BACKGROUND: Vanadium and zinc are identified as low-concentration elements in the body of living organisms with a wide range of activities. Their insulin-like activity, through regulating the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and eliminating the secondary symptoms of the disease, clearly demonstrates the ability of these elements to improve diabetes.OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of vanadium-zinc complex on the structural, functional, and oxidative stress changes in liver tissue in adult diabetic male rats.METHODS: Herein, we recruited 40 adult male rats with the same weight range. They were randomly divided into four groups of 10, namely control, diabetic, healthy mice receiving vanadium-zinc complex, diabetic mice receiving vanadium-zinc complex) and received this combination at the rate of 10 mg / kg once a day for 60 days by oral gavage. At the end of the course, following blood sampling, part of the liver tissue was removed from the body to measure oxidative stress and the rest for stereological and histological studies. The serum isolated from the animals was also used to measure liver tissue functional enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase).RESULTS: The results of this research revealed that vanadium-zinc complex has no side effects on liver tissue in most case, but can greatly prevent structural damage to liver tissue by lowering blood glucose levels in diabetic rats and improving oxidative stress.CONCLUSIONS: Vanadium-zinc complex can be utilized with a certain mechanism in order to control blood sugar and inhibit oxidative stress. It could be regarded as an appropriate approach to preventing liver damage following chronic hyperglycemia in diabetic patients.

Dairy cows may infrequently give milk tinged with blood after calving, which is a condition termed haemolactia. Economic losses for dairy farmers are caused by cases of haemolactia because of the condemnation of such milk, potential contamination of good bulk tank milk with haemolactic milk, and need for veterinarian intervention. This study was performed to elucidate the oxidative status of dairy cows with haemolactia during the peripartum period.

Potential biomarkers for chronic seasonal heat stress in Kagoshima Berkshire pigs reared in the subtropical region were investigated by comparing the biomarker changes in the summer (a period of chronic heat stress) and winter (a thermoneutral period) seasons.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is one of the primary causes of death in young calves. Vaccination against infection by the common bacteria causing BRD is possible; however, the physical condition of the young calves that enables antibody production when stimulated by early immunisation remains to be elucidated.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin notably produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract (BSFE) contains specific enzymes which hydrolyse OTA. This study evaluated the efficiency of BSFE in ameliorating the immunotoxic and nephrotoxic effects of OTA in broiler chickens.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin notably produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. Bacillus subtilis fermentation extract (BSFE) contains specific enzymes which hydrolyse OTA. This study evaluated the efficiency of BSFE in ameliorating the immunotoxic and nephrotoxic effects of OTA in broiler chickens. Day-old broiler chicks were divided equally into four groups of ten: control, OTA (0.5 mg/kg feed), BSFE product (1 mL/L water) and OTA + BSFE at the same concentrations. The chicks were vaccinated against avian influenza, Newcastle disease, and infectious bronchitis, and lymphoproliferation was induced in all birds by phytohaemagglutinin-P (PHA-P). Serum samples were taken before sacrifice and organ tissue samples were taken after, in which renal function biomarkers were assayed and the presence of OTA residue was evaluated by high-performance thin-layer chromatography. Protein markers of apoptosis were determined by qPCR, and tissue lesions were examined histopathologically. Exposure to OTA significantly decreased the antibody response to the vaccines and the lymphoproliferative response to PHA-P, and significantly elevated the renal function indicators: serum urea, uric acid and creatinine. It also induced oxidative stress (reduced catalase activity and glutathione concentration), lipid peroxidation (increased malondialdehyde content), apoptosis (increased Bax and Caspase-3 and decreased Bcl-2 gene levels) and pathological lesions in kidney, bursa of Fabricius, spleen and thymus tissue. Residues of OTA were detected in the serum and tissue. BSFE mitigated most of these toxic effects. BSFE counters OTA-induced immunotoxicity and nephrotoxicity because of its content of carboxypeptidase and protease enzymes.

Dairy cows may infrequently give milk tinged with blood after calving, which is a condition termed haemolactia. Economic losses for dairy farmers are caused by cases of haemolactia because of the condemnation of such milk, potential contamination of good bulk tank milk with haemolactic milk, and need for veterinarian intervention. This study was performed to elucidate the oxidative status of dairy cows with haemolactia during the peripartum period. Plasma glutathione peroxidase, malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase concentrations along with serum vitamin A, C and E concentrations were determined as indices of oxidative stress. The sampled dairy cows comprised two haemolactic (n = 11 and n = 6) and two non-haemolactic (n = 11 and n = 6) groups. On the first day when haemolactia was identified in colostrum (at mean 2.1 days after parturition), a significantly increased concentration of plasma MDA was noted in the haemolactic group. During the prepartum period, low levels of serum vitamin E were continuously observed from prepartum week 4 to the parturition day but only in the haemolactic group. These results demonstrate that continuous low levels of serum vitamin E in the prepartum period may play a pivotal role as a requisite factor in the onset of haemolactia after calving.

Potential biomarkers for chronic seasonal heat stress in Kagoshima Berkshire pigs reared in the subtropical region were investigated by comparing the biomarker changes in the summer (a period of chronic heat stress) and winter (a thermoneutral period) seasons. Pigs were allocated to summer- and winter-finishing cohorts, 12 each. The evaluations included assessment of carcass traits and internal organs’ normality carried out at the time of slaughter, and measurement of biomarkers in whole blood: derivatives of reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs) and biological antioxidant potential as markers of oxidative stress, and serum amyloid A and albumin/globulin (A/G) ratio as markers of acute and chronic inflammation, respectively. The summer-finished pigs reared under subtropical field conditions showed lower carcass quality than the winter-finished pigs, indicating a potential adverse effect of summer temperatures on the swine industry. Marginal changes were observed in d-ROMs and the A/G ratio between the summer- and winter-finishing cohorts. The results demonstrate that d-ROMs and the A/G ratio could be used as sensitive markers for heat stress under field conditions.

This study aimed to monitor oxidative stress parameters including total antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidant status (TOS), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) level during the healing process in hair goats with metritis. This study was carried out on a total of 25 hair goats with metritis (n=10; Group 1) and healthy (n=15; Group 2). The beginning of the study was accepted as day 0. In both Group 1 and Group 2, blood samples were collected on days 0 (first measurement day), 14 (second measurement day) and 28 (third measurement day) of the study for TAS, TOS and TNF-α analyzes. In addition, oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated using TAS and TOS values.It was found that TAS level decreased in Group 1 compared to Group 2 at the first measurement day (p<0.05). However, TOS, OSI and TNF-α levels increased in Group 1 compared to Group 2 (p<0.01). At the second measurement day, TOS and OSI values were higher in Group 1 than Group 2 (p<0.05).In conclusion, the antioxidant system weakened, oxidative stress and TNF-α levels increased in animals with metritis compared to healthy animals. However, at the third measurement time, all parameters became similar between groups.

The modulatory effects of Panax ginseng on the pancreatic β-cell activity, glucose metabolism and its hepatoprotective action in alloxan induced - type 2 diabetic male rats were studied for 2 months. We divided the rats randomly into six equal groups; control; diabetic (T2DM); ginseng,  ginseng post T2DM induction; ginseng pre T2DM induction and ginseng pre and post T2DM induction. The serum level of glucose, total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL),  triglycerides (TG), total protein, albumin, globulin, albumin- globulin ratio (A/G), total bilirubin, both  direct and indirect  bilirubins,  gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), cytochrome P450 (CYP450) and the activity of hepatic glucose -6- phosphatase (G6Pase) and also, the activity of the antioxidant markers [glutathione peroxidase (Gpx), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), in addition; the level of lipid peroxidation product; malondialdehyde (MDA)] in both  the serum and the liver were measured. The histological structure of both the pancreas and the liver and the expressions of both insulin receptors (IR), adenosine monophosphate kinase (AMPK) and the percentage  of the positive area of insulin secretion in the islets of Langerhans using immunohistochemistry technique were also estimated.  The results revealed that the previously mentioned parameters were significantly improved after administration of Panax ginseng to diabetic rats. In conclusion panax ginseng administration could be ameliorate and protect the male rats against type 2 DM and could be able to decrease the intensity of damage caused in the pancreas after alloxan injection.