Vitexin of Ficus deltoidea exhibits intestinal α-glucosidase inhibitory and blood glucose lowering effects. This study designs oral intestinal-specific alginate nanoparticulate system of vitexin. Nanospray-dried alginate, alginate/stearic acid and alginate-C18 conjugate nanoparticles were prepared. Stearic acid was adopted to hydrophobize the matrix and minimize premature vitexin release in stomach, whereas C-18 conjugate as immobilized fatty acid to sustain hydrophobic effect and drug release. Nanoparticles were compacted with polyethylene glycol (PEG 3000, 10,000 and 20,000). The physicochemical, drug release, in vivo blood glucose lowering and intestinal vitexin content of nanoparticles and compact were determined. Hydrophobization of alginate nanoparticles promoted premature vitexin release. Compaction of nanoparticles with PEG minimized vitexin release in the stomach, with stearic acid loaded nanoparticles exhibiting a higher vitexin release in the intestine. The introduction of stearic acid reduced vitexin-alginate interaction, conferred alginate-stearic acid mismatch, and dispersive stearic acid-induced particle breakdown with intestinal vitexin release. Use of PEG 10,000 in compaction brought about PEG-nanoparticles interaction that negated initial vitexin release. The PEG dissolution in intestinal phase subsequently enabled particle breakdown and vitexin release. The PEG compacted nanoparticles exhibited oral intestinal-specific vitexin release, with positive blood glucose lowering and enhanced intestinal vitexin content in vivo.
We identified and characterized a new cosmocercid nematode species, Cosmocercoides wuyiensis n. sp., through microscopic examination and sequencing of the partial small ribosomal RNA gene (18S rDNA), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) genes. The new species was isolated from the intestine of the Asiatic frog Amolops wuyiensis Liu and Hu, 1975 captured from four localities of the Anhui province in south-east China. Among the 25 recorded species of the Cosmocercoides genus, the morphology of C. wuyiensis n. sp. is closest to that of C. kiliwai and C. malayensis, which were isolated from various Mexican frog and Malaysian lizard species, respectively. However, C. wuyiensis n. sp. displayed several distinguishing features, such as small size of the male body, two spicules of unequal lengths in the male, small gubernaculum, pre-, ad- and post-cloacal caudal rosette papillae in the ratio of 18-24:2:6 and simple papillae in the ratio of 14:multiple:4, circle and number of punctation in each rosette at 1:11-16, sharply conical tail-end and the presence of lateral alae and somatic papillae in both sexes. BLAST and the phylogenetic analyses of the 18S rDNA and ITS sequences indicated that C. wuyiensis n. sp. belonged to the genus Cosmocercoides, while that of the COI gene sequence of C. wuyiensis n. sp. showed 16.36% nucleotide divergence with C. pulcher and 47.99% nucleotide divergence with C. qingtianensis. The morphological and molecular characterization of C. wuyiensis n. sp. provides new taxonomic data for this genus.
To better understand gene expression in the intestine after Shewanella algae infection and provide insights into its immune roles in the tongue sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis, sequencing-based high-throughput RNA analysis (RNA-Seq) for the intestines between the control group and 12 h post-injection group was performed. After assembly, there was an average of 23,957,159 raw sequencing reads, and 23,943,491 clean reads were obtained after filtering out low-quality reads. Then, 383 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the intestines in response to S. algae infection were identified. Subsequently, gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses of the DEGs were conducted to further explore their functions. Among all of the pathways involved, sixteen pathways were related to the immune system, among which the complement and coagulation cascades pathway was the most prominent for immunity-related DEGs, followed by the leukocyte transendothelial migration pathway. Furthermore, the expression levels of twelve selected DEGs in the immune-related pathways were identified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, substantiating the reliability and reproducibility of the RNA-Seq results. In summary, this study represents an important genomic resource for understanding the potential immune role of the tongue sole intestine from the perspective of gene expression.
The study investigated the alleviated effects of Alpha-ketoglutaric acid (AKG) on the intestinal health of mirror carp (Cyprinus carpio Songpu) caused by soy antigenic protein. The diets were formulated from fishmeal (CON), 50% soybean meal (SBM), the mixture of glycinin and β-conglycinin (11 + 7S) and adding 1% AKG in the 11 + 7S (AKG). Carp (~ 4 g) in triplicate (30 fish per tank) was fed to apparent satiation thrice a day for six weeks. Compared with CON, SBM treatment resulted in significantly poor growth performance (P 0.05). Gene expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 β (IL-1β) in proximal intestines (PI) and distal intestines (DI) were increased (P
The fish health status and parasitic infection in paddy fields are understudied in Borneo. This study was done to compare the prevalence and abundance of parasites on freshwater fishes in the upstream and downstream rivers of paddy fields. Parasite study on freshwater fishes was done by collecting live fish samples using ten minnow traps with baits at each site in Serian and Padawan, Sarawak, from October 2017 until March 2018. A total of 120 freshwater fishes were examined during this study period. Cold anaesthesia was applied on live samples prior to ectoparasite and endoparasite microscopic screening, which involved scraping of outer body mucous and removal of fish intestines, respectively. No ectoparasites were recovered from the fish samples. A total of 19 (15.83%) fishes from Cyprinids were infected with endoparasites. From these, 58 individuals of endoparasites were recovered. Two groups of parasites, namely Nematoda (Cucullanus sp.) and Trematoda (unidentified), were recovered from the fish intestines. From this study, there was a significant difference between the upstream fishes and downstream fishes in their endoparasite infection at both Triboh Village (p = 0.035) and Annah Rais Village (p = 1.445 × 10-6) using two samples t-test. The endoparasite abundance in fish was higher in the streams where there was less human disturbance. This study may serve as a baseline study on the parasitic infections of freshwater fishes in streams near paddy fields or other agricultural area in Sarawak.
Small bowel phytobezoars are rare and almost always obstructive. There have been previously reported cases of phytobezoars in the literature, however there are few reports on radiological findings for small bowel bezoars. Barium studies characteristically show an intraluminal filling defect of variable size that is not fixed to the bowel wall with barium filling the interstices giving a mottled appearance. On CT scan, the presence of a round or ovoid intraluminal mass with a 'mottled gas' pattern is believed to be pathognomonic. Since features on CT scans are characteristics and physical findings are of little assistance in the diagnosis of bezoar, the diagnostic value of CT needs to be emphasised.
Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) have been widely used as an infection model for mammalian related pathogens with promising results. The bacterial factors required for virulence in non-mammalian host C. elegans play a role in mammalian systems. Previous reported that Salmonella found in vegetable and poultry meat could be potential health hazards to human. This study evaluated the pathogenicity of various serovars of Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) that recovered from local indigenous vegetables and poultry meat using C. elegans as a simple host model. Almost all S. enterica isolates were capable of colonizing the intestine of C. elegans, causing a significant reduction in the survival of nematodes. The colonization of Salmonella in C. elegans revealed that the ability of S. enterica in killing C. elegans correlates with its accumulation in the intestine to achieve full pathogenicity. Using this model, the virulence mechanisms of opportunistic pathogenic S. enterica were found to be not only relevant for the interactions of the bacteria with C. elegans but also with mammalian hosts including humans. Hence, C. elegans model could provide valuable insight into preliminary factors from the host that contributes to the environmental bacterial pathogenesis scenario.
The parasitic protozoan fauna in sixty-six anurans comprising of Duttaphrynus melanostictus, Phrynoidis juxtaspera, Hylarana erythraea and Polypedates leucomystax collected from Zoo Negara Malaysia was investigated. The distribution and prevalence rate of parasitic species in the digestive tract and blood were examined. Seven species of intestinal protozoa (Opalina ranarum, Cepedea dimidiata, Nycthetorus cordiformis, Entamoeba ranarum, Iodamoeba butschlii, Endamoeba blattae, and Tritrichomonas sp.) and two species of blood protozoa (Lankesterella sp. and Trypanosoma sp.) were recorded. Opalina ranarum was the most common protozoan found in the rectum and intestine (prevalence rate: 34.8%) infecting all host species, with P. juxtaspera heavily infected with the parasite, whereas Tritrichomonas sp. was the least prevalent intestinal species infecting only D. melanostictus. Both Lankesterella sp. and Trypanosoma sp. were found in the blood of H. erythraea.