Energy and Protein Metabolism in Sows and Piglets

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 3751

Special Issue Editor

Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition Control, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Interests: sow nutrition; placenta; intrauterine growth restriction; nutrient transport

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Protein and energy metabolism occurring along with various cellular processes plays critical roles in animal health maintenance and productive efficiency. Sows are characterized by highly extensive protein and energy metabolism since they need to provide a sufficient amount of diverse nutrients to their offspring via the placenta and colostrum/milk, in addition to meeting their own requirements. Similarly, piglets also exhibit strong protein and energy metabolism to support their fast development and nutrient deposition, and they could be directly influenced by maternal metabolism due to their close link via suckling. Many factors, including animal health, diet components (amino acids, fatty acids, bioactive substances), as well as environmental stress, have a profound influence on protein and energy metabolism. Determining how to enhance animal performance via combining multiple strategies to improve protein and energy metabolism is an important scientific issue for the pig industry.

This Special Issue will focus on the factors impacting protein and energy metabolism in sows and piglets and the underlying mechanisms. Research articles and reviews on this topic are welcome.

Dr. Fang Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • protein metabolism
  • energy metabolism
  • amino acids
  • fatty acids
  • nutritional regulation
  • environment management
  • sows
  • piglets

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 3268 KiB  
Article
Dietary Isoleucine and Valine: Effects on Lipid Metabolism and Ureagenesis in Pigs Fed with Protein Restricted Diets
by Parniyan Goodarzi, Mohammad Habibi, Matthew William Gorton, Katherine Walsh, Firoozeh Tarkesh, Mallory Fuhrig and Adel Pezeshki
Metabolites 2023, 13(1), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo13010089 - 5 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1789
Abstract
A mixture of valine (Val) and isoleucine (Ile) not only decreases the negative impact of very low protein (VLP) diets on the growth of pigs, but also influences the nitrogen (N) balance and lipid metabolism; however, the underlying pathways are not well understood. [...] Read more.
A mixture of valine (Val) and isoleucine (Ile) not only decreases the negative impact of very low protein (VLP) diets on the growth of pigs, but also influences the nitrogen (N) balance and lipid metabolism; however, the underlying pathways are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of dietary Val and Ile on lipogenesis, lipolysis, and ureagenesis under protein restriction. After one week of acclimation, forty three-week-old pigs were randomly assigned to following dietary treatments (n = 8/group) for 5 weeks: positive control (PC): normal protein diet; negative control (NC): VLP diet; HV: NC supplemented with Val; HI: NC supplemented with Ile; and HVI: NC supplemented with both Val and Ile. HVI partially improved the body weight and completely recovered the feed intake (FI) of pigs fed with NC. HVI increased thermal radiation and improved the glucose clearance. HVI had a lower blood triglyceride than PC and blood urea N than NC. NC and HV promoted lipogenesis by increasing the transcript of fatty acid synthase (FAS) in the liver and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in adipose tissue but reducing hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) in the liver. HVI reduced the increased rate of lipogenesis induced by the NC group through normalizing the mRNA abundance of hepatic FAS, sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1, and HSL and LPL in adipose tissue. NC, HV, HI, and HVI reduced the ureagenesis by decreasing the protein abundance of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I, ornithine transcarboxylase, and arginosuccinate lyase in the liver. Overall, HVI improved the growth, FI, and glucose clearance, and decreased the rate of lipogenesis induced by VLP diets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Protein Metabolism in Sows and Piglets)
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 4050 KiB  
Article
Altered Liver Metabolism, Mitochondrial Function, Oxidative Status, and Inflammatory Response in Intrauterine Growth Restriction Piglets with Different Growth Patterns before Weaning
by Jun Wang, Pengwei Zhu, Xiaoyu Zheng, Ziwei Ma, Chang Cui, Caichi Wu, Xiangfang Zeng, Wutai Guan and Fang Chen
Metabolites 2022, 12(11), 1053; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12111053 - 1 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1503
Abstract
Frequent occurrence of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) causes huge economic losses in the pig industry. Accelerated catch-up growth (CUG) in the early stage of life could restore multiple adverse outcomes of IUGR offspring; however, there is little knowledge about this beneficial phenomenon. We [...] Read more.
Frequent occurrence of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) causes huge economic losses in the pig industry. Accelerated catch-up growth (CUG) in the early stage of life could restore multiple adverse outcomes of IUGR offspring; however, there is little knowledge about this beneficial phenomenon. We previously found that nutrient absorption related to intestinal function was globally promoted in CUG-IUGR piglets before weaning, which might be the dominant reason for CUG, but what this alteration could lead to in subsequent liver metabolism is still unknown. Firstly, a Normal, CUG, and non-catch-up growth (NCUG) piglet model before weaning was established by dividing eighty litters of newborn piglets into normal birth weight (NBW) and IUGR groups according to birth weight, and those piglets with IUGR but above-average weanling body weight were considered CUG, and the piglets with IUGR still below average body weight were considered NCUG at weaning day (d 26). Liver samples were collected and then systematically compared in glycolipid metabolism, mitochondrial function, antioxidant status, and inflammatory status among these three different growth models. Enhanced hepatic uptake of fatty acids, diminished de novo synthesis of fatty acids, and increased oxidation of fatty acids were observed in CUG livers compared to Normal and NCUG. In contrast, the NCUG liver showed enhanced glucose uptake and gluconeogenesis compared to Normal and CUG. We also observed deteriorating hepatic vacuolation in NCUG piglets, while increasing hepatic lipid deposition in CUG piglets. Besides, the expression of genes related to mitochondrial energy metabolism and biogenesis was reduced in CUG piglets and the phosphorylation level of AMPK was significantly higher compared to Normal (p < 0.05). Moreover, NCUG liver showed decreased T-AOC (p < 0.01) and GSH-PX (p < 0.05), increased MDA concentrations (p < 0.01), upregulated phosphorylation levels of ERK and NF-κB (p < 0.05), and elevated pro-inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α (p < 0.05) compared to Normal. Furthermore, correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between glucose metabolism and inflammatory factors, while a negative correlation between mitochondrial function-related genes and fatty acid transport. NGUG piglets showed simultaneous enhancement of glucose uptake and gluconeogenesis, as well as reduced antioxidant capacity and increased inflammatory status, whereas CUG comes at the expense of impaired hepatic mitochondrial function and pathological fat accumulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Protein Metabolism in Sows and Piglets)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop