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Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Nov 2022The concept of designer microbiota in chicken is focused on early exposure of the hatchlings to pathogen-free microbiota inoculum, limiting the early access to harmful...
The concept of designer microbiota in chicken is focused on early exposure of the hatchlings to pathogen-free microbiota inoculum, limiting the early access to harmful and pathogenic microorganisms, thus promoting colonisation of the gut with beneficial and natural poultry microbiota. In this study, we controlled colonisation of the intestine in broiler chickens in a large-scale industrial setting via at-hatch administration of a commercial product containing a highly diverse microbiota originating from the chicken caecum. The treatment significantly transformed the microbiota membership in the crop, proventriculus, jejunum and caecum and significantly altered the taxa abundance in the jejunum, jejunum mucosa, and caecum estimated using PERMANOVA and unweighted and weighted UniFrac distances, respectively. The treatment also improved the growth rate in chickens with no significant alteration in feed conversion ratio. A comparison of inoculum product microbiota structure revealed that the inoculum had the highest Shannon diversity index compared to all investigated gut sections, and the number of Observed Species second only to the caecal community. PCoA plots using weighted or unweighted UniFrac placed the inoculum samples together with the samples from the caecal origin.
PubMed: 36496817
DOI: 10.3390/ani12233296 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2020African trypanosomes are naturally transmitted by bloodsucking tsetse flies in sub-Saharan Africa and these transmission cycles can be reproduced in the laboratory if...
African trypanosomes are naturally transmitted by bloodsucking tsetse flies in sub-Saharan Africa and these transmission cycles can be reproduced in the laboratory if clean tsetse flies and suitable trypanosomes are available for experiments. Tsetse transmission gives access to more trypanosome developmental stages than are available from in vitro culture, albeit in very small numbers; for example, the sexual stages of Trypanosoma brucei have been isolated from infected tsetse salivary glands, but have not yet been reported from culture. Tsetse transmission also allows for the natural transition between different developmental stages to be studied.Both wild-type and genetically modified trypanosomes have been successfully fly transmitted, and it is possible to manipulate the trypanosome environment inside the fly to some extent, for example, the induction of expression of genes controlled by the Tet repressor by feeding flies with tetracycline.
Topics: Animals; Female; Humans; Insect Vectors; Life Cycle Stages; Male; Parasitology; Salivary Glands; Trypanosoma brucei brucei; Trypanosomiasis, African; Tsetse Flies
PubMed: 32221913
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0294-2_4 -
Polish Journal of Veterinary Sciences Sep 2022Helicobacter pullorum (H. pullorum) is a bacterium that colonizes the intestines of poultry and causes gastroenteritis. Because these species are known as human and/or...
Helicobacter pullorum (H. pullorum) is a bacterium that colonizes the intestines of poultry and causes gastroenteritis. Because these species are known as human and/or animal pathogens, identification of H. pullorum is becoming increasingly necessary. The bacterium has been linked to colitis and hepatitis in humans after being transmitted by infected meat consumption. Misdiagnosis of other enteric zoonotic pathogens such as Campylobacter and other Helicobacter species makes the diagnosis of H. pullorum extremely difficult. This study focused on the molecular detection of H. pullorum from the stomach (proventriculus and gizzard) of different avian species as new target organs for detection and transmission between avian species. Proventriculus and gizzards were obtained from 40 freshly dead chickens and resident wild birds (n=40). Diarrhea was found in the farms that were surveyed. DNA was extracted from all collected samples to conduct PCR amplification. The samples were screened for Helicobacter genus-specific 16s using C97 and C05 primers. To confirm the existence of H. pullorum, the positive samples were sequenced. H. pullorum was recorded in two out of 40 chicken samples. In addition, H. pullorum was recorded in one out of 40 resident wild birds. The 16S rRNA gene sequence for Helicobacter genus-specific in poultry and wild birds showed a 100% homology. In conclusion, broiler chickens and resident wild birds are possible reservoirs for H. pullorum, according to this report, and possibly act as a source of infection for humans via the food supply.
Topics: Animals; Chickens; Egypt; Helicobacter; Helicobacter Infections; Humans; Poultry; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Stomach
PubMed: 36155992
DOI: 10.24425/pjvs.2022.142019 -
Infection, Genetics and Evolution :... Dec 2021Tabanids (syn. horse flies) are biting-flies of medical and veterinary significance because of their ability to transmit a range of pathogens including trypanosomes -...
Tabanids (syn. horse flies) are biting-flies of medical and veterinary significance because of their ability to transmit a range of pathogens including trypanosomes - some species of which carry a combined health and biosecurity risk. Invertebrate vectors responsible for transmitting species of Trypanosoma between Australian wildlife remains unknown, thus establishing the role of potential vector candidates such as tabanids is of utmost importance. The current study aimed to investigate the presence of indigenous trypanosomes in tabanids from an endemic area of south-west Australia. A total of 148 tabanids were collected, with morphological analysis revealing two subgenera: Scaptia (Pseudoscione) and S. (Scaptia) among collected flies. A parasitological survey using an HRM-qPCR and sequencing approach revealed a high (105/148; 71%) prevalence of trypanosomatid DNA within collected tabanids. Individual tissues - proboscis (labrum, labium and mandibles, hypopharynx), salivary glands, proventriculus, midgut, and hindgut and rectum - were also tested from a subset of 20 tabanids (n = 140 tissues), confirming the presence of Trypanosoma noyesi in 31% of screened tissues, accompanied by T. copemani (3%) and T. vegrandis/T.gilletti (5%). An unconfirmed trypanosomatid sp. was also detected (9%) within tissues. The difference between tissues infected with T. noyesi compared with tissues infected with other trypanosome species was statistically significant (p < 0.05), revealing T. noyesi as the more frequent species detected in the tabanids examined. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed intact parasites within salivary glands and the proboscis respectively, suggesting that both biological and mechanical modes of transmission could occur. This study reveals the presence of Australian Trypanosoma across tabanid tissues and confirms intact parasites within tabanid salivary glands and the proboscis for the first time. Further investigations are required to determine whether tabanids have the vectorial competence to transmit Australian trypanosomes between wildlife.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Wild; Biosecurity; Diptera; Insect Vectors; Trypanosoma; Trypanosomiasis; Western Australia
PubMed: 34823027
DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2021.105152 -
Current Pharmaceutical Design 2021Trypanosoma brucei are protozoan parasites that cause the lethal human disease African sleeping sickness and the economically devastating disease of cattle, Nagana....
Trypanosoma brucei are protozoan parasites that cause the lethal human disease African sleeping sickness and the economically devastating disease of cattle, Nagana. African sleeping sickness, also known as Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), threatens 65 million people and animal trypanosomiasis makes large areas of farmland unusable. There is no vaccine and licensed therapies against the most severe, late-stage disease are toxic, impractical and ineffective. Trypanosomes are transmitted by tsetse flies, and HAT is therefore predominantly confined to the tsetse fly belt in sub-Saharan Africa. They are exclusively extracellular and they differentiate between at least seven developmental forms that are highly adapted to host and vector niches. In the mammalian (human) host they inhabit the blood, cerebrospinal fluid (late-stage disease), skin, and adipose fat. In the tsetse fly vector they travel from the tsetse midgut to the salivary glands via the ectoperitrophic space and proventriculus. Trypanosomes are evolutionarily divergent compared with most branches of eukaryotic life. Perhaps most famous for their extraordinary mechanisms of monoallelic gene expression and antigenic variation, they have also been investigated because much of their biology is either highly unconventional or extreme. Moreover, in addition to their importance as pathogens, many researchers have been attracted to the field because trypanosomes have some of the most advanced molecular genetic tools and database resources of any model system. The following will cover just some aspects of trypanosome biology and how its divergent biochemistry has been leveraged to develop drugs to treat African sleeping sickness. This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive survey of trypanosome features. Rather, I hope to present trypanosomes as one of the most fascinating and tractable systems to do discovery biology.
Topics: Animals; Biology; Cattle; Trypanosoma; Trypanosoma brucei brucei; Trypanosomiasis, African; Tsetse Flies
PubMed: 33463458
DOI: 10.2174/1381612827666210119105008 -
BMC Genomics May 2022The rate of protein accretion and growth affect amino acid requirements in young animals. Differences in amino acid metabolism contribute to individual variations in...
BACKGROUND
The rate of protein accretion and growth affect amino acid requirements in young animals. Differences in amino acid metabolism contribute to individual variations in growth rate. This study aimed at determining how amino acid needs may change with growth rates in broiler chickens. Experiment 1 consisted of testing amino acid choices in two chicken groups with extreme growth rates (the slowest -SG- or fastest -FG- growing birds in a flock). Essential (EAA) (methionine, lysine and threonine) or non-essential (NEAA) (alanine, aspartic acid and asparagine) amino acids were added to a standard control feed (13.2 MJ/kg; 21.6% crude protein). The chickens were offered simultaneous access to the control feed and a feed supplemented with one of the two amino acid mixes added at 73% above standard dietary levels. Experiment 2 consisted of the selection of the bottom 5 SG and top 5 FG chickens from a flock of 580 to study differences in amino acid metabolism using the proventriculus representing gut sensing mechanism. In this experiment, transcriptomic, proteomic, and genomic analyses were used to compare the two groups of chickens.
RESULTS
SG preferred NEAA, while they rejected EAA supplemented feeds (P < 0.05). However, FG rejected NEAA (P < 0.05), and they were indifferent to EAA supplemented feed (P > 0.05). Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses identified 909 differentially expressed genes and 146 differentially abundant proteins associated with differences in growth rate (P < 0.05). The integration of gene expression and protein abundance patterns showed the downregulation of sensing and transport of alanine and glucose associated with increased alanine catabolism to pyruvate in SG chickens.
CONCLUSION
Dietary preferences for NEAA in the SG group are associated with a potential cytosolic depletion of alanine following an upregulation of the catabolism into TCA cycle intermediates.
Topics: Alanine; Amino Acids; Animal Feed; Animals; Appetite; Chickens; Diet; Glucose; Proteomics
PubMed: 35606689
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08625-2 -
Anatomia, Histologia, Embryologia Jan 2024This study aimed to evaluate radiographic and sonographic features, and histogram parameters based on grayscale ultrasound of the liver and spleen in healthy toco...
This study aimed to evaluate radiographic and sonographic features, and histogram parameters based on grayscale ultrasound of the liver and spleen in healthy toco toucans. Fifteen adult toco toucans (Ramphastos toco), seven females and eight males, weighing approximately 650 g, were enrolled in the study. On the right lateral radiographic view, the liver was visualized in the midventral region of the coelomic cavity; ultrasonographically, the liver was located in the middle portion of the coelomic cavity in close relationship to the heart, and thoracic and abdominal air sacs. Two hepatic lobes were identified; the right lobe was larger than the left one. The spleen was visualized in 10 toco toucans on radiographs and only in eight toucans on ultrasound exams. The gallbladder was identified only on ultrasound. On the right lateral radiographic view, the spleen was visualized dorsal to the proventriculus and ventral to the lungs/air sacs as an oval shape. Ultrasonographically, the spleen was observed caudal to the liver, cranial to the proventriculus and craniodorsal to the ventriculus. There was no significant difference in spleen length for either radiographic or ultrasound measurements. The brightness intensity (BI) for mean gray level (G) and standard deviation of gray levels (S ) in the liver were 101.315 (± 16.170) and 12.453 (± 2.616), respectively. Mean G and S levels in the spleen were 63.940 (± 18.321) and 7.494 (± 3.595), respectively. In conclusion, the sonographic features and histogram parameters indicated that the liver is more echogenic and heterogeneous than the spleen, which must be considered for diagnosing alterations in these organs.
Topics: Female; Male; Animals; Spleen; Abdomen; Liver; Ultrasonography; Heart; Birds
PubMed: 38230831
DOI: 10.1111/ahe.13011 -
Peptides Jan 2015To determine mechanisms for age-related decrease of GHS-R1a expression in the chicken proventriculus, changes in mRNA expression of ghrelin and...
Correlation of ghrelin concentration and ghrelin, ghrelin-O-acetyltransferase (GOAT) and growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a mRNAs expression in the proventriculus and brain of the growing chicken.
To determine mechanisms for age-related decrease of GHS-R1a expression in the chicken proventriculus, changes in mRNA expression of ghrelin and ghrelin-O-acetyltransferase (GOAT) as well as ghrelin concentrations in the proventriculus and plasma were examined in growing chickens. Changes in expression levels of ghrelin, GOAT and GHS-R1a mRNAs were also examined in different brain regions (pituitary, hypothalamus, thalamus, cerebellum, cerebral cortex, olfactory bulb, midbrain and medulla oblongata). Ghrelin concentrations in the proventriculus and plasma increased with aging and reached plateaus at 30-50 days after hatching. High level of ghrelin mRNA decreased at 3 days after hatching, and it became stable at half of the initial level. Expression levels of GHS-R1a and GOAT decreased 3 or 5 days after hatching and became stable at low levels. Significant negative correlations were found between plasma ghrelin and mRNA levels of GOAT and GHS-R1a. Expression levels of ghrelin mRNA were different in the brain regions, but a significant change was not seen with aging. GHS-R1a expression was detected in all brain regions, and age-dependent changes were observed in the pituitary and cerebellum. Different from the proventriculus, the expression of GOAT in the brain increased or did not change with aging. These results suggest that decreased GHS-R1a and GOAT mRNA expression in the proventriculus is due to endogenous ghrelin-induced down-regulation. Expression levels of ghrelin, GOAT and GHS-R1a in the brain were independently regulated from that in the proventriculus, and age-related and region-dependent regulation pattern suggests a local effect of ghrelin system in chicken brain.
Topics: Acyltransferases; Animals; Avian Proteins; Brain; Chickens; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Ghrelin; Male; Organ Specificity; Proventriculus; Receptors, Ghrelin
PubMed: 25435492
DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2014.11.006 -
Veterinary Research Forum : An... 2020The black proventriculus is a necropsy finding sign observed during post-mortem examinations of dead young chicks up to 10 days of age and due to variation in color of...
The black proventriculus is a necropsy finding sign observed during post-mortem examinations of dead young chicks up to 10 days of age and due to variation in color of the affected proventriculus organ, it may be ignored in some cases, in particular when the disease occurs simultaneously with other well-recognized infections of two weeks old chicks. In late January 2018, several live and dead chicks with a history of an unusual increase in mortality showing no clinical signs but sudden dead were referred to the poultry clinic of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. General routine postmortem examination revealed color changes (light green to dark green color) in the wall of proventriculus together with some degrees of congestion in the lungs and liver of the dead chicks. Microbiology tests revealed that the causative agent was strain O142 and histopathological examination indicated that the color changing of the organ was due to necrosis of glandular epithelium with locally extensive or diffuse hypercellularity by lymphocytes and macrophages with hemorrhages. In conclusion, black proventriculus due to strain O142 was responsible for the sudden death of young chicks and based on antibiogram, selective antibiotics should be used for the treatment of the affected flocks.
PubMed: 33643598
DOI: 10.30466/vrf.2020.119777.2830 -
BMC Zoology Dec 2022Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a wild aquatic omnivorous bird characterized by a marked resistance to harsh environmental conditions and a worldwide...
BACKGROUND
Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a wild aquatic omnivorous bird characterized by a marked resistance to harsh environmental conditions and a worldwide distribution. In this study, anatomical, morphometrical, histochemical, and immunohistochemical techniques were employed to study the structure of the gastrointestinal tract of Gallinula chloropus.
RESULTS
The esophagus appeared tubular with no distinct crop. Both superficial (SPG) and deep (DPG) proventricular glands were present. The DPG filled about two-thirds of the total wall thickness. Histochemically, the mucosubstances revealed mixed alcian blue-PAS positive reactions. They were mainly localized in the acini of the esophageal glands and SPG, gastric surface epithelium, duct system of DPG, and intestinal goblet cells. The highest number of goblet cells per every 1 mm of the intestinal mucosa was seen within the ileum and rectum, 2555 ± 468 and 2607 ± 653 respectively. Notably, glucagon immunoreactive (IR) cells were abundant in the mucosa of the small and large intestines and the proventriculus, while somatostatin IR cells were concentrated within the acini of the DPG. IR cells for the mitosis marker phospho-histone H3 (PHH3) were highest within the entire intestinal crypts and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues (MALT). In contrast, cells IR for the apoptosis marker C.CASP3 were remarkable in epithelial cells at the tips of intestinal villi and in MALT, reflecting the dynamic nature of the latter mentioned structures.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings of the present study advance our knowledge of the gross and microscopic anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract in wild birds and could help to enhance the productivity of Aves via improving gut health.
PubMed: 37170387
DOI: 10.1186/s40850-022-00161-6