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Dietary Chromium Picolinate Supplementation Affects Growth, Whole-Body Composition, and Gene Expression Related to Glucose Metabolism and Lipogenesis in Juvenile Blunt Snout Bream, Megalobrama amblycephala

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Abstract

An 11-week feeding trial was carried out to investigate the effects of supplemented chromium picolinate (Cr-Pic) on the growth, whole-body composition, and relative mRNA expression related to lipogenesis and glucose metabolism in juvenile blunt snout bream. Seven isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets with graded Cr supplementation levels were fed to triplicate groups. The final weight (FW), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and specific growth rate (SGR) were improved with increasing dietary Cr supplementation levels up to 0.4 mg/kg, and thereafter showed relatively constant. However, 12.0 mg/kg dietary Cr supplementation decreased growth and feed utilization. Based on SGR and FCR, the optimal dietary Cr supplementation level for the juvenile was estimated to be 0.28 mg/kg. Significantly higher plasma insulin levels were found in juvenile fed diets with 0.4 and 0.8 mg/kg Cr supplementation compared to those fed diet sans supplemented Cr. Plasma glucose levels decreased with increasing dietary Cr supplementation, and the lowest value was remarked in the group added 3.2 mg/kg of Cr. Adding 0.4–0.8 mg/kg Cr enhanced insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1), phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K), and pyruvate kinase (PK) and inhibited expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), and glycogen synthase (GS) mRNA levels. High dietary Cr (12.0 mg/kg) supplementation resulted in high G6Pase and PEPCK expression. The highest content of whole-body lipid was remarked in fish fed with 0.4 mg/kg dietary Cr, which related to the enhanced gene expression related to lipogenesis; thereafter, mRNA levels showed a diminishing trend. These findings indicate that optimum dietary Cr-Pic supplementation has a positive effect on growth and blood glucose homeostasis by modifying the mRNA levels related to glucose metabolism and lipogenesis in juvenile blunt snout bream.

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Acknowledgements

The funding of the current research was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (31772820), the National Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20161143), and the Modern Agriculture Industrial Technology System special project-the national technology system for Conventional Freshwater Fish Industries (CARS-46).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Genetic Breeding of Aquatic Animals and Aquaculture Biology, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center (FFRC), Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences (CAFS), Wuxi, 214081, People’s Republic of China

    Mingchun Ren, Jun Xie, Xianping Ge & Bo Liu

  2. Wuxi Fisheries College, Nanjing Agricultural University, Wuxi, 214081, People’s Republic of China

    Mingchun Ren, Ahmed Mokrani, Hualiang Liang, Ke Ji & Xianping Ge

  3. Key Laboratory of Freshwater Fisheries and Germplasm Resources Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture, Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Wuxi, 214081, China

    Mingchun Ren & Xianping Ge

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  1. Mingchun Ren
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Correspondence to Mingchun Ren or Xianping Ge.

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The present study was approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of Nanjing Agricultural University (Nanjing, China).

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Ren, M., Mokrani, A., Liang, H. et al. Dietary Chromium Picolinate Supplementation Affects Growth, Whole-Body Composition, and Gene Expression Related to Glucose Metabolism and Lipogenesis in Juvenile Blunt Snout Bream, Megalobrama amblycephala. Biol Trace Elem Res 185, 205–215 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-018-1242-0

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