Understanding the impact of neonatal glutamine supplementation on the interaction between gut epithelia, its mitochondria, and microbiota, and its importance for the development in low birthweight piglets
Final Report Abstract
Mortality until weaning can be as high as 35% in suckling piglets. We investigated whether oral supplementation with the gut-supportive amino acid glutamine (Gln) in male newborn piglets with low and normal (N) birth weight (L) in the first 12 days of life (dol), has beneficial effects on growth, metabolism, the gut, its mitochondria and the microbiota in the gut compared to alanine (Ala) supplementation and whether such effects persist until after weaning. The L piglets had a birth weight of 1.1 versus 1.5 kg in the N group. Between 10th and 12th dol, Gln-L piglets were heavier and longer than piglets in the Ala-L control. The positive effect of Gln supplementation on body weight persisted until 21 dol, although oral Gln administration was terminated on 12 dol. No Gln effect on body measures was seen in the N piglets. The Gln-L piglet group showed higher milk intake (11-12 dol) than the Ala-L piglets. Acute effects of Gln supplementation were found in lipid metabolism of L piglets which seemed to have been normalized by Gln. Ala vs Gln concentrations in gastric contents and duodenal tissues were approximately 2-fold greater. This suggests that Gln and Ala were absorbed in the duodenum in proportion to their amount of intake. Except for increased Gln concentration in jejunum tissue in Gln-N piglets, Gln supplementation was not associated with jejunal proliferation and protein synthesis, amino acid (AA) profiles in jejunum and its lumen, mRNA abundance of genes involved in AA transport and metabolism, or glutathione synthesis, or effects on citrate cycle metabolites and mitochondrial transmembrane potential. Supplementation with Gln had weak positive effects on intestinal morphometry, as well as intestinal microbiota and its metabolites. Persistent effects on the latter parameters could not be observed after the end of Gln supplementation. During the early weaning phase, Gln L piglets showed signs of reduced weaning stress. Piglets with a low (L) birth weight benefitted from Gln in terms of better growth in contrast to piglets with normal (N) birth weight. Unexpected to us was that a certain carry over-effect of Gln supplementation on growth occurred up to 9 days after the Gln supplementation was terminated. This was not observed in the two earlier studies in which the same Gln and Ala dose was given to the piglets than in our study. In contrast to what was reported previously, milk intake of low birth weight piglets supplemented with Gln was higher at 11–12 d of age than in the L piglets supplemented with Ala and it tended to be higher in Gln-N than in Ala-N piglets. Surprisingly, Gln supplementation seemed to normalise the plasma and liver triglyceride concentrations of 5 d old L piglets in our study. Gln supplementation had no or only very slight effects on proliferation, morphology, protein synthesis, gene abundances associated with Gln and glutathione metabolism, mitochondria and microbiota in the jejunum. This was in contrast to our expectations and suggests that an effect of luminal Gln might be only observable in the proximal small intestine for which we have already first evidence.
Publications
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Effects of Oral Glutamine Supplementation on Early Postnatal Muscle Morphology in Low and Normal Birth Weight Piglets. Animals, 10(11), 1976.
Zhao, Yaolu; Albrecht, Elke; Sciascia, Quentin L.; Li, Zeyang; Görs, Solvig; Schregel, Johannes; Metges, Cornelia C. & Maak, Steffen
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Distinct Roles of Perilipins in the Intramuscular Deposition of Lipids in Glutamine-Supplemented, Low-, and Normal-Birth-Weight Piglets. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8.
Zhao, Yaolu; Albrecht, Elke; Li, Zeyang; Schregel, Johannes; Sciascia, Quentin L.; Metges, Cornelia C. & Maak, Steffen
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Glutamine supplementation stimulates cell proliferation in skeletal muscle and cultivated myogenic cells of low birth weight piglets. Scientific Reports, 11(1).
Zhao, Yaolu; Albrecht, Elke; Stange, Katja; Li, Zeyang; Schregel, Johannes; Sciascia, Quentin L.; Metges, Cornelia C. & Maak, Steffen
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Effects of oral glutamine supplementation on jejunal morphology, development, and amino acid profiles in male low birth weight suckling piglets. PLOS ONE, 17(4), e0267357.
Schregel, Johannes; Schulze, Holthausen Johannes; Sciascia, Quentin L.; Li, Zeyang; Görs, Solvig; Eggert, Anja; Tuchscherer, Armin; Zentek, Jürgen & Metges, Cornelia C.
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Glutamine supplementation moderately affects growth, plasma metabolite and free amino acid patterns in neonatal low birth weight piglets. British Journal of Nutrition, 128(12), 2330-2340.
Li, Zeyang; Sciascia, Quentin L.; Görs, Solvig; Nguyen, Nga; Rayatdoost, Baghal Farahnaz; Schregel, Johannes; Tuchscherer, Armin; Zentek, Jürgen & Metges, Cornelia C.
