Abstract
Foetal loss and intrauterine growth restriction are major problems in mammals, but there are few effective ways in preventing it. Intriguingly, chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), a biomaterial derived from chitosan, can promote foetal survival and growth. Therefore, we have investigated how COS affects foetal survival and growth in a pig model. Fifty-two sows were divided into two treatment groups (n = 26) and fed either solely a control diet or a control diet that includes 100 mg/kg COS. Amniotic fluid and foetus samples from six sows that were of average body weight in each group were collected on gestation day 35. We applied a 1H NMR-based metabolomics approach combined with biochemistry analysis to track the changes that occurred in the amniotic fluid of pregnant sows after COS intervention. Maternal COS inclusion had enhanced (P < 0.05) the foetal survival rate and size at 35 days. COS supplementation had both increased (P < 0.05) SOD, CAT and T-AOC activities and elevated (P < 0.05) IL-10, IgG and IgM concentrations in the amniotic fluid. Moreover, COS had affected (P < 0.05) the amniotic fluid’s lysine, citrate, glucose and hypoxanthine levels. Overall, COS inclusion induced amniotic fluid antioxidant status and metabolic profiles modifications characterising improvements in foetal survival and growth in a pig model.
Highlights
Group is significantly higher than that in the control diet without supplementation (CON) group)
Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) ingestion significantly increased the representative enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD and CAT) in the present study, suggesting that COS ingestion can partly enhance the function of antioxidant defence systems by improving enzymatic antioxidant activity[25]
A recent study reported that GSH and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) are regarded as participants in non-enzymatic antioxidant defence systems[26]
Summary
Group is significantly higher than that in the CON group). CON represents a corn–soybean basal diet; COS, chitosan oligosaccharide (represents the basal diet supplemented with 100 mg/kg chitosan oligosaccharide). Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR)-based metabolomics is an established technique for studying complex biological samples (e.g., plasma, urine or amniotic fluid)[13,14,15]. Amniotic fluid metabolic profiles can offer new insights to better understand the organ systems and biofunctions that contribute to foetal well-being during a normal pregnancy[17,18]. The great advantage of such an approach is that all metabolites (those present in high enough concentration in the biological sample) are measured simultaneously, and a pattern of several metabolites (metabolic profile) can be more informative than when measuring a single metabolite/analyte[19]. We hypothesised that COS may change the metabolic profiles and biochemical parameters in amniotic fluid, enhancing foetal survival and growth. Taking the above into consideration, the present study examines an explorative metabolomic approach through 1H NMR spectroscopy combined with biochemistry analysis to test this hypothesis in a pig model
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