Royal jelly （R J） is a well-known bioactive substance. It contains large amounts of major royal jelly proteins （MRJPs）, which express growth-factor-like activity in several animal and human cell lines. However, the question on whether MRJPs possess growth-factor-like activity on all types of cell cultures remains. In order to determine whether MRJPs can be used as an alternative to fetal bovine serum （FBS） in different types of human cell culture, the prolif- eration of the complex serum with different ratios of MRJPs/FBS （M/F） was evaluated on five cell lines： 293T, HFL-I, 231, HCT116, and Changliver using MTT （3-（4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl）-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide） assay. The proliferation activity of the combination of the complex M/F serum with cytokines on the test cell lines was also measured. The results demonstrated that the complex serum with M/F 6/4 possessed the highest proliferation activity similar to or in excess of FBS. However, no activity of complex medium with M/F 6/4 was observed in 231 cells, indicating a selectivity of MRJPs on cell types. Compared with the complex medium with M/F 6/4, the complex medium with M/F 6/4 together with two cytokines, epidermal growth factor （EGF） and insulin-transferrin-selenium （ITS）, pro- moted proliferations of Changliver, 293T, HCT116, and H FL-I by 18.73%-56.19% （P〈0.01）. Our findings demonstrate that MRJPs could partially replace FBS in culturing many human cell lines.
Di CHENXiao-xuan XINHao-cheng QIANZhang-yin YULi-rong SHEN
Turmeric residue（TR）, containing residual levels of curcumin, is a solid by-product waste generated after the extraction and separation of curcumin from turmeric root. A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of TR on the survival of Chinese soft-shelled turtles（SSTs）, Pelodiscus sinensis, under a high ambient temperature. A total of 320 female SSTs were assigned randomly to two diets： basal diet（the control group, n=160） and an interventional diet supplemented with 10% TR（the TR group, n=160）. Our results demonstrated that supplementation of TR increased the SST survival rate by 135.5%, and superoxide dismutase（SOD） activity of SST liver by 112.8%, and decreased the malondialdehyde（MDA） content of SST liver by 36.4%, compared to the control group. The skin of the SST fed TR showed a golden color. High-performance liquid chromatography（HPLC） analysis indicated that the concentrations of curcumin in TR and the skin of the SST fed TR were（1.69±0.30） and（0.14±0.03） μg/g, respectively. Our observation suggests that supplementation of TR increased the survival rate of SST under high ambient temperatures. We speculated that the increased survival rate and tolerance at the high ambient temperature were associated with the anti-oxidation activity of curcumin from TR. Moreover, curcumin in TR could be deposited in SST skin, which made it more favored in the market of China. Our findings provide new knowledge and evidence to effectively reuse TR as a feed additive in animal and aquatic farming.
