Evidence from in vitro and animal studies indicates that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) possesses anti-diabetic properties, which appear to be attributed to cis-9, trans-11 CLA, the major CLA isomer in ruminant fat. However, there is a shortage of studies addressing CLA from natural source. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of butter naturally enriched in cis-9, trans-11 CLA on parameters related to glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and dyslipidemia in rats. Forty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to the following dietary treatments (n = 10/group), for 60 days: 1) Normal fat-Soybean oil (NF-So): diet containing 4.0% soybean oil (SO); 2) High Fat-Control Butter (HF-Cb): diet containing 21.7% control butter and 2.3% SO; 3) High Fat-CLA enriched Butter (HF-CLAb): diet containing 21.7% cis-9, trans-11 CLA-enriched butter and 2.3% SO; and 4) High fat-Soybean oil (HF-So): diet containing 24.0% SO. HF-Cb and HF-CLAb diets contained 0.075% and 0.235% of cis-9, trans-11 CLA, respectively. HF-CLAb-fed rats had lower serum insulin levels at fasting than those fed with the HF-Cb diet, while the PPARγ protein levels in adipose tissue was increased in HF-CLAb-fed rats compared to HF-Cb-fed rats. Furthermore, R-QUICK was lower in HF-Cb than in NF-So group, while no differences in R-QUICK were observed among NF-So, HF-CLAb and HF-So groups. Serum HDL cholesterol levels were higher in HF-CLAb-fed rats than in those fed NF-So, HF-Cb and HF-So diets, as well as higher in NF-So-fed rats than in HF-Cb and HF-So-fed rats. HF-CLAb, HF-Cb and HF-So diets reduced serum LDL cholesterol levels when compared to NF-So, whereas serum triacylglycerol levels were increased in HF-CLAb. Feeding rats on a high-fat diet containing butter naturally enriched in cis-9, trans-11 CLA prevented hyperinsulinemia and increased HDL cholesterol, which could be associated with higher levels of cis-9, trans-11 CLA, vaccenic acid, oleic acid and lower levels of short and medium-chain saturated fatty acids from butter naturally modified compared to control butter. On the other hand CLA-enriched butter also increased serum triacylglycerol levels, which could be associated with concomitant increases in the content of trans-9 and trans-10 C18:1 isomers in the CLA-enriched butter.

Reduced phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) activity has been reported in blood cells and in postmortem brains of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), and there is evidence that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) modulates the activity of PLA₂ groups in non-brain tissues. As CLA isomers were shown to be actively incorporated and metabolized in the brains of rats, we hypothesized that feeding a diet naturally enriched in CLA would affect the activity and expression of Pla ₂ -encoding genes in rat brain tissue, with possible implications for memory. To test this hypothesis, Wistar rats were trained for the inhibitory avoidance task and fed a commercial diet (control) or experimental diets containing either low CLA- or CLA-enriched butter for 4 weeks. After this period, the rats were tested for memory retrieval and killed for tissue collection. Hippocampal expression of 19 Pla ₂ genes was evaluated by qPCR, and activities of PLA₂ groups (cPLA₂, iPLA_2, and sPLA₂) were determined by radioenzymatic assay. Rats fed the high CLA diet had increased hippocampal mRNA levels for specific PLA₂ isoforms (iPla ₂ g6γ; cPla ₂ g4a, sPla ₂ g3, sPla ₂ g1b, and sPla ₂ g12a) and higher enzymatic activity of all PLA₂ groups as compared to those fed the control and the low CLA diet. The increment in PLA₂ activities correlated significantly with memory enhancement, as assessed by increased latency in the step-down inhibitory avoidance task after 4 weeks of treatment (r _s = 0.69 for iPLA₂, P < 0.001; r _s = 0.81 for cPLA₂, P < 0.001; and r _s = 0.69 for sPLA₂, P < 0.001). In face of the previous reports showing reduced PLA₂ activity in AD brains, the present findings suggest that dairy products enriched in cis-9, trans-11 CLA may be useful in the treatment of this disease.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of bakery waste inclusion (0; 25; 50; 75 and 100%, DM basis) in proportion to corn meal in the energetic mixture of the concentrate on intake, digestibility, nitrogen balance and ruminal parameters in sheep. Five male lambs with body weight of 30 kg were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square design. Experimental diets were composed of concentrate and Tifton 85 (Cynodon spp.) hay in a 60:40 forage:concentrate ratio. The concentrate rations were composed of corn meal, soybean meal and bakery waste. The bakery waste:corn meal ratio corresponded to the inclusion of, approximately, 0, 7, 14, 22 and 30% (DM basis) of bakery waste in the diet. There was no effect of bakery waste inclusion on the intake and digestibility of nutrients, nor on nitrogen balance, pH values or concentrations of volatile fatty acids. However, the ammonia nitrogen concentration showed negative linear response in relation to the level of inclusion, in which each increase of 1% bakery waste promoted reduction of 0.11 mg/dL in the concentration of ammonia nitrogen. This fact may be related to the increase in ruminal availability of energy, which allows greater use of ammonia for microbial growth. Bakery waste can replace corn meal in concentrate rations for sheep

Os objetivos neste trabalho foram comparar a composição química, a digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca (DIVMS), as frações lâminas foliares e bainhas-colmos e a disponibilidade de forragem e avaliar a produção e composição do leite, o peso vivo, o escore corporal e o consumo de matéria seca de forrageiras tropicais. As forrageiras avaliadas foram capim-tanzânia (Panicum maximum Jacq.), grama-estrela (Cynodon nlemfuensis Vanderyst) e capim-marandu (Brachiaria brizantha Staf). As pastagens foram adubadas com nitrogênio (200 kg/ha.ano), K2O e P2O5 (50 kg/ha.ano) e manejadas em sistema de lotação intermitente com três dias de ocupação de piquete e dois intervalos de desfolha: janeiro e fevereiro com 24 dias e março, abril e maio com 30 dias. Foram utilizadas 24 vacas em delineamento de blocos ao acaso, com oito vacas por tratamento. As lâminas foliares da grama-estrela tinham em média 18,5% de PB e as bainhas-colmos, 79,9% de fibra em detergente neutro (FDN), valores superiores aos obtidos nas demais forrageiras. A grama-estela também apresentou maior teor de FDN (72,8%) e lignina (7,1%) na forragem disponível. A digestibilidade in vitro da matéria seca do capim-marandu (64,%) foi superior à da grama-estrela (59,4%). Nos capins-tanzânia e marandu, as produções de leite foram de 9,8, valor superior ao de 8,4 kg/vaca.dia da grama-estrela. O teor de proteína do leite das vacas manejadas no capim-tanzânia (2,9%) foi superior ao obtido com grama-estrela (2,8%), mas os teores de gordura e sólidos totais do leite, o escore corporal, o peso vivo e o consumo de matéria seca não diferiram entre as forrageiras avaliadas. A grama-estrela teve maior porcentagem das frações fibrosas, menor DIVMS e menor produção de leite em comparação aos capins-tanzânia e marandu.