Acute and repeated dose (28 days) oral safety studies of ALIBIRD in rats

Anti-fatigue Effects of Santé Premium Silver Perch Essence on Exhaustive Swimming Exercise Performance in Rats

Aim: Fish soup is a traditional Chinese food usually offered as a healthy supplement to elders, pregnant women and persons who just had surgery. Silver perch (Santé premium silver perch essence, SPSPE) extract contains various quality proteins, collagen, minerals, trace elements, and branch chain amino acids (BCAA) that could help individuals recover from exhaustion and control body weight. However, there are very limited studies exploring the effects of fish extracts on exercise performance and fatigue, and relevant physiological mechanisms. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic SPSPE administration on exhaustive exercise performance.

Method: Male Wistar rats weighing around 250 g were divided into 4 groups: Control, 1X SPSPE (6.2 ml/kg), 2X SPSPE (12.4 ml/kg) and 5X SPSPE (31.0 ml/kg). Rats were administrated SPSPE by oral gavage feeding every day for 33 days. Their body weight were measured every week. Before and after the exhaustive swimming test, the blood was collected for circulating lactate, glucose, ammonia, hormones, and myoglobin analysis. Rats were sacrificed after performing an exhaustive swimming exercise test. The liver tissues were collected for glycogen content and H&E staining.

Results: After the administration of 1X and 5X SPSPE, swimming fatigue was significantly delayed (p = 0.024). There was no difference in the hormone plasma level between the control and SPSPE groups. The induction of plasma corticosterone and TBARS by exhaustive swimming exercise could be decreased by SPSPE administration. The increased plasma myoglobin concentration from exhaustive swimming exercise was weakened by SPSPE supplementation. The higher glycogen sparing contained in liver tissue was observed in SPSPE-treated groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: SPSPE could efficiently delay swimming fatigue through sparing of liver glycogen and attenuation of plasma TBARS, myoglobin induction by exhaustive exercise. Our findings provide a scientific-based fundamental information and better understanding for developing a fish extract-based anti-fatigue supplement.

Analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: An update for 2013-2014

This review is the eighth update of the original article published in 1999 on the application of Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI) mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2014. Topics covered in the first part of the review include general aspects such as theory of the MALDI process, matrices, derivatization, MALDI imaging, fragmentation, and arrays. The second part of the review is devoted to applications to various structural types such as oligo- and poly- saccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, glycosides, and biopharmaceuticals. Much of this material is presented in tabular form. The third part of the review covers medical and industrial applications of the technique, studies of enzyme reactions, and applications to chemical synthesis. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 37:353-491, 2018.

Stability of Oligosaccharides Derived from Lactose and Lactulose regarding Rheological and Thermal Properties

Prebiotic carbohydrates derived from lactulose (OsLu) are appealing ingredients that provide beneficial effects following their fermentation by the gut microbiota; however, more investigation is needed to evaluate their technological properties and applicability as a functional food ingredient in the market. In this paper, a comparative study on the rheological and thermal behavior of OsLu and a commercial mixture of galactooligosaccharides (GOS) was carried out. In both cases, there was a strong influence of temperature and shear rate on viscosity. Viscosity of OsLu was higher than that of commercial GOS and variations and rheopexy cycles were also higher for OsLu. The exponential increase of viscosity associated with the structural changes took place later in OsLu than in commercial GOS, suggesting more stability to the shear over time in the former. More stability of OsLu was also observed in the study of the effect of temperature on viscosity. In addition, the thermal study indicated different behavior of both prebiotics under the assayed conditions, showing that OsLu have lower values of glass transition temperature (Tg) than commercial GOS and that commercial GOS are more sensible against humidity. The results here obtained provide important information on the treatment and storage conditions of these prebiotic ingredients during the elaboration of functional foods.

Effect of lactulose-derived oligosaccharides on intestinal microbiota during the shift between media with different energy contents

The microbiological and metabolic changes of an overweight-associated colonic microbiota after reducing in vitro the carbohydrate supply and its supplementation with oligosaccharides derived from lactulose (OsLu) were evaluated using a dynamic simulator of the gastrointestinal tract. The differentiation and stability of the microbial communities within each colon compartment were reached after two weeks of feeding the system with a high energy (HE) medium based on fructose and readily fermentable starches. The effect of reducing the energy content (low-energy medium, LE) and the supplementation with OsLu caused minor variations in bacterial counts, except for Enterobacteriaceae. The LE medium caused an effect on the microbial metabolic activity that was characterized by an absence of net butyrate production and an increase in ammonium content. This shift from fermentative to proteolytic metabolism was not observed when the LE medium was supplemented with OsLu. This oligosaccharide mixture was mainly metabolized in the proximal colonic compartment. The results obtained in this study indicate that the substitution in the diet of easily digestible carbohydrates by OsLu maintains the fermentative functionality of the intestinal microbiota, allowing the net production of butyric acid with potential beneficial effects on health, and avoiding a full transition to proteolytic metabolism profiles.

Synthesis of Oligosaccharides Derived from Lactulose (OsLu) Using Soluble and Immobilized Aspergillus oryzae β-Galactosidase

β-Galactosidase from Aspergillus oryzae offers a high yield for the synthesis of oligosaccharides derived from lactulose (OsLu) by transgalactosylation. Oligosaccharides with degree of polymerization (DP) ≥ 3 have shown to possess higher in vitro bifidogenic effect than di- and tetrasaccharides. Thus, in this work, an optimization of reaction conditions affecting the specific selectivity of A. oryzae β-galactosidase for synthesis of OsLu has been carried out to enhance OsLu with DP ≥ 3 production. Assays with β-galactosidase immobilized onto a glutaraldehyde–agarose support were also carried out with the aim of making the process cost-effective and industrially viable. Optimal conditions with both soluble and immobilized enzyme for the synthesis of OsLu with DP ≥ 3 were 50 °C, pH 6.5, 450 g/L of lactulose, and 8 U/mL of enzyme, reaching yields of ca. 50% (w/v) of total OsLu and ca. 20% (w/v) of OsLu with DP 3, being 6′-galactosyl-lactulose the major one, after a short reaction time. Selective formation of disaccharides, however, was favored at 60 °C, pH 4.5, 450 g/L of lactulose and 8 U/mL of enzyme. Immobilization increased the enzymatic stability to temperature changes and allowed to reuse the enzyme. We can conclude that the use, under determined optimal conditions, of the A. oryzae β-galactosidase immobilized on a support of glutaraldehyde–agarose constitutes an efficient and cost-effective alternative to the use of soluble β-galactosidases for the synthesis of prebiotic OsLu mixtures.

Whey protein improves exercise performance and biochemical profiles in trained mice

Purpose

The objective of this study is to verify the beneficial effects of whey protein (WP) supplementation on health promotion and enhance exercise performance in an aerobic-exercise training protocol.

Methods

In total, 40 male Institute of Cancer Research mice (4 wk old) were divided into four groups (n = 10 per group): sedentary control with vehicle (SC) or WP supplementation (4.1 g·kg⁻¹, SC + WP), and exercise training with vehicle (ET) or WP supplementation (4.1 g·kg⁻¹, ET + WP). Animals in the ET and ET + WP groups underwent swimming endurance training for 6 wk, 5 d·wk⁻¹. Exercise performance was evaluated by forelimb grip strength and exhaustive swimming time as well as by changes in body composition and biochemical parameters at the end of the experiment.

Results

ET significantly decreased final body and muscle weight and levels of albumin, total protein, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, total cholesterol, and triacylglycerol. ET significantly increased grip strength; relative weight (%) of liver, heart, and brown adipose tissue (BAT); and levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, and total bilirubin. WP supplementation significantly decreased final body, muscle, liver, BAT, and kidney weight and relative weight (%) of muscle, liver, and BAT as well as levels of aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, and uric acid. In addition, WP supplementation slightly increased endurance time and significantly increased grip strength and levels of albumin and total protein.

Conclusion

WP supplementation improved exercise performance, body composition, and biochemical assessments in mice and may be an effective ergogenic aid in aerobic exercise training.

Intestinal anti-inflammatory effects of oligosaccharides derived from lactulose in the trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid model of rat colitis

Intestinal microbiota modulation is becoming an interesting approach to manage inflammatory bowel disease and can be achieved by the administration of prebiotics. Previous studies showed the intestinal anti-inflammatory effects of the prebiotic lactulose. The aim of the present study was to test the preventative effects of oligosaccharides derived from lactulose with prebiotic properties (OsLu) in the trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid model of rat colitis and compare them with those of lactulose. Both treatments modified bacterial profile in intestinal contents, increasing the bifidobacteria and lactobacilli counts and up-regulating the production of short-chain fatty acids, although OsLu generated a larger amount. OsLu also inhibited to a greater extent different pro-inflammatory markers such as interleukins (IL) 1, 6, 12, and 23 and chemokines (MCP-1 and CINC-1). However, both prebiotics equally restored colonic epithelial integrity, evaluated both with a histological score (OsLu, 9.8 ± 2.2; and lactulose, 12.1 ± 2.1, vs colitic control, 27.3 ± 3.3) and by measuring several key proteins of the mucosal barrier (MUC-2, MUC-3, and TTF-3). OsLu effect was also associated with an inhibition of iNOS expression and a reduction of Th17 cell activity in the inflamed tissue that facilitated the intestinal mucosa barrier recovery. In conclusion, OsLu showed a better anti-inflammatory profile than lactulose in this model of experimental colitis.

Analysis, structural characterization, and bioactivity of oligosaccharides derived from lactose

The increasing interest for prebiotic carbohydrates as functional food ingredients has promoted the synthesis of galactooligosaccharides and new lactose derivatives. This review provides a comprehensive overview on the chromatographic analysis, structural characterization, and bioactivity studies of lactose-derived oligosaccharides. The most common chromatographic techniques used for the separation and structural characterization of this type of oligosaccharides, including GC and HPLC in different operational modes, coupled to various detectors are discussed. Insights on oligosaccharide MS fragmentation patterns, using different ionization sources and mass analyzers, as well as data on structural analysis by NMR spectroscopy are also described. Finally, this article deals with the bioactive effects of galacto oligosaccharides and oligosaccharides derived from lactulose on the gastrointestinal and immune systems, which support their consumption to provide significant health benefits.