This study aimed to examine the effect of a mild elevation in serum cholesterol level in a porcine coronary overstretch restenosis model using a balloon angioplasty catheter or drug-eluting coronary stent. Pigs were divided into two groups and were fed a commercial normal diet (CND, n = 4) or a high-fat diet (HFD, n = 4) for 5 weeks. Coronary overstretch injury by balloon angioplasty or stent implantation was induced in the left anterior descending and left circumflex artery after 1 week of feeding. Histopathological analysis was performed at 4 weeks after coronary injury. During the experiment, the total cholesterol level in the HFD group increased by approximately 44.9% (from 65.9 ± 3.21 mg/dL at baseline to 95.5 ± 9.94 mg/dL at 5 weeks). The lumen area in the CND group was reduced in comparison with that in the HFD group after balloon angioplasty. After stent implantation, the injury score showed no significant difference. There were significant differences in the neointimal area (2.7 ± 0.33 mm2 in the CND group vs. 3.3 ± 0.34 mm2 in the HFD group, p<0.05), lumen area (2.6 ± 0.54 mm2 in the CND group vs. 2.0 ± 0.33 mm2 in the HFD group, p<0.05), and percent area stenosis (52.0 ± 7.96% in the CND group vs. 62.4 ± 5.15% in the HFD group, p<0.05). Body weight change was not different between the two groups. Increased serum cholesterol level activated vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in the porcine coronary overstretch model.

The objectives of this study were to determine in vitro dry matter and energy utilization of hatchery waste products and to confirm whether in vivo energy digestibility of hatchery waste products could be estimated using in vitro data. Two in vitro assays were conducted for infertile eggs, unhatched eggs, culled chicks, and a mixture(20% dried infertile eggs, 20% dried unhatched eggs, and 60% dried culled chicks). In Exp.1, in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) of hatchery waste products was determined. In Exp.2, in vitro energy disappearance (IVED) was determined using undigested residues from Exp.1. The IVDMD of infertile eggs, unhatched eggs, culled chicks, and the mixture were 81.7, 88.7, 83.9, and 85.4%, respectively. The IVED of the test ingredients were 74.4, 85.1, 77.6, and 79.8%, respectively. Both IVDMD and IVED were greater in unhatched eggs compared with infertile eggs and culled chicks (p<0.05). In vivo energy digestibility was estimated well using prediction equations for hatchery waste products developed in the present study: In vivo energy digestibility(%) = 2.52 × IVDMD (%) – 133.95 with r2 = 0.70 and in vivo energy digestibility(%) = 1.63 × IVED(%) – 50.03 with r2 = 0.67. In conclusion, energy utilization of unhatched eggs was the greatest among test ingredients and energy utilization of hatchery waste products can be estimated using data from in vitro procedures.

Earthworms, especially Eisenia andrei, are cultivated for a variety of purposes including waste disposal and compost production. In this study, bacteria from earthworm gut were cultured and the dominant species identified. Subsequently, we isolated bacteriophages able to lyse the isolated gut bacteria. Two dominant genera of gut bacteria, Aeromonas sp. and Citrobacter sp. were identified by using MALDI-TOF MS analysis and a library was constructed to find lytic phages. Phage EF1 showed lytic activity for C. freundii and two Citrobacter isolates, C. braakii and C. murliniae. These 3 species have similar sensitivities to EF1. Several aspects of the life cycle of EF1 were investigated by using C. freundii under optimal growth conditions. EF1 infects C. freundii with a moderate latent period, approximately 25 min, and a large burst size averaging 5 × 109 per infected cell. Moreover, the antimicrobial activity of EF1 was well maintained under diverse conditions including a broad temperature range of 40°C to 50°C and a wide pH range of 4 to 11. In conclusion, the results indicate that earthworm casting contain a wide range of bacteria species, for which there are various corresponding bacteriophages.