Fund invests in Bird Nest products

VinaCapital Viet Nam Opportunity Fund Limited (VOF) yesterday announced the acquisition of 20 equity stakes in the Bird Nest Joint Stock Company, a domestic Bird Nest products developer.

Fund invests in Bird Nest products

The acquisition cost US$7 million, which VinaCapital will use to assist the company in strengthening its distribution channels, production capability and product development. The fund will also help the company improve corporate governance and prepare for a listing on a Vietnamese or international stock exchange. Andy Ho, Managing Director of VOF’s Investment Manager, said that the partnership with Bird Nest earmarked it as a dominant player in the private equity investment market in Viet Nam. “The consumer goods sector is particularly attractive given its growth prospects, and Bird Nest is a perfect example of Viet Nam’s potential for high-margin, high-growth consumer products,” he said. The edible nests of Bird Nests are considered a delicacy in many parts of East and Southeast Asia. The largest market is China, particularly Hong Kong, where Bird Nests are used as part of traditional medical remedies. The nests are farmed or collected from caves without harm to the birds. Bird Nest, which targets affluent clients with high disposable incomes, has increased the value of its brand by creating a popular bottled Bird Nest drink. VinaCapital Viet Nam Opportunity Fund Limited is one of three close-ended funds of asset management company VinaCapital.

Ho Chi Minh City to provide credit for locals to produce bird nests

Ho Chi Minh City authorities have promised to provide people in outlying Can Gio District with financial support to produce edible bird nests, as part of an effort to eliminate poverty in the area. Ho Chi Minh City authorities have promised to provide people in outlying Can Gio District with financial support to produce edible bird nests, as part of an effort to eliminate poverty in the area. Dinh La Thang, secretary of the municipal Party Committee, suggested the idea during a meeting with leaders of the People’s Committees from Ly Nhon, An Thoi Dong, and Binh Khanh Communes on Sunday. Prior to the meeting, Thang took a first-hand look at how local residents live solely on the production of shrimp, sea salt, and edible bird nests. According to salt farmers, with the average price of VND300 (US$0.01) to VND600 ($0.03) per kilogram, they can only make up to VND50 million ($2,197) a year, while production costs account for about VND30 million ($1,318). Meanwhile, raising shrimp can earn them a higher yearly income of between VND100 million ($4,395) and VND120 million ($5,274), local residents said, adding that risks associated with this aquaculture include bad weather and polluted water resources. Only the sale of Bird Nests can generate a stable revenue thanks to their high price, about VND20 million ($879) per kilogram. But raising edible-Bird Nests requires billions of dong (VND1 billion = $43,955) in initial capital, local residents said. As over 50 percent of the households in Can Gio…

The evaluation of Bird Nest Extract Reduced Influenza A virus Induced Apoptosis on Cultured Cells in vitro study

Bird Nest mainly comprises a secretion of the salivary gland of different Bird Nest species has been used as a symbol of wealth and power as well as an crucial ingredient in traditional Chinese Medicine. The MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis were carried out to evaluate the effect of Bird Nest extract in treated Influenza A virus infected MDCK cells. MTT assay was performed to determine the cell viability and Ha assay was used to determine the virus titer after 24 hour of post treatment with Bird Nest extract towards MDCK cells challenged with influenza A virus. The results showed that there was a significant increase in cell viability (p < 0.05) of Bird Nest extract treatment compared to positive infected control. Annexin V-fitc double staining method was carried out to identify the mode of cell death in MDCK cells by calculating the means of each apoptosis stage. The results showed that there was a significant reduced early apoptotic injury in infected cells treated with Bird Nest extract. In summary, the current finding suggests that Bird Nest may be have the potentiality to be as an apoptotic inhibitor and ameliorate the infected cells caused by virus.

Introduction

Apoptosis is an important physiological necessary for development and maintenance of tissues homeostasis including tissue atrophy, the immune system development and biological tumor [1-2]. It also plays an important function in the pathogenesis of many infectious diseases including those caused by viruses [3-5]. Many virus infections result in apoptosis of host cells, and several viruses have evolved mechanisms to inhibit apoptosis. Influenza viruses induce apoptosis through mechanism then both cellular and viral factors depending on the cell type. However, the precise mechanism still remain unclear.
Bird Nest is natural food product made from Aerodramus genus Bird Nest’s saliva. Studies show its unique glycoprotein properties provide health benefits, cure many illnesses and rejuvenate cells. The nests contain almost all of the bessential ingredients for body maintenance. Amino acids, minerals, and others keep the body healthy and increase immunity against a host of illness. Another studies have shown that this animal saliva previously found to contain bioactive compounds that are powered with anti-apoptotic and antioxidant properties [6-7]. As apoptosis have been suggested as crucial events in Influenza virus infection, Bird Nest, the salivary secretion of Bird Nests, may have anti-apoptosis relevance in the therapeutic context of viral infection. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the anti-apoptosis effect of Bird Nest.

Materials and Methods

Preparation of Bird Nest Extracts
Raw Bird Nest from the Bird Nest of Aerodramus genus collected from Bird Nest house in Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia. The cleaning process was carried out by first soaking after the unprocessed Bird Nest in distilled water until softened. Debris and feathers were removed after which the Bird Nest was subjected to drying process at 70 oC for 16 hrs and followed by grounding and sifting through a mesh (60μM in pore size). The grounded samples were kept in distilled water at 3oC in about 16 hours and continued heated for 30-60 min at 60oC. The extract was then filtered and freeze-dried after 48 hours freezing at -800C, and stored for the following experiment.
Madin Darby Canine Kidney (Mdck) Cell Culture
MDCK cell line was purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC,CCL-34TM) and grown in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (Gibco,UK) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Gibco, UK), antibiotic-antimycotic (Gibco,UK). The cells then were seeded into a sterile 96-well flat bottom plate (Nunc, USA) and maintained at 37oC humidified incubator with 5% CO2 (Galaxy, UK) for 2-3 days until 70%-80% confluency is achieved.
Virus Propagation
Influenza A virus, strain A/Puerto Rico/1934 (H1N1)was purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC,® VR-95TM) and propagated in MDCK cells, then the stock virus was titrated by TCID50. In obtained 100 TCID50, the resultant virus titer was further diluted with 100 μl taken from the amount ofTCID50, then it was to be used as a constant positive control in the following procedure
Cell Viability Based On Combination Treatment
This procedure was performed by using Maximal Non- Cytotoxic Concentration of Bird Nest and constant virus titer (100 TCID50). Briefly,the virus was first inoculated into the MDCK cells and later followed by the Bird Nest extract replacement for 1 hrs followed by change with media. All the samples were incubated at 37oC in 5% CO2 incubator.
After 24 hour of post-treatment incubation, the plates were exposed to the MTT assay. Treated cells were subjected to MTT reagent (Sigma Aldrich, USA) in which reacts to quantify the viable cells. Pure DMSO solution (Merck, Germany) was added to the cells after 2-3 hr exposure to the MTT reagent to solubilise the formazon precipitation. Absorbance of the solution was measured spectrophotomerically by using ELISA reader at 540nm wavelength (Bio Tek Instruments EL800,USA).
Apoptotic Cells Analysis
The protocol of Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit (BD Pharmingen, USA) by Rieger et al was performed in this procedure. Briefly, upon completion of treatments, cells were harvested and washed with binding buffer. Then, Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) were added and incubated in dark for 15 min. Subsequently, washing was performed twice with binding buffer which then incubated for 15 min at 37oC. Finally, the samples were reads for analysis with Becton Dickson FACS Calibur Flow Cytometer (BD Biosciences, USA).
Statistical Analysis
Data was collected as triplicate for each experiments. The results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Statistical significance was assessed with Anova test and P value < 0.05 was considered significant.

Result And Discussion

Cytotoxic Profile Of Bird Nest Extract
Toxicity study was first performed with addition of Bird Nest extract to MDCK cells to determine the concentration side effect as well as MNCCs of the extract on cultured cells. MNCC is maximal non-cytotoxic concentration of the Bird Nest extract.
Based on the [Figure 1], cytotoxicity percentage in MDCK cells showed an increasing trend of optimal density (OD) of cell viabilities along the concentration. As determined from the bar graph, MNCCs was 12.5 mg/ml.
The Bird Nest extract in water soluble form is likely less cytotoxic, thus same as previous report that pointed out the water soluble subtances possess less cytotoxic effect compared to the crude Bird Nest extract. This is due to compound solubility and stability are major factors that contribute to varied activities in different extract [8] such as the application of high temperature during the water extraction process caused affected the potency of proteins within the Bird Nest, possibility through denaturation [9].
Bird Nest extracts improves cell viability in H1N1 viruschalleged MDCK cells
The MTT was performed in order to quantify the cell viability based on the apoptotic reduction activity. Upon challeged with 100TCID50/ul HINI virus for 24 hour post treatment with Bird Nest extract, cell viability increased to about 20% of that of infected control [Figure 2]. Meawhile, the Bird Nest alone treatment generally did not affect the infected group. This could be due to the mitogenic property of Bird Nest that promoted cell growth, as made evident a study by Zainal Abidin et el. Which shows that Bird Nest promoted cell divison in rabbit corneal keratocytes [10].
Bird Nest Extracts Reduce Early Apoptotic Event in H1N1 Virus Challeged MDCK Cells
Apoptotic cells resulted due to phosphatidylserine (PS) translocation towards the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane caused the apoptotic or death cells and membrane integrity become loss. Therefore, the annexin V-FITC double stainig was performed in this study to calculate the percentage of cell death in different stages of apoptosis. In this assay, cells residing at different level of apoptosis upon exposure to the virus infection (A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1)) by differential staining of DNA and also PS, whereby cells are grouped and revealed in dot plot. Annexin V-FITC-/PI- (lower left quadrant) are classified as healthy cells, the cells that are considered early apoptotic showed Annexin V-FITC+/PI- (lower right quadrant), whereas late

Conclusion

It has been successfully demonstrated that Bird Nest extracts confer apoptotic protection in H1N1-challenged MDCK cells. Particularly, Bird Nest demonstrated apoptotic protection potential by improving cell viability. Thus, it can be concluded that Bird Nest extracts shown to inhibit apoptosis.

Acknowledgement

Our sincere gratitude to Dr Fadzillah A’ini, from Department of Veterinary Services, Putrajaya, Malaysia, who kindly provided Bird Nest sample. This project was supported by Coe Bird Nest grants no.6371400 from Ministry of Agriculture,Putrajaya,Malaysia.

Benefits of Bird Nest

Read this article to understand the main benefits of consuming Bird Nest that everyone should know.

7 Benefits of Eating Bird Nest:

Bird Nest is proven to:
1. Activate stem cells and induce their proliferation so as to decrease the rate of ageing.
2. Neutralise viruses and offer protection against flu, fever and cough.
3. Revitalise the skin layer by locking in moisture so that it remains supple, firm and youthful, while preventing
sagging and reducing wrinkles.
4. Reduce arthritic inflammation and pain, improve mobility and strengthen bones.
5. Moisturise alveolar sacs and strengthen the lungs.
6. Accelerate wound healing, especially corneal wounds.
7. Accelerate brain and nerve cell growth and development in infants and children, while slowing down the rate of dementia and decreasing the likelihood of Parkinson’s disease in the elderly.

Suitable for all ages, Company's Bird Nest can be enjoyed by:

Pre- and post-natal ladies:

A nutritious treat for pregnant women and new mummies, Bird Nest can strengthen the immune system to fight against common flu viruses during pregnancy and the parenting journey. Company's Home Delivery Bird Nest makes an especially thoughtful gift for pregnant women and busy new mums!

Infants and children:

Give your kids’ brain power a turbo charge with Bird Nest to accelerate the development of their brain and nervous system while strengthening their lungs. Bird Nest also fortifies them against flu viruses commonly found in pre-schools and childcare centres.
Young Professionals, Managers, Executives and Businessmen (PMEBs) Planning to passionately scale the corporate ladder? All the more reason you must not neglect your health. Work stress and late nights can wreak havoc on your well-being, so there is a need to build and maintain a good foundation with regular ‘doses’ of Bird Nest. Ladies will certainly appreciate its beauty-enhancement benefits; Bird Nest is known to keep skin supple, firm and youthful looking.

Wedding couples:

The wedding dinner may be the biggest party of your life, so a happy, healthy start to your romantic union will be crucial. Make time and effort to regularly enjoy your Bird Nest tonic together to ensure that both the bride and groom keep in good health and look your glowing best on your big day.

Aged 40 to 55 years:

You’ve toiled for years to build your career and your family. It is time to take care of your health too. Regular intake of nutritious Bird Nest can keep you in good shape as you work towards building your retirement nest. You would want to continue staying healthy and active when you finally retire, wouldn’t you?

The elderly:

A popular tonic as it helps to keep dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease at bay, senior citizens will also find the soft texture of Bird Nest palatable and easy to swallow and digest. What’s more, it may even help to lock in moisture and reduce wrinkles.

Patients:

Doctors discourage patients from mixing western treatment with traditional Chinese medicinal herbs but Bird Nest is one of the rare exceptions that doctors increasingly allow, even for cancer patients. Of course, do make sure that you consume Bird Nest from a reputable source with high food safety standards. You wouldn’t want to jeopardise your health by adding more harmful chemicals to your diet!