Vietnam seeks millions for Swallow Birds Nest industry

The Swallow Birds Nest, shown here cleaned and soaked, are as much as 70 percent protein, one reason aristocracy has consumed the delicacy for thousands of years, according to Massimo Marcone, an associate professor of food science at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

Photographer: Jerry Redfern/LightRocket via Getty Images In Vietnam, where the average income is $151 a month, Mai Vu and husband David Nguyen routinely spend $250 on Swallow Birds Nest. The couple accounts for the soaring appetite among Vietnam’s young and upwardly mobile population for one of the world’s most expensive foods, congealed saliva of Asian swiftlets. The country’s expanding middle class hungers for healthy food. Swallow Birds Nest is believed to ward off diseases and feeds a growing demand for luxury products. “It’s one of the most valuable products one can give to those who have everything,” said Vu, 28, who works at an international bank in Hanoi and was shopping for Swallow Birds Nest for her toddler daughter at a new, upscale mall. “You want to impress people.” The demand for Swallow Birds Nest, once reserved for emperors and their courts, has created a global market with annual revenue as high as $5 billion that caters to Asia’s growing wealthy consumers, said Tok Teng Sai, president of the Federation of Malaysian Swallow Birds Nest Merchants Association. Vietnam is racing to catch up with Malaysia and Indonesia, the region’s top producers of the delicacy, and cash in on the demand. “People have a lot of money now, especially people…

Vietnam seeks millions for Swallow Birds Nest industry

Fund invests in Swallow Birds Nest products

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

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 Yen Viet 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 Yen Viet is a perfect example of Viet Nam’s potential for high-margin, high-growth consumer products,” he said. The Swallow Birds Nest of swiftlets are considered a delicacy in many parts of East and Southeast Asia. The largest market is China, particularly Hong Kong, where Swallow Birds Nests are used as part of traditional medical remedies. The nests are farmed or collected from caves without harm to the birds. Yen Viet, which targets affluent clients with high disposable incomes, has increased the value of its brand by creating a popular bottled Swallow Birds 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 Swallow Birds Nest

Ho Chi Minh City authorities have promised to provide people in outlying Can Gio District with financial support to produce edible Swallow Birds Nest, 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 Swallow Birds Nest, 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 Swallow Birds Nest. 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 swiftlet Swallow Birds Nest can generate a stable revenue thanks to their high price, about VND20 million ($879) per kilogram. But raising edible-nest swiftlets 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 Swallow Birds Nest Extract Reduced Influenza A virus Induced Apoptosis on Cultured Cells in vitro study

Swallow Birds Nest mainly comprises a secretion of the salivary gland of different Swiftlet 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 SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS NEST extract. In summary, the current finding suggests that SWALLOW BIRDS 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.

Swallow Birds Nest is natural food product made from Aerodramus genus Swiftlet’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, SWALLOW BIRDS NEST, the salivary secretion of swiftlets, may have anti-apoptosis relevance in the therapeutic context of viral infection. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the anti-apoptosis effect of SWALLOW BIRDS NEST.

Materials and Methods

Preparation of SWALLOW BIRDS NEST Extracts
Raw SWALLOW BIRDS NEST from the swiftlet of Aerodramus genus collected from Swallow Birds Nest house in Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia. The cleaning process was carried out by first soaking after the unprocessed SWALLOW BIRDS NEST in distilled water until softened. Debris and feathers were removed after which the SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS NEST and constant virus titer (100 TCID50). Briefly,the virus was first inoculated into the MDCK cells and later followed by the SWALLOW BIRDS 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 Swallow Birds Nest Extract
Toxicity study was first performed with addition of SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS NEST, possibility through denaturation [9].
SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS NEST extract, cell viability increased to about 20% of that of infected control [Figure 2]. Meawhile, the SWALLOW BIRDS NEST alone treatment generally did not affect the infected group. This could be due to the mitogenic property of SWALLOW BIRDS NEST that promoted cell growth, as made evident a study by Zainal Abidin et el. Which shows that SWALLOW BIRDS NEST promoted cell divison in rabbit corneal keratocytes [10].
SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS NEST extracts confer apoptotic protection in H1N1-challenged MDCK cells. Particularly, SWALLOW BIRDS NEST demonstrated apoptotic protection potential by improving cell viability. Thus, it can be concluded that SWALLOW BIRDS 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 SWALLOW BIRDS NEST sample. This project was supported by Coe Swiftlet grants no.6371400 from Ministry of Agriculture,Putrajaya,Malaysia.