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Surzenko N, Bastidas J, Reid RW, Curaba J, Zhang W, Bostan H, Wilson M, Dominique A, Roberson J, Ignacio G, Komarnytsky S, Sanders A, Lambirth K, Brouwer CR, El-Khodor BF. Functional recovery following traumatic brain injury in rats is enhanced by oral supplementation with bovine thymus extract. FASEB J 2024; 38:e23460. [PMID: 38315443 DOI: 10.1096/fj.202301859r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. There are currently no effective treatments for TBI, and trauma survivors suffer from a variety of long-lasting health consequences. With nutritional support recently emerging as a vital step in improving TBI patients' outcomes, we sought to evaluate the potential therapeutic benefits of nutritional supplements derived from bovine thymus gland, which can deliver a variety of nutrients and bioactive molecules. In a rat model of controlled cortical impact (CCI), we determined that animals supplemented with a nuclear fraction of bovine thymus (TNF) display greatly improved performance on beam balance and spatial memory tests following CCI. Using RNA-Seq, we identified an array of signaling pathways that are modulated by TNF supplementation in rat hippocampus, including those involved in the process of autophagy. We further show that bovine thymus-derived extracts contain antigens found in neural tissues and that supplementation of rats with thymus extracts induces production of serum IgG antibodies against neuronal and glial antigens, which may explain the enhanced animal recovery following CCI through possible oral tolerance mechanism. Collectively, our data demonstrate, for the first time, the potency of a nutritional supplement containing nuclear fraction of bovine thymus in enhancing the functional recovery from TBI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Surzenko
- Nutrition Innovation Center, Standard Process, Inc., Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - Robert W Reid
- College of Computing and Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Julien Curaba
- Eremid Genomic Services, LLC, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Wei Zhang
- Nutrition Innovation Center, Standard Process, Inc., Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Hamed Bostan
- Eremid Genomic Services, LLC, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Mickey Wilson
- Nutrition Innovation Center, Standard Process, Inc., Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Ashley Dominique
- Nutrition Innovation Center, Standard Process, Inc., Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Julia Roberson
- Nutrition Innovation Center, Standard Process, Inc., Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Glicerio Ignacio
- David H. Murdock Research Institute, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Slavko Komarnytsky
- Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, Plants for Human Health Institute, North Carolina State University, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Alexa Sanders
- College of Computing and Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Kevin Lambirth
- College of Computing and Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Cory R Brouwer
- College of Computing and Informatics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
| | - Bassem F El-Khodor
- Nutrition Innovation Center, Standard Process, Inc., Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA
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