Dietary Glutamic Acid Modulates Immune Responses and Gut Health of Weaned Pigs
1
Division of Animal and Dairy Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea
2
Division of Food and Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea
3
Department of Beef Science, Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju 54874, Korea
4
Pathway Intermediates, Seoul 06253, Korea
5
Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
6
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research, Institute of Agriculture and Life Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
7
Department of Animal Resources Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work as the first authors.
Academic Editor: Maria Teresa Capucchio
Animals 2021, 11(2), 504; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020504
Received: 22 January 2021
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Revised: 9 February 2021
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Accepted: 10 February 2021
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Published: 15 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feed Ingredients for Swine and Poultry)
Simple Summary
Weaning stress can lead to intestinal barrier dysfunction, immune system destruction, and intestinal microbiota disruption, thereby reducing the absorption of nutrients and causing intestinal diseases. Glutamic acid is a non-essential amino acid that is abundantly present in the body and plays an essential function in cellular metabolism and immune responses. In this study, the effects of dietary glutamic acid on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, immune responses, and intestinal health of weaned pigs were evaluated. Based on the results, dietary glutamic acid increased growth performance, nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, and ileal gene expression of tight junction proteins of weaned pigs and modified immune responses and gut microbiota. This study provides information to understand the functional use of dietary glutamic acid as a feed additive for improving the growth performance and intestinal health of weaned pigs.
Dietary glutamic acid (GLU) is used as a feed additive because of its functional characteristics that may affect the growth performance and health of pigs. This study was carried out to determine the effects of dietary GLU on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, immune responses, and intestinal health of weaned pigs. A total of ninety-six weaned pigs (8.07 ± 1.17 kg of body weight; 28 days of age) were assigned to two dietary treatments (8 pigs/pen; 6 replicates/treatment) in a randomized complete block design (block: body weight): (1) a typical weaner diet (CON) and (2) CON supplemented with 0.5% GLU. The experimental period was for 4 weeks. All data and sample collections were performed at the specific time points during the experimental period. Pigs fed GLU had higher average daily gain and average daily feed intake for the first two weeks and nutrient digestibility than pigs fed CON. In addition, dietary GLU increased villus height to crypt depth ratio, number of goblet cells, and ileal gene expression of claudin family and occludin compared with CON, but decreased serum TNF-α and IL-6 and ileal gene expression of TNF-α. Moreover, pigs fed GLU had increased relative composition of bacterial communities of genus Prevotella and Anaerovibrio and decreased genus Clostridium and Terrisporobacter compared with those fed CON. This study suggests that dietary GLU influences growth performance and health of weaned pigs by modulating nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, ileal gene expression of tight junction proteins and cytokines, immune responses, and microbial community in the gut.
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Keywords:
glutamic acid; gut microbiota; ileal gene expression; immune responses; intestinal morphology; nutrient digestibility; weaned pigs
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MDPI and ACS Style
Kyoung, H.; Lee, J.J.; Cho, J.H.; Choe, J.; Kang, J.; Lee, H.; Liu, Y.; Kim, Y.; Kim, H.B.; Song, M. Dietary Glutamic Acid Modulates Immune Responses and Gut Health of Weaned Pigs. Animals 2021, 11, 504. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020504
AMA Style
Kyoung H, Lee JJ, Cho JH, Choe J, Kang J, Lee H, Liu Y, Kim Y, Kim HB, Song M. Dietary Glutamic Acid Modulates Immune Responses and Gut Health of Weaned Pigs. Animals. 2021; 11(2):504. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020504
Chicago/Turabian StyleKyoung, Hyunjin, Jeong Jae Lee, Jin Ho Cho, Jeehwan Choe, Joowon Kang, Hanbae Lee, Yanhong Liu, Younghoon Kim, Hyeun Bum Kim, and Minho Song. 2021. "Dietary Glutamic Acid Modulates Immune Responses and Gut Health of Weaned Pigs" Animals 11, no. 2: 504. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020504
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