic acid (CA) as well as increased water use efficiency (WUE) (by 30-40% compared to control) without significant reduction of yield. PRD reduced gibberellic acid (GA3) and kinetin, while, increased the abscisic acid (ABA) and salicylic acid (SA) levels. The abiotic stress-responsive transcription factors (TFs) MdoMYB121, MdoMYB155, MdbZIP2, and MdbZIP48 were highly expressed in all PRD treatments. Our results demonstrated that APRD75 and FPRD75 have the potential to stimulate antioxidant defense mechanisms, hormonal signaling pathways, and expression of drought-tolerance TFs to improve WUE while maintaining crop yield. Therefore, APRD75andFPRD75 with water savings as compared to full irrigation might be a suitable strategy for irrigation apple trees under water scarcity.

Differential expression of genes implicated in liver lipid metabolism in broiler chickens differing in weight

1. Lipid parameters and expression of ACACA, APOA1, CPT1A, FASN, FOXO1, LIPG, PPARα and SIRT1 genes involved in lipid metabolism were investigated in two groups of high (HW) and low (LW) weight broilers from the same strain.2. Blood cholesterol and liver triglyceride levels were significantly increased in HW chickens compared to LW broilers, while other parameters, i.e. blood triglyceride, blood HDL/LDL, liver cholesterol and total liver fat showed no significant changes in either group.3. The relative expression of ACACA, APOA1 and CPT1A genes was significantly lower in the liver tissues of HW broilers than in the LW group. The mRNA levels of these three genes showed a significant negative correlation with abdominal fat deposition and live weight of broilers. However, relative expression of FASN, FOXO1, LIPG, PPARα and SIRT1 hepatic genes did not differ among broilers.4. It was concluded that, of eight hepatic genes implicated in lipid metabolism, only the expression of three (ACACA, APOA1 and CPT1A) were significant for fat and leanness within the same strain of chicken. Since reducing body fat is a major goal in the broiler industry, these data can provide fresh insight into the molecular processes underlying the regulation of fat deposition in broilers.

Brain renin-angiotensin system in broiler chickens with cold-induced pulmonary hypertension

1. The relative expression of angiotensinogen (AGT), renin, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT₁R) was determined using quantitative real-time PCR on tissue from the brain (forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain) to investigate the effect of cold-induced pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS) in broilers aged 42 days. Brain angiotensin II (Ang II) and AT₁R levels were measured using enzyme immunoassay. 2. The right ventricle/total ventricles (RV/TV) ratio of the heart was increased in broilers exposed to cold stress (PHS group) at the end of the experiment. 3. ACE and renin transcripts in three parts of the brain were significantly increased in the PHS group at 42 d of age compared to controls while AGT transcript was significantly increased only in the hindbrain of PHS birds. The amount of AT1R transcript did not differ between control and PHS groups. 4. The amount of Ang II significantly decreased only in the midbrain of PHS birds compared with controls while the amounts of AT₁R were not different between treatments in the three segments of the brain. 5. It was concluded that brain gene expression of AGT (in the hindbrain), renin, and ACE was upregulated in broilers with PHS whereas Ang II and AT1R levels were not changed. These results provided evidence of diminished involvement of the renin-angiotensin system in the pathogenesis of chicken pulmonary hypertension.

Role of Selenium from Different Sources in Prevention of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Syndrome in Broiler Chickens

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) syndrome in broilers is associated with hypoxia, which prevails at high altitude. Oxidative stress is the pathogenic mechanism underlying PAH. Because selenium is key element in the structure of antioxidant enzymes, we evaluated pulmonary hypertensive responses in broiler chickens fed with diets supplemented with organic or nano-selenium. One hundred forty-four broilers (starting at 5 days old) were fed with (i) control group: birds received a standard diet; (ii) nano-selenium group: birds were fed with basal diet supplemented with nano-selenium at 0.3 mg/kg; and (iii) organic selenium group: birds received basal diet supplemented with organic selenium at 0.3 mg/kg. We assessed growth performance, carcass characteristics, antioxidant variables, blood parameters, and small intestine morphology. Although Se supplementation did not affect growth performance, carcass traits, and organ weight (P > 0.05), the right to total ventricular weight ratio (RV:TV), malondialdehyde concentration in the liver, and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio were significantly lower in the nano-selenium group relative to the control (P < 0.05). Chickens that received nano-selenium also elicited significantly higher antibody titers after 24 h of an injection of sheep red blood cells (P < 0.05). Nano-selenium supplementation also significantly increased villus height, absorptive surface area, and lamina propria thickness relative to the control (P < 0.05) in different segments of the small intestine. In contrast, organic selenium supplement improved intestinal morphometry only in the jejunum. We conclude that dietary supplementation of 0.30 mg/kg nano-selenium could prevent right ventricular hypertrophy as reflected by reduced RV:TV, reduced levels of lipid peroxidation in the liver, and improved gut function.

Wild Rodent Ectoparasites Collected from Northwestern Iran

BACKGROUND

Rodents play an important role as reservoir of some pathogens, and the host of some ectoparasites as well. These ectoparasites can transmit rodents' pathogens to human or animals. The aim of this study was to assess the distribution and infestation load of ectoparasites on rodents in Meshkin-Shahr District, northwestern Iran.

METHODS

Rodents were captured using baited live traps in spring 2014 from Meshkin-Shahr District and were transferred to the laboratory for identification to the species level. Their ectoparasites were collected, mounted and identified.

RESULTS

Three rodent species including Meriones persicus (74%), Mus musculus (16.9%) and Cricetulus migratorius (9%) were identified. Among all rodents, 185 specimens (90.69%) were infested with a total of 521 ectoparasites. Overall, 10 arthropods species were collected, including fleas (97.6%), one mite (1.6%) and one louse species (0.6%) as follows: Xenopsylla nubica, X. astia, X. buxtoni, X. cheopis, Nosopsyllus fasciatus, N. iranus, Ctenocephalides felis, Ctenophthalmus rettigismiti, Ornithonyssus sp and one species of genus Polyplax. The most prevalent ectoparasites species was X. nubica (89%).

CONCLUSION

Nearly all rodent species were infested with Xenopsylla species. Monitoring of ectoparasites on infested rodents is very important for awareness and early warning towards control of arthropod-borne diseases.

Pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure in broiler chickens reared at high altitude is affected by dietary source of n-6 and n-3 fatty acids

The present study evaluated the development of pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure in broiler chickens reared at high altitude (2100 m) as affected by dietary intake of n-3 and n-6 fatty acid sources. Flax oil and soy oil were used as sources of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids, respectively, either with or without α-tocopheryl acetate. A total of 192 day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used in a completely randomized design using isoenergetic and isonitrogenous experimental diets. Results showed that dietary flax oil significantly (p < 0.05) improved feed conversion ratio during 21-42 days of age. However, body weight gain did not significantly differ among the experimental groups in entire trial. Birds received flax oil had significantly higher serum concentration of nitric oxide (NO) but they had lower serum concentration of malondialdehyde when compared with their counterparts fed with soy oil. Liver and abdominal fat weights were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced by substitution of soy oil for flax oil. The right-to-total ventricle weight ratio (RV/TV) and mortality from pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in birds that received flax oil. In conclusion, n-3 fatty acids could significantly reduce RV:TV and PAH mortality in birds by increasing circulatory level of NO and suppressing hepatic lipogenesis.

An intelligent approach for variable size segmentation of non-stationary signals

In numerous signal processing applications, non-stationary signals should be segmented to piece-wise stationary epochs before being further analyzed. In this article, an enhanced segmentation method based on fractal dimension (FD) and evolutionary algorithms (EAs) for non-stationary signals, such as electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetoencephalogram (MEG) and electromyogram (EMG), is proposed. In the proposed approach, discrete wavelet transform (DWT) decomposes the signal into orthonormal time series with different frequency bands. Then, the FD of the decomposed signal is calculated within two sliding windows. The accuracy of the segmentation method depends on these parameters of FD. In this study, four EAs are used to increase the accuracy of segmentation method and choose acceptable parameters of the FD. These include particle swarm optimization (PSO), new PSO (NPSO), PSO with mutation, and bee colony optimization (BCO). The suggested methods are compared with other most popular approaches (improved nonlinear energy operator (INLEO), wavelet generalized likelihood ratio (WGLR), and Varri's method) using synthetic signals, real EEG data, and the difference in the received photons of galactic objects. The results demonstrate the absolute superiority of the suggested approach.

L-arginine supplementation of reduced-protein diets improves pulmonary hypertensive response in broiler chickens reared at high altitude

This study was conducted at high altitude (2100 m above sea level). A total of 208 d-old male broilers (Ross 308) were randomised across 16 floor pens and reared up to 42 d. A normal-protein diet (NPD) was formulated according to the National Research Council. A reduced-protein diet (RPD) was prepared with dietary protein reduced by 30 g/kg relative to that of the NPD. Two additional diets were prepared by adding 2 and 4 g L-arginine (ARG)/kg to the RPD. At the end of trial (42 d), blood sampling was done and carcass characteristics were recorded. ARG supplementation of the RPD at 4 g improved feed:gain in the growing stage and throughout the trial compared with the RPD. The right-to-total ventricular weight ratio was significantly increased in birds fed on RPD compared with those fed on NPD or ARG-supplemented RPD. Feeding RPD caused a significant decrease in plasma concentrations of nitric oxide (NO) and uric acid. Plasma NO level, however, was restored by ARG supplementation of RPD. ARG supplementation of RPD, however, significantly reduced the rate of pulmonary hypertension syndrome mortality compared to the negative control fed on RPD.

An intelligent approach for variable size segmentation of non-stationary signals

In numerous signal processing applications, non-stationary signals should be segmented to piece-wise stationary epochs before being further analyzed. In this article, an enhanced segmentation method based on fractal dimension (FD) and evolutionary algorithms (EAs) for non-stationary signals, such as electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetoencephalogram (MEG) and electromyogram (EMG), is proposed. In the proposed approach, discrete wavelet transform (DWT) decomposes the signal into orthonormal time series with different frequency bands. Then, the FD of the decomposed signal is calculated within two sliding windows. The accuracy of the segmentation method depends on these parameters of FD. In this study, four EAs are used to increase the accuracy of segmentation method and choose acceptable parameters of the FD. These include particle swarm optimization (PSO), new PSO (NPSO), PSO with mutation, and bee colony optimization (BCO). The suggested methods are compared with other most popular approaches (improved nonlinear energy operator (INLEO), wavelet generalized likelihood ratio (WGLR), and Varri’s method) using synthetic signals, real EEG data, and the difference in the received photons of galactic objects. The results demonstrate the absolute superiority of the suggested approach.

Electrocardiogram analysis of the normal unanesthetized green peafowl (Pavo muticus)

The aim of this study was to describe normal electrocardiogram (ECG) patterns and values in unanesthetized green peafowl (Pavo muticus). The standard bipolar and augmented unipolar limb leads ECGs were recorded in the birds. The waveforms were analyzed in all leads at 50 mm/sec and at 10 mm = 1 mV to determine P, PR (segment and interval), QRS, ST, QT durations, P, net QRS complex and T amplitudes. The polarity of each waveform was tabulated in all leads. The mean electrical axis (MEA) for the frontal plane was calculated using leads II and III. The mean heart rates were calculated from lead II that was 257.5 ± 5.33 beats/min. The P wave was dominantly positive in all leads. The dominant pattern of waveforms of the QRS complexes were QS in leads II, III, and aVF. In leads I, aVR and aVL, the R pattern was dominant. The T wave was almost positive in leads I, II, and aVF. The average value of the heart MEA was -96.75 ± 3.31°. Description of normal ECG parameters will facilitate a better realizing of ECG changes of unhealthy green peafowls.

Evaluation of endothelial and inducible nitric oxide synthase genes expression in the heart of broiler chickens with experimental pulmonary hypertension

1. To clarify the effect of T(3)-induced pulmonary hypertension on endothelial and inducible nitric oxide synthase (eNOS and iNOS) mRNA expression in the ventricles of the heart, semi quantitative reverse transcription-PCR was performed on total RNAs isolated from broiler chicken hearts after feeding supplementary T(3) (15 mg T3/kg) for 6 weeks. NO metabolites (nitrite/nitrate) of serum were measured. 2. The eNOS and iNOS genes were expressed in the right and left ventricles of control and T(3)-treated broilers at 12, 28 and 49 d of age. The relative amount of eNOS mRNA expression in the right and left ventricles did not significantly differ between control and T(3)-treated broilers at any age. 3. The relative amount of iNOS mRNA expression in the right and left ventricles was lower in T(3)-treated broilers than in control broilers at 49 d of age, but not at 12 or 28 d. 4. The amount of NO metabolites was reduced in the serum of T(3)-treated chickens at 49 d of age when compared with the control. 5. It is concluded that eNOS and iNOS genes are normally expressed in the heart of broilers. It is probable that impaired NO synthesis and reduction of iNOS gene expression in the heart ventricles are involved in the pathophysiology of cardiac function in broilers with pulmonary hypertension.

Oral supplementation with vitamin C improves intestinal mucosa morphology in the pulmonary hypertensive broiler chicken

1. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of added dietary vitamin C on the intestinal mucosa morphology in pulmonary hypertensive broiler chickens. 2. One-day-old chickens were reared at high altitude and treated with 400, 800 or 1200 mg vitamin C/l of drinking water for 48 d. Segments from the duodenum, jejunum and ileum were collected for morphometric analysis. 3. The duodenum and jejunum villus height, width, surface area and lamina propria thickness were greater in the highest vitamin C-treated groups compared to controls. 4. There were significant variations only in villus types of the jejunum and ileum: increased proportions of leaf + tongue-like villi and decreased proportions of convoluted + ridge-like villi at day 36 at the groups with 400 and 800 mg vitamin C/l. 5. It was concluded that vitamin C improves the gut morphology of the pulmonary hypertensive broiler chickens.

Role of nitric oxide produced by constitutive and inducible nitric oxide synthases in the mouse gastric fundus

In the present study, the role of nitric oxide (NO) produced by constitutive and inducible nitric oxide synthases (cNOS and iNOS, resepctively) on the contraction and relaxation of fundus in normal and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated mice was examined. A whole fundic ring isolated from mice pretreated with reserpine was mounted in an organ bath containing Krebs' solution with 0.001 mmol/L atropine. Rings were contracted initially by 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; 0.03 mmol/L) before relaxation was induced using ATP (0.03 mmol/L), ADP (0.03 mmol/L), pentoxifylline (0.002 mmol/L), electrical field stimulation (EFS; 50 V, 1 msec, 50 Hz, 3 min) and L-arginine (0.05 mmol/L). All drugs and EFS induced significant relaxation of isolated rings. The relaxations induced were significantly inhibited by N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 1.0 mmol/L). However, the iNOS inhibitors L-N(6)-(1-iminoethyl) lysine hydrochloride (L-NIL; 1.0 mmol/L) and amino guanidine (AMG; 1.0 mmol/L) had no significant effect on tissue relaxation. Then, the relaxant effects of 0.03 mmol/L ATP were tested on precontracted isolated fundic rings taken from 10 mg/kg LPS-treated animals. The non-selective NOS inhibitor L-NAME (10 mg/kg), the iNOS inhibitors L-NIL (3 mg/kg) and AMG (20 mg/kg) and betamethasone (0.1 mg/kg) were used to examine the role of NO produced by iNOS in the relaxation responses. It was found that the level of contraction induced by 0.03 mmol/L 5-HT in rings isolated from LPS-treated animals was significantly (P < 0.5) less than that in rings from untreated mice. However, precontracted tissues from LPS-treated mice were significantly relaxed by ATP and the relaxation response to ATP was significantly inhibited by L-NIL, ANG and betamethasone, but not by L-NAME. We suggest that, in LPS-treated mice, the production of NO from iNOS produces a reduction in the contractile response, as well as a decrease in NO formation by cNOS, resulting in changes to smooth muscle cell function.

Evaluation of endothelial and inducible nitric oxide synthase mRNA expression in the lung of broiler chickens with developmental pulmonary hypertension due to cold stress

To clarify the effect of cold-induced pulmonary hypertension on endothelial and inducible nitric oxide synthase (eNOS and iNOS) mRNA expression in the lung of broiler chickens, semi quantitative reverse transcription-PCR was performed on total RNAs isolated from lungs of the broiler chickens exposed to 5 weeks of cold stress. The eNOS gene was expressed increasingly with the increasing age during the rearing period. Comparing the treatment group with its related control group eNOS was expressed significantly only at d 21. Expression of iNOS mRNA also increased in both control and treatment groups with increasing age until d 28 and then decreased at d 35 and 42. Comparing the treatment group with its control group, iNOS mRNA level was significantly higher at 21 d of age in the cold-exposed chickens. It was concluded that, although cold exposure could significantly increase eNOS and iNOS gene expression, cold-induced pulmonary hypertension is not associated with significant variations of eNOS and iNOS expression in the lungs of broiler chickens.