The regulation of gluconeogenesis in the Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) affected later in life by a short-term high-glucose programming during early life

Abstract

Abstract We undertook this study to determine whether an acute glucose stimulus during first feeding period and dietary carbohydrates can modify the gluconeogenesis pathway in the Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii). The sturgeon larvae were fed a high glucose diet (57% glucose, 21.5% protein) or a carbohydrate-free diet (67.7% protein) from first feeding to yolk absorption (8–12 days post-hatching, dph). At 13 dph, each group of fish was assigned to two treatments. One group was fed a high-carbohydrate diet (35% dextrin, 39.3% protein), and the other group was fed a carbohydrate-free diet until the 20th wk. The results indicated that the high carbohydrate intake inhibited mRNA expression and activity of gluconeogenic enzymes at 13, 30 dph and the 20th wk. The early high glucose stimulus depressed final body weight of sturgeon at 13, 30 dph and the 20th wk. This stimulus also inhibited mRNA expressions of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase at 30 dph and increased mRNA expressions of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase cytosolic forms and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), while it inhibited activities of G6Pase at 20th wk when the fish were fed a carbohydrate-free diet. Results suggested that the Siberian sturgeon could regulate gluconeogenesis pathway response to dietary carbohydrates content at both transcriptional and post-translational levels. High glucose low protein intake during first feeding disturbs gluconeogenesis regulation in later life. However, the Siberian sturgeon might have a capacity to adapt to later nutritional conditions by reversing the changes in the gluconeogenesis pathway which induced by early stimulation at the transcriptional level during the 20 weeks feeding.