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Morphological and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Supplemental Boron in the Liver of Ostrich Chicks

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Abstract

African ostrich chicks (Struthio camelus) were divided into six groups, and each received different levels of boric acid (source of boron) in the drinking water (0, 40, 80, 160, 320, and 640 mg/L respectively) to examine the histological, apoptotic, biochemical, and transcriptomic parameters. Morphological analysis in different groups was assessed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, periodic acid Schiff (PAS) staining, and terminal deoxynucleotide transferase dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) assay. The biochemical profile was evaluated spectrophotometrically. Detailed RNA-Seq of the data was performed using the transcriptomic method. H&E staining showed well-developed liver structure up to the 160 mg/L boric acid (BA) supplement groups, while BA doses (320 mg/L and 640 mg/L) caused changes in hepatocytes and portal triads. PAS staining showed that glycogen levels were optimal in the 80 mg/L BA dose group, but a reduction in glycogen levels was observed after this group, particularly in the 640 mg/L BA supplement group. Cellular apoptosis showed a biphasic pattern, and the BA dose above 160 mg/L enhanced cell death. In addition, serum analysis showed that doses of 80–160 mg BA were beneficial for ostrich liver. Then, the transcriptome analysis of the 80 mg dose also showed mainly positive effects on the liver. These results demonstrated that chronic BA exposure (320–640 mg) can cause significant histological, apoptotic, and biochemical changes in African ostrich liver, while the adequate dose of supplementation (particularly 80 mg BA) promotes liver growth.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article. The supplementary material is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the College of Basic Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, for their support in sample preparation and analysis.

Funding

This work was funded and supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31272517 and 31672504).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Haseeb Khaliq, Xiao Ke, Yang Keli, Wang Jing, Sun Pengpeng & Kemei Peng

  2. Department of Anatomy & Histology, CUVAS, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan

    Haseeb Khaliq

  3. School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Science, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Zhixin Lei

  4. College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    Juming Zhong

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  1. Haseeb Khaliq
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Contributions

The authors confirm their contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: HK and KP; data collection: HK, XK, and YK; analysis and interpretation of results: WJ, JZ, ZL, and HK; and draft manuscript preparation: HK, SP, and KP.

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Correspondence to Haseeb Khaliq.

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Ethics Approval

The study was approved by the “Ethical Committee of Huazhong Agricultural University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine”. All the experiments involving animals were accompanied by the “Guide for the Care and Use of Animals of Hubei Provincial Animal Public Service Center.”

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Khaliq, H., Ke, X., Keli, Y. et al. Morphological and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Supplemental Boron in the Liver of Ostrich Chicks. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 4022–4042 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03489-9

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