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- Title
Dietary l-leucine supplementation enhances intestinal development in suckling piglets.
- Authors
Sun, Yuli; Wu, Zhenlong; Li, Wei; Zhang, Chen; Sun, Kaiji; Ji, Yun; Wang, Bin; Jiao, Ning; He, Beibei; Wang, Weiwei; Dai, Zhaolai; Wu, Guoyao
- Abstract
l-Leucine is a signaling amino acid in animal metabolism. It is unknown whether supplementing l-leucine to breast-fed neonates may enhance their small-intestinal development. This hypothesis was tested with a piglet model. Seven-day-old sow-reared pigs with an average birth weight of 1.45 kg were assigned randomly to the control or leucine group ( n = 30/group). Piglets in the leucine group were orally administrated with 1.4 g l-leucine/kg body weight, whereas piglets in the control group received isonitrogenous l-alanine, twice daily for 14 days. The supplemental l-leucine amounted to 200 % of l-leucine intake from sow's milk by 7-day-old pigs. At the end of the 2-week experiment, tissue samples were collected for determining intestinal morphology, expression of genes for intestinal leucine transporters (real-time RT-PCR and western blot analysis), and plasma metabolites and hormones. l-leucine administration increased ( P < 0.05) villus height in the duodenum, an elevated ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the duodenum and ileum, plasma concentrations of leucine, glutamine and asparagine, as well as body-weight gains. mRNA levels for l-leucine transporters ( SLC6A14, SLC6A19 and SLC7A9) and the abundance of the ATB protein were increased ( P < 0.05) but those for SLC7A7 mRNA and the LAT2 protein were decreased ( P < 0.05) in the jejunum of leucine-supplemented piglets, compared with the control. Plasma concentrations of ammonia, urea, triglycerides, and growth-related hormones did not differ between the control and leucine groups. Collectively, these results indicate that l-leucine supplementation improves intestinal development and whole-body growth in suckling piglets with a normal birth weight.
- Subjects
LEUCINE; DIETARY supplements; INTESTINAL development; PIGLET physiology; BODY weight
- Publication
Amino Acids, 2015, Vol 47, Issue 8, p1517
- ISSN
0939-4451
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00726-015-1985-2