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      Comprehensive growth performance, immune function, plasma biochemistry, gene expressions and cell death morphology responses to a daily corticosterone injection course in broiler chickens

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          Abstract

          The massive meat production of broiler chickens make them continuously exposed to potential stressors that stimulate releasing of stress-related hormones like corticosterone (CORT) which is responsible for specific pathways in biological mechanisms and physiological activities. Therefore, this research was conducted to evaluate a wide range of responses related to broiler performance, immune function, plasma biochemistry, related gene expressions and cell death morphology during and after a 7-day course of CORT injection. A total number of 200 one-day-old commercial Cobb broiler chicks were used in this study. From 21 to 28 d of age, broilers were randomly assigned to one of 2 groups with 5 replicates of 20 birds each; the first group received a daily intramuscular injection of 5 mg/kg BW corticosterone dissolved in 0.5 ml ethanol:saline solution (CORT group), while the second group received a daily intramuscular injection of 0.5 ml ethanol:saline only (CONT group). Growth performance, including body weight (BW), daily weight gain (DG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FC), were calculated at 0, 3 and 7 d after the start of the CORT injections. At the same times, blood samples were collected in each group for hematological (TWBC’s and H/L ratio), T- and B-lymphocytes proliferation and plasma biochemical assays (total protein, TP; free triiodothyronine hormone, fT 3; aspartate amino transaminase, AST; and alanine amino transaminase, ALT). The liver, thymus, bursa of Fabricius and spleen were dissected and weighed, and the mRNA expression of insulin-like growth factor 1 gene (IGF-1) in liver and cell-death-program gene (caspase-9) in bursa were analyzed for each group and time; while the apoptotic/necrotic cells were morphologically detected in the spleen. From 28 to 35 d of age, broilers were kept for recovery period without CORT injection and the same sampling and parameters were repeated at the end (at 14 d after initiation of the CORT injection). In general, all parameters of broiler performance were negatively affected by the CORT injection. In addition, CORT treatment decreased the plasma concentration of fT 3 and the mRNA expression of hepatic IGF-1. A significant increase in liver weight accompanied by an increase in plasma TP, AST and ALT was observed with CORT treatment, indicating an incidence of liver malfunction by CORT. Moreover, the relative weights of thymus, bursa and spleen decreased by the CORT treatment with low counts of TWBC’s and low stimulation of T & B cells while the H/L ratio increased; indicating immunosuppressive effect for CORT treatment. Furthermore, high expression of caspase-9 gene occurred in the bursa of CORT-treated chickens, however, it was associated with a high necrotic vs. low apoptotic cell death pathway in the spleen. Seven days after termination of the CORT treatment in broilers, most of these aspects remained negatively affected by CORT and did not recover to its normal status. The current study provides a comprehensive view of different physiological modulations in broiler chickens by CORT treatment and may set the potential means to mount a successful defense against stress in broilers and other animals as well.

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          Coping styles in animals: current status in behavior and stress-physiology.

          This paper summarizes the current views on coping styles as a useful concept in understanding individual adaptive capacity and vulnerability to stress-related disease. Studies in feral populations indicate the existence of a proactive and a reactive coping style. These coping styles seem to play a role in the population ecology of the species. Despite domestication, genetic selection and inbreeding, the same coping styles can, to some extent, also be observed in laboratory and farm animals. Coping styles are characterized by consistent behavioral and neuroendocrine characteristics, some of which seem to be causally linked to each other. Evidence is accumulating that the two coping styles might explain a differential vulnerability to stress mediated disease due to the differential adaptive value of the two coping styles and the accompanying neuroendocrine differentiation.
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            Caspases: killer proteases

            Caspases (cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinases) mediate highly specific proteolytic cleavage events in dying cells, which collectively manifest the apoptotic phenotype. The key and central role that these enzymes play in a biochemical cell-suicide pathway has been conserved throughout the evolution of multicellular eukaryotes.
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              Many cuts to ruin: a comprehensive update of caspase substrates

              Apoptotic cell death is executed by the caspase-mediated cleavage of various vital proteins. Elucidating the consequences of this endoproteolytic cleavage is crucial for our understanding of cell death and other biological processes. Many caspase substrates are just cleaved as bystanders, because they happen to contain a caspase cleavage site in their sequence. Several targets, however, have a discrete function in propagation of the cell death process. Many structural and regulatory proteins are inactivated by caspases, while other substrates can be activated. In most cases, the consequences of this gain-of-function are poorly understood. Caspase substrates can regulate the key morphological changes in apoptosis. Several caspase substrates also act as transducers and amplifiers that determine the apoptotic threshold and cell fate. This review summarizes the known caspase substrates comprising a bewildering list of more than 280 different proteins. We highlight some recent aspects inferred by the cleavage of certain proteins in apoptosis. We also discuss emerging themes of caspase cleavage in other forms of cell death and, in particular, in apparently unrelated processes, such as cell cycle regulation and cellular differentiation.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                24 February 2017
                2017
                : 12
                : 2
                : e0172684
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
                [2 ]Department of Cell Biology, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt
                Radboud Universiteit, NETHERLANDS
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                • Conceptualization: AMMA MMM AOA.

                • Data curation: AOA.

                • Formal analysis: GMKM AOA.

                • Funding acquisition: AOA.

                • Investigation: GMKM MGE AME AOA.

                • Methodology: AMMA MMM AOA.

                • Project administration: AOA.

                • Resources: MGE AME AMMA MMM AOA.

                • Supervision: AMMA MMM AOA.

                • Validation: GMKM AOA.

                • Visualization: GMKM AOA.

                • Writing – original draft: GMKM AOA.

                • Writing – review & editing: GMKM AOA.

                ‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2006-4290
                Article
                PONE-D-16-35675
                10.1371/journal.pone.0172684
                5325522
                28235061
                c32d8fed-35de-4b18-afa1-2e330a04527b
                © 2017 Mehaisen et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 5 September 2016
                : 8 February 2017
                Page count
                Figures: 7, Tables: 1, Pages: 25
                Funding
                Funded by: General Scientific Research Department, Cairo University (GSRD-CU)
                Award ID: Project of Rapid Climate Change in Poultry Cellular and Molecular Physiology (RCC-PCMP)
                Award Recipient :
                This work was supported by Project of Rapid Climate Change in Poultry Cellular and Molecular Physiology (RCC-PCMP), funded from General Scientific Research Department at Cairo University (GSRD-CU); http://gsrd.cu.edu.eg/. AOA was the principal investigator of the project and the fund was awarded to him during the management of the project. The funders have approved the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, and preparation of the manuscript.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cell Processes
                Cell Death
                Apoptosis
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Birds
                Poultry
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Agriculture
                Livestock
                Poultry
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Birds
                Fowl
                Gamefowl
                Chickens
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Birds
                Poultry
                Chickens
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Agriculture
                Livestock
                Poultry
                Chickens
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Birds
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Genetics
                Gene Expression
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Physiology
                Immune Physiology
                Spleen
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Physiology
                Immune Physiology
                Spleen
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cellular Types
                Animal Cells
                Blood Cells
                White Blood Cells
                Lymphocytes
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Cell Biology
                Cellular Types
                Animal Cells
                Immune Cells
                White Blood Cells
                Lymphocytes
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Immunology
                Immune Cells
                White Blood Cells
                Lymphocytes
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Immunology
                Immune Cells
                White Blood Cells
                Lymphocytes
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Immunology
                Immune System
                Thymus
                Medicine and Health Sciences
                Immunology
                Immune System
                Thymus
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                All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

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