Environmental temperature rises are powerful stimuli that can alter both the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA). Heat stress has been shown to harm pregnancy outcomes such as causing spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, growth retardation and stillbirth. Supplementation of bee bread in pregnant rats under heat stress exposure has been shown to improve the pregnancy outcomes. However, whether supplementation of bee bread during heat stress exposure may also reduce the level of the stress hormone, corticosterone has yet been reported. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of bee bread on corticosterone level, progesterone level, oestradiol level and zonation of the adrenal cortex of pregnant rats under heat stress exposure. Pregnant rats were randomly categorised into four groups (n = 6): Control (C: standard feeding), Treatment 1 (T1: 0.5 g bee bread/kg body weight/day), Treatment 2 (T2: standard feeding with heat exposure), and Treatment 3 (T3: 0.5 g bee bread/kg body weight/day with heat exposure). Bee bread (0.5 g/kg body weight/day) was force-fed to pregnant rats through oral gavage beginning on day 0 of pregnancy and continuing until delivery. Heat stress was generated experimentally by putting both T2 and T3 rats in an egg incubator for 45 min daily at a temperature of 43°C till delivery. On a postnatal Day 21, dams were euthanised to assess serum corticosterone, progesterone, oestradiol levels and adrenal gland histology. Rats in the T2 group had a significantly (P < 0.05) increase in the zona fasciculata thickness (94.95 ± 1.55 μm) and higher corticosterone levels (49.57 ± 1.57 ng/mL) compared with control. However, supplementation of bee bread during heat stress was able to show an improvement in adrenal zona fasciculata thickness by decreasing to 79.89 ± 3.08 μm and corticosterone level reduced to 35.31 ± 1.73 ng/mL significantly (P < 0.05). Therefore, these findings may imply that bee bread is effective as a neutralizer in lowering the production of stress hormone.
A 60-day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of palm oil blended with oxidized and non-oxidized fish oil on growth performances, hematology, and non-specific immune response in juvenile Japanese sea bass, Lateolabrax japonicas. Japanese sea bass (1.73 ± 0.01 g) were fed seven experimental diets containing 100 g/kg of dietary lipid in forms of palm oil (10P), fish oil (10F), fish oil blended with palm oil at different ratios, 6:4 (6F4P) and 4:6 (4F6P), oxidized fish oil (10OF), and oxidized fish oil blended with palm oil at different ratios, 6:4 (6OF4P) and 4:6 (4OF6P). After the feeding trial, the following results were illustrated. No significant effects were observed in survival, feed conversion ratio, condition factor, and hematocrit after feeding with experimental diets for 60 days. The relatively higher specific growth rate and hematology were observed in 6F4P. Furthermore, both palm oil and oxidized fish oil acted as a negatively on serum lysozyme activity (P < 0.05). This study suggested that a ration of 6F4P is recommended as an innocuous ratio for Japanese sea bass. Furthermore, according to the present investigation, palm oil seems to have the ability to improve the protein efficiency when added to oxidized fish diets as well as a positive trend to the growth performance (P > 0.05).
Reproductive health and male fertility are closely related to dietary practices. In recent years, Malaysia has shown a lot of interest in using herbal plants as dietary supplements or in the treatment of numerous diseases. Aquilaria malaccensis, commonly known as karas or gaharu, has recently gained attention for its potential to cure many diseases due to its pharmacological properties. However, studies on its effect on male fertility and reproductive organs are very scarce. This study was conducted to determine the effect of A. malaccensis on male reproductive organs' weight (testis, epididymis, prostate gland and seminal vesicle) and sperm quality (sperm count, sperm morphology and sperm motility) in adult Sprague Dawley rats. Twenty-four male Sprague Dawley rats were allocated into four treatment groups; Control (C: 1 mL of distilled water, n = 6), Treatment 1 (T1: 1 g A. malaccensis/kg body weight, n = 6), Treatment 2 (T2: 2 g A. malaccensis/kg body weight, n = 6) and Treatment 3 (T3: 3 g A. malaccensis/kg body weight, n = 6), respectively. Distilled water and A. malaccensis were administered by oral gavage once daily for 28 days. The rats were euthanised on Day 29 for assessment of reproductive organs' weight and sperm quality. Result shows that weight of testis, epididymis, prostate gland, seminal vesicle and sperm motility did not differ (p > 0.05) among control and treated groups. A significant increase (p < 0.05) of sperm number (1.36 × 10-6) and a decrease (p < 0.05) in percentage of the abnormal sperm (8.17%) were observed in T1 group when compared to Control group. Incremental dosage of A. malaccensis seemed to decrease number of sperm (T3: 0.78 × 10-6 < T1: 1.36 × 10-6 with p < 0.05) and increase percentage of abnormal sperm (T3: 18.83% > T2: 12.17% > T1: 8.17% with p < 0.05). In conclusion, the administration of either 1, 2 or 3 grams of A. malaccensis did not alter the reproductive organs' weight and sperm motility. However, the higher concentration of A. malaccensis consumed by the rats seemed to have detrimental effects on the number and morphology of sperm.