This experiment was conducted to determine the optimum level of green tea by-product (GTB) in diets without antibiotics and to evaluate its effect on broiler performances. A total of 140 Ross broilers were kept in battery cages for a period of 6 weeks. Dietary treatments used in this experiment were antibiotic free group (basal diet as a control), antibiotic added group (basal+0.05% chlortetracycline), GTB 0.5% (basal+GTB 0.5%), GTB 1% (basal+GTB 1%) and GTB 2% (basal+GTB 2%). Antibiotic added group showed significantly higher body weight gain than other treatments (p<0.05). However, no significant differences were observed in feed intake and feed efficiency among treatments (p>0.05). The addition of green tea by-product to diets tended to decrease blood LDL cholesterol content compared to control group although there were no significant differences among treatments (p>0.05). Addition of green tea by-product increased docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in blood plasma and tended to decrease cholesterol content in chicken meat, but a significant difference was not observed (p>0.05). The values of TBA in chicken meat decreased in groups fed diets with green tea-by product and antibiotics compared to control group (p<0.05). The crude protein content in chicken meat was decreased slightly in treatments with green tea by-product and antibiotics supplementation. The abdominal fat was increased in chickens fed with diets with green tea by-product compared to the control (p<0.05).

No abstract

well. Recent studies demonstrated that about 2.5 million cubic tons of dried tea is manufactured annually, of this total, approximately 20% is consumed in Asian countries including China, Korea and Japan. Some studies have been performed with animal models, mostly with rodents, to get a better understanding of the effects of green tea components on living organisms (Yang and Wang, 1993;Dreosti et al., 1997). Current studies informed that green tea and catechins, the main components of green tea, have many physiological and biochemical functions including antioxidant and antimutagenic effects (Yen and Chen, 1995;Kuroda and Tomita, 1999). Grimble (1998) reported that green tea had effects to reduce the serum and liver cholesterol levels in the rat. Yamane et al. (1999) reported that green tea extracts included in the diet improved egg quality profiles in a short-term experiment. Also in a longterm feeding study of green tea powder for laying hens had favorable effects on egg quality traits such as thick albumen stability without adverse effect on laying performance (Biswas et al., 2000). Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of green tea powder on laying performance and egg composition of layers as a reference to recommend the optimum dietary level of green tea powder for egg-laying hens.

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used in cell-based therapy to promote revascularization after peripheral or myocardial ischemia. High levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the senescence and apoptosis of MSCs, causing defective neovascularization. Here, we examined the effect of the natural antioxidant lycopene on oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in MSCs. Although H2O2 (200 μM) increased intracellular ROS levels in human MSCs, lycopene (10 μM) pretreatment suppressed H2O2-induced ROS generation and increased survival. H2O2-induced ROS increased the levels of phosphorylated p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK), ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), and p53, which were inhibited by lycopene pretreatment. Furthermore, lycopene pretreatment decreased the expression of cleaved poly (ADP ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and caspase-3 and increased the expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), which were induced by H2O2 treatment. Moreover, lycopene significantly increased manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) expression and decreased cellular ROS levels via the PI3K-Akt pathway. Our findings show that lycopene pretreatment prevents ischemic injury by suppressing apoptosis-associated signal pathway and enhancing anti-oxidant protein, suggesting that lycopene could be developed as a beneficial broad-spectrum agent for the successful MSC transplantation in ischemic diseases.

No abstract