Correlations between plasma ghrelin and parameters of fat metabolism in early lactating dairy cows

Abstract

The peptide hormone ghrelin is produced in the ruminal and proximal duodenal wall with a small portion of ghrelin being post-translationally modified by fatty acids at Ser3. Both forms (desacyl and acyl ghrelin) are released into the blood stream and have been initially assigned a role in the control of feed intake. While acyl ghrelin increases feed intake, desacyl ghrelin may exert opposing effects. However, there is accumulating evidence for the involvement of ghrelin in fat allocation and utilization involving liver, muscle and adipose tissue (Barazzoni et al., 2005; Jennings et al., 2011; Rodríguez et al., 2009). Therefore, it seems possible that ghrelin may be involved in body fat metabolism of dairy cows during the transition period. Here we examined the hypothesis that ghrelin could play a role in the extent of body fat mobilization during early lactation in dairy cows.