Project description:This study investigated the ameliorative effects of plantain flour on the organs of diabetic rats, and explored the mechanism from the perspective of kidney transcription. Diabetes was induced in rats by streptozotocin (STZ) and a high-sugar and high-fat diet. The alleviation effects and molecular mechanism of diabetes by plantain flour at different doses (1g/kg·Bw, 2g/kg·Bw, and 4g /kg·Bw) were evaluated based on the analysis of biochemical indicators, histological observations, homeostasis model, and kidney transcriptome. The findings demonstrated that the intervention of plantain flour can reduce the level of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and urea (UREA). The pathological study revealed that plantain flour can alleviate the pathological symptoms of fat accumulation in liver and kidney tissue. According to the homeostasis model, plantain flour was able to reduce insulin resistance in diabetic rats. Transcriptome analysis showed that plantain flour improved dyslipidemia by up-regulating Acsl1, down-regulating Fabp4 and Plin1, and reduced kidney injury by up-regulating Slco1a6, Hsd17b2, Cyp2c24, and Cyp2c11 genes. These results suggested that plantain flour could recover the organ damage caused by diabetes and has the potential to be developed into healthy food.
Project description:The Italian island of Sardinia is well known in studies of human population isolates. It is also home to the Fonni's Dog, a breed of canine whose development was reliant on the functionality of the dog. Using genome-wide variant and sequence analyses, we have characterized the Fonni's Dog relative to 27 other dog breeds from the Mediterranean region. We determine introgression events relevant to Mediterranean breed development and describe how the Fonni's dog presents an intriguing model demonstrating the characteristics of traditional human population isolates and, in particular, exhibiting the unique demographic composition of the people of Sardinia.
