Glutamine supplementation moderately affects growth, plasma metabolite and free amino acid patterns in neonatal low birth weight piglets.

Zeyang Li,Armin Tuchscherer,Solvig Görs,Johannes Schregel,Jürgen Zentek,Nga Nguyen,Farahnaz Rayatdoost Baghal,Quentin L Sciascia,Cornelia C Metges

doi:10.1017/s0007114522000459

Abstract

Low birth weight (LBW) neonates show impaired growth compared with normal birth weight (NBW) neonates. Glutamine (Gln) supplementation benefits growth of weaning piglets, while the effect on neonates is not sufficiently clear. We examined the effect of neonatal Gln supplementation on piglet growth, milk intake and metabolic parameters. Sow-reared pairs of newborn LBW (0·8-1·2 kg) and NBW (1·4-1·8 kg) male piglets received Gln (1 g/kg body mass (BM)/d; Gln-LBW, Gln-NBW; n 24/group) or isonitrogenous alanine (1·22 g/kg BM/d; Ala-LBW; Ala-NBW; n 24/group) supplementation at 1-5 or 1-12 d of age (daily in three equal portions at 07:00, 12:00 and 17:00 by syringe feeding). We measured piglet BM, milk intake (1, 11-12 d), plasma metabolite, insulin, amino acid (AA) and liver TAG concentrations (5, 12 d). The Gln-LBW group had higher BM (+7·5%, 10 d, P = 0·066; 11-12 d, P < 0·05) and milk intake (+14·7%, P = 0·015) than Ala-LBW. At 5 d, Ala-LBW group had higher plasma TAG (+34·7%, P < 0·1) and lower carnosine (-22·5%, P < 0·05) than Ala-NBW and Gln-LBW, and higher liver TAG (+66·9%, P = 0·029) than Ala-NBW. At 12 d, plasma urea was higher (+37·5%, P < 0·05) with Gln than Ala supplementation. Several proteinogenic AA in plasma were lower (P < 0·05) in Ala-NBW v. Gln-NBW. Plasma arginine was higher (P < 0·05) in Gln-NBW v Ala-NBW piglets (5, 12 d). Supplemental Gln moderately improved growth and milk intake and affected lipid metabolism in LBW piglets and AA metabolism in NBW piglets, suggesting effects on intestinal and liver function.

Highlights

Glutamine (Gln) is a conditionally indispensable and functional amino acid (AA) that plays an important role in energy and AA metabolism and regulates key metabolic pathways related to growth, immunity and health[3]
Our study demonstrated that the Gln effect on piglet growth is birth weight class (BC)-dependent, that Gln can benefit the growth of neonatal male Low birth weight (LBW) piglets, suggesting catch-up growth due to Gln supplementation
The daily dosage of Gln used in our study was identical to the report of Wu et al[3], which showed an increase in BM gain (BMG) (þ16 %, until 21 d of age) in Gln-supplemented LBW piglets

Summary

Introduction

Glutamine (Gln) is a conditionally indispensable and functional amino acid (AA) that plays an important role in energy and AA metabolism and regulates key metabolic pathways related to growth, immunity and health[3]. The effects of Gln on neonatal LBW piglet growth and milk intake are not sufficiently clear. AA metabolism, as organs and tissues absorb/release free AA from/into the circulation and feed cellular protein metabolism[16] Plasma metabolites such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and TAG reflect health and metabolic status of an individual[17,18,19]. Our hypothesis was that neonatal Gln supplementation can improve growth and affect plasma metabolite and free AA concentrations in LBW and normal birth weight (NBW) piglets during the neonatal phase. This study examined the effect of Gln supplementation on growth, milk intake, plasma metabolites, insulin, free AA and liver TAG concentrations in neonatal LBW and NBW piglets

Methods

Results

Conclusion