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Maternal l-glutamine supplementation during late gestation alleviates intrauterine growth restriction-induced intestinal dysfunction in piglets

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Abstract

Maternal dietary supplementation with l-glutamine (Gln) has been considered as an option to improve fetal growth and to prevent the occurrence of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). This study investigated whether maternal Gln supplementation could improve fetal growth as well as the intestinal development during late pregnancy. Sixty pregnant Landrace × Large White multiparous sows were assigned to two groups, either the group fed the control diet or the group with the diet supplemented with 1% Gln from d 85 of gestation until farrowing. One normal body weight piglet and one IUGR piglet were obtained from six litters in each group. Reproductive performance, plasma concentrations of free amino acids and related metabolites as well as piglet growth and tissue indexes were determined. Maternal Gln supplementation during late gestation increased the average birth weight, while decreasing the within-litter variation of newborn piglets. The concentrations of Gln in plasma were lower in IUGR piglets than in normal piglets. Glutamine supplementation enhanced Gln concentrations in maternal and piglet plasma and the piglet jejunum, compared with the Control group. Supplementing Gln suppressed intestinal miR-29a levels, and increased the abundance of extracellular matrix (ECM) and tight junction (TJ) proteins, resulting in increased intestinal weight and improved morphologies of the piglets. Collectively, Gln supplementation to the sow’s diet increased fetal growth, decreased the within-litter variation of newborn piglets, and alleviated the IUGR-induced intestinal impairment. These findings suggest the possibility of maternal glutamine supplementation in the prevention and treatment of IUGR in animal production and human medicine.

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Abbreviations

ECM:

Extracellular matrix

GAPDH:

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Gln:

l-Glutamine

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

IBS:

Irritable bowel syndrome

IUGR:

Intrauterine growth restriction

miRNA:

MicroRNA

MSG:

Monosodium glutamate

NBW:

Normal body weight

qRT-PCR:

Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction

TJ:

Tight junction

ZO-1:

Zonula occludens protein-1

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 31272449, 31422052 and 31630074), the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (no. S170001), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2016YFD0500506), the 111 Project (no. B16044), Jinxinnong Animal Science Developmental Foundation and Hunan Co-Innovation Center of Animal Production Safety, CICAPS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Yuhua Zhu, Tiantian Li, Shimeng Huang, Wei Wang, Zhaolai Dai, Guoyao Wu & Junjun Wang

  2. Research Institute of Shenzhen Jinxinnong Technology CO., LTD., Shenzhen, 518106, China

    Yuhua Zhu

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, China

    Cuiping Feng

  4. Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Guoyao Wu

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  1. Yuhua Zhu
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  2. Tiantian Li
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  3. Shimeng Huang
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  4. Wei Wang
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  5. Zhaolai Dai
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Correspondence to Junjun Wang.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. This research involves animals (pigs). The animal use protocols in this study were reviewed and approved by the China Agricultural University Animal Care and Use Committee (CAU20140508-1, Beijing, China).

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Zhu, Y., Li, T., Huang, S. et al. Maternal l-glutamine supplementation during late gestation alleviates intrauterine growth restriction-induced intestinal dysfunction in piglets. Amino Acids 50, 1289–1299 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-018-2608-5

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