Effect of dietary supplementation with flavonoid from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi on growth performance,meat quality and antioxidative ability of broilers

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with flavonoid from Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi（SBGFN） as SBGFN-zinc（SBGFN-Zn） on growth performance, meat quality, immune responses and antioxidation of broilers. A total of 450 one-d-old Arbor Acres male broilers were randomly allocated to 5 treatments with 6 replicates of 15 birds per replicate for each treatment in a completely randomized design. Birds were fed a SBGFN-unsupplemented cornsoybean meal basal diet（control） or the basal diet supplemented with 60, 120, 180 or 240 mg SBGFN kg-（–1） from SBGFN-Zn for 42 d. Dietary SBGFN supplementation affected（P〈0.03） drip loss in thigh muscle, total superoxide dismutase（T-SOD） and glutathione peroxidase（GSH-Px） activity in liver of broilers at 42 d of age. Chicks fed the diets supplemented with 120, 180 and 240 mg SBGFN kg-（–1） had lower（P〈0.03） drip loss of thigh muscle than those fed the control diet. Chicks fed the diet supplemented with 180 mg SBGFN kg-（–1） had higher（P〈0.03） liver T-SOD and GSH-Px activity than those fed the diets supplemented with 0, 60 and 120 mg SBGFN kg-（–1）. The results from the present study indicate that dietary supplementation with 180 mg SBGFN kg-（–1） as SBGFN-Zn improved both meat quality and antioxidative ability of broilers.

Molecular Mechanism and Molecular Design of Lubricating Oil Antioxidants

To overcome the limitations of traditional experimental“trial and error”methods in lubricant additive design,a new molecular design method based on molecular structure parameters is established here.The molecular mechanism of the antioxidant reaction of hindered phenol,diphenylamine,and alkyl sulfide are studied via molecular simulations.Calculation results show that the strong electron-donating ability and high hydrogen-donating activity of the antioxidant molecule and the low hydrogen-abstracting activity of free radicals formed after dehydrogenation are the internal molecular causes of the shielding of phenol and diphenylamine from scavenging peroxy free radicals,and the strong electron-donating ability is the internal molecular cause of the high activity of thioether in decomposing alkyl hydrogen peroxide.Based on this antioxidant molecular mechanism,a molecular design rule of antioxidant is proposed,namely“high EHOMO,large Q(S),low bond dissociation energy BDE(O—H)and BDE(N—H)”.Two new antioxidants,PAS-I and PAS-II,are designed and prepared by chemical bonding of hindered phenol,diphenylamine,and sulfur atoms.Experimental results show that these antioxidants both have excellent antioxidant effects in lubricating oil,and that PAS-II is the superior antioxidant,consistent with theoretical predictions.

Effects of soybean meal replacement with fermented alfalfa meal on the growth performance,serum antioxidant functions,digestive enzyme activities,and cecal microflora of geese

Fermented forages are important feedstuffs. Bacillus subtilis inoculants are often used to improve the value of forage legume fermentation. The present work was conducted to study the effects of replacing soybean meal with solid-state fermented alfalfa meal（FAM） with B. subtilis ACCC 01746 on growth performance, serum antioxidant and digestive enzyme activities, and cecal microflora in goose. 300 healthy geese with similar body weights were randomly assigned to six treatment groups with five replicates of 10 geese（five males and five females） each. Geese were fed ad libitum for 35 days. Results showed that the geese fed with 4 and 8% FAM exhibited no significant effects on their final body weights（FBW） and average day gain（ADG）（P〉0.05）, whereas 12% or higher FAM caused poor growth of the geese compared with control diet（linear（L）： P〈0.05）. The average daily feed intake（ADFI）（quadratic（Q）： P〈0.05） and feed conversion ratio（FCR）（L： P〈0.05） with 8% or higher supplementation level were higher than those of the control group. The activities of antioxidant enzyme in serum increased, and the level of malondialdehyde（MDA） significantly decreased with increasing dietary FAM level（L： P〈0.05）. However, no significant differences were observed at 8% or lower supplementation level for glutathione peroxidase（GSH-Px） and superoxide dismutase（SOD）（P〉0.05） and at 4% for catalase（CAT） supplementation level compared with the control group. All diets containing FAM increased digestive enzyme activities in geese. However, geese fed diets with 12% FAM supplementation showed the highest trypsin activities in pancreas（Q： P〈0.05）. Supplementation with 12% or higher FAM significantly increased amylase activities in pancreas（L： P〈0.05） and duodenum（L： P〈0.05） compared with the control group. Significant differences were not observed in total anaerobic bacteria between geese fed with FAM and control diets on day 35（P〉0.05）. The numbers of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in the cecum of geese fed with FAM significantly increased（L： P〈0.05）, but no significant effects were found with 4 and 8% FAM supplementation levels compared with the control（P〉0.05）. By contrast, the coliform counts of cecum decreased with increasing inclusion of FAM, but these counts were significantly reduced in geese fed diets with 12% or higher FAM supplementation level（L： P〈0.05）. Collectively, our results indicated that supplementation of the basal geese diet with 8% FAM had no apparent adverse effects on growth performance, serum antioxidant enzyme activities, and digestive parameters and beneficial microbiota.

Natural product curcumin-based coordination nanoparticles for treating osteoarthritis via targeting Nrf2 and blocking NLRP3 inflammasome

Oxidative stress leads to chondrocyte apoptosis and extracellular matrix(ECM)degradation,thus contributing to the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis(OA).Herein,curcumin with remarkable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities has been employed as an organic ligand to coordinate ferric ions for enhancing the water-solubility and biocompatibility of natural product curcumin.The obtained iron-curcumin-based coordination nanoparticles(Fe-Cur NPs)exhibit great water-solubility and efficient reactive oxygen/nitrogen species(ROS/RNS)scavenging ability.In vitro chondrocyte evaluation experiments indicated that the intracellular ROS/RNS induced by interleukin 1β(IL-1β)could be efficiently scavenged by these Fe-Cur NPs and oxidative-stressinduced cell death could be preserved as well.In addition,post intra-articular(i.a.)injection into OA rat joints,Fe-Cur NPs could greatly inhibit OA progression via activating the nuclear factor-erythroid 2 related factor-2(Nrf2)and inhibiting nod-like receptor protein-3(NLRP3)inflammasome activation in primary rat chondrocytes,as well as decrease the production of matrix degrading proteases and other inflammatory mediators.The efficient antioxidation and anti-inflammation performance of Fe-Cur NPs endow them as a promising nanoplatform for treatment of various inflammatory diseases,and more detailed researches will be conducted in the future.

Single source precursor derived SiBCNHf ceramic with enhanced high-temperature microwave absorption and antioxidation

Electromagnetic(EM)wave-absorbing materials with high-temperature-resistance are urgently desirable to eliminate EM interference in extreme conditions.Precursor derived ceramics(PDC)route is being evolved as an effective strategy to solve the puzzle.Herein,a single source hyperbranched polyborosi-lazane precursor containing hafnium(hb-PBSZ-Hf)is introduced and the SiBCNHf ceramic is obtained by further pyrolysis.The micro-sized tissues including HfC,SiC,HfB 2 nanocrystals and segregated carbons are in situ generated during annealing which not only increase EM wave absorption ability(minimum re-flection coefficient(RC_(min))is-56.71 dB with a thickness of 2.5 mm,effective absorption bandwidth(EAB)is 3.4 GHz),but also improve antioxidation property(less than 2 wt.%mass fluctuation at 1400℃in air).Theoretical simulation of complex permittivity suggests that SiBCNHf ceramic has an RC_(min)of less than-5 dB for the whole X-band even at 1100℃.Such SiBCNHf ceramic with superior high-temperature-resistance and antioxidation performance derived from single source precursors possesses great potential for EM wave absorbing coatings in high-temperature and harsh environments.