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Iron is a trace element necessary for cell growth, development, and cellular homeostasis, but insufficient or excessive level of iron is toxic. Intracellularly, sufficient amounts of iron are required for mitochondria (the center of iron utilization) to maintain their normal physiologic function. Iron deficiency impairs mitochondrial metabolism and respiratory activity, while mitochondrial iron overload promotes ROS production during mitochondrial electron transport, thus promoting potential disease development. This review provides an overview of iron homeostasis, mitochondrial iron metabolism, and how mitochondrial iron imbalances-induced mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to diseases.

Trace element additives are widely supplemented in animal feed to improve growth and reproductive performance, especially for pregnant sows. Although organic trace elements significantly improved production performance compared with inorganic form due to the better bioavailability, antioxidant and immune-promoting function, reports on comparison of the effects on different ligands is still limited. And it is not known that microelement methionine hydroxy analogue chelate (MHAC) whether has similar or even better bioavailability than amino acid chelate (AAC). Thus, the Zn, Cu and Mn chelated with methionine hydroxy analogue (Zn-, Cu- and Mn-MHAC) and amino acid chelate (AAC) were compared in two large-scaled farms under similar conditions. The results showed Zn-, Cu- and Mn-MHAC trace elements significantly increased reproductive performance of Landrace × Yorkshire (LY) 1st sows in treatment farm related to litter size and weight while reduced all adverse pregnancy outcomes (P P P P P > 0.05) even significantly better production performance included litter size (P = 0.003), live litter size (P = 0.039) and mummies (P = 0.011) compared to the control farm in the end of trial period which was much worse than that of control farm in historical period (P

Individuals with postnatal growth retardation (PGR) are prone to developing chronic disease. Abnormal development in small intestine is casually implicated in impaired growth performance. However, the exact mechanism is still unknown. In this present study, PGR piglets (aged 42 days) were employed as a good model to analyse changes in nutrient absorption and energy metabolism in the intestinal mucosa. The results showed lower serum concentrations of free amino acids, and lipid metabolites in PGR piglets, which were in accordance with the down‐regulated mRNA expressions involved in fatty acid and amino acid transporters in the jejunal and ileal mucosa. The decreased activities of digestive enzymes and the marked swelling in mitochondria were also observed in the PGR piglets. In addition, it was found that lower ATP production, higher AMP/ATP ratio, deteriorated mitochondrial complex III and ATP synthase, and decreased manganese superoxide dismutase activity in the intestinal mucosa of PGR piglets. Furthermore, altered gene expression involved in energy metabolism, accompanied by decreases in the protein abundance of SIRT1, PGC‐1α and PPARγ, as well as phosphorylations of AMPKα, mTOR, P70S6K and 4E‐BP1 were observed in intestinal mucosa of PGR piglets. In conclusion, decreased capability of nutrient absorption, mitochondrial dysfunction, and aberrant energy status in the jejunal and ileal mucosa may contribute to PGR piglets.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of 3 meals administered daily with varying dietary crude protein (CP) contents on hepatic lipid metabolism with a pig model. Pigs were divided into 3 groups according to the following feeding patterns: feeding a basal CP diet 3 times daily (3C); feeding a high CP diet for breakfast, the basal CP diet for lunch, and a low CP diet for dinner (HCL); and feeding the low CP diet for breakfast, the basal CP diet for lunch, and the high protein diet for dinner (LCH). Three groups took equivalent diet per meal ensuring that every pig was fed with similar dietary formulae daily. Results showed that HCL feeding pattern reduced the relative kidney weight (P

Background In modern animal husbandry, breeders pay increasing attention to improving sow nutrition during pregnancy and lactation to favor the health of neonates. Sow milk is a main food source for piglets during their first three weeks of life, which is not only a rich repository of essential nutrients and a broad range of bioactive compounds, but also an indispensable source of commensal bacteria. Maternal milk microorganisms are important sources of commensal bacteria for the neonatal gut. Bacteria from maternal milk may confer a health benefit on the host. Methods Sow milk bacteria were isolated using culturomics followed by identification using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. To screen isolates for potential probiotic activity, the functional evaluation was conducted to assess their antagonistic activity against pathogens in vitro and evaluate their resistance against oxidative stress in damaged Drosophila induced by paraquat. In a piglet feeding trial, a total of 54 newborn suckling piglets were chosen from nine sows and randomly assigned to three treatments with different concentrations of a candidate strain. Multiple approaches were carried out to verify its antioxidant function including western blotting, enzyme activity analysis, metabolomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results The 1240 isolates were screened out from the sow milk microbiota and grouped into 271 bacterial taxa based on a nonredundant set of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Among 80 Pediococcus isolates, a new Pediococcus pentosaceus strain (SMM914) showed the best performance in inhibition ability against swine pathogens and in a Drosophila model challenged by paraquat. Pretreatment of piglets with SMM914 induced the Nrf2-Keap1 antioxidant signaling pathway and greatly affected the pathways of amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism in plasma. In the colon, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus was significantly increased in the high dose SMM914 group compared with the control group. Conclusion P. pentosaceus SMM914 is a promising probiotic conferring antioxidant capacity by activating the Nrf2-Keap1 antioxidant signaling pathway in piglets. Our study provided useful resources for better understanding the relationships between the maternal microbiota and offspring.

This study aims to compare the meat quality of Shaziling and Yorkshire pigs and to find the potential indicator in serum for superior meat quality. Six Shaziling and Yorkshire pigs at 30, 60, 90, 150, 210, and 300 d of age were selected to examine carcass traits, meat quality, and serum metabolome. The results showed that the body weight, carcass length, and loin eye area of Shaziling pigs at 150, 210, and 300 d of age were significantly lower than those of Yorkshire pigs (P

Background: In modern animal husbandry, the relationship between sow and piglets is closely linked as breeders pay more attention to improving sow nutrition during pregnancy and lactation to favor the growing of neonates. Sow milk is the main food for piglets during their first three weeks of life, which is not only a rich repository of essential nutrients and a broad range of bioactive compounds, but also an indispensable source of commensal bacteria. Maternal milk microorganisms are important sources of commensal bacteria for neonatal gut. Bacteria from hosts’ maternal milk may serve as an additive to confer a health benefit on the composition of the indigenous microbiota of piglets.Methods: We first obtained isolates from the sow milk microbiota by the culturomics methods of continuous culture and interval sampling. Then, identified and grouped them based on a nonredundant set of 16S rDNA gene sequences. After assessing their antimicrobial activity against enteropathogens in vitro, we selected several strains to further conduct assay in Drosophila to evaluate their resistance against oxidative injury. We finally screened out Pediococcus pentosaceus (P. pentosaceus) SMM914 as candidate strain to verify its antioxidant effect in weaned piglets and study its probiotic function by 16S rDNA sequencing, metabolomics, western blotting and enzyme activity analysis.Results: The 1240 isolates were screened out from the sow milk microbiota and grouped into 271 bacterial taxa. We evaluated 80 Pediococcus isolates about their inhibition ability against enteropathogens in vitro and then chose top 10 isolates to further test them in Drosophila. In 80 Pediococcus isolates, P. pentosaceus SMM914 showed best performance by inhibition ability against enteropathogens in vitro andparaquat challenge in Drosophila model. Pretreatment of piglets with SMM914 induces the Nrf2/Keap1 antioxidant signaling pathway and altered the pathways of amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism in plasma. In colon, Lactobacillus was significantly increased in the high dose of SMM914 group compared with the control group.Conclusion: Our study provided useful resources for deeply understanding the relationships between the maternal microbiota and the offspring and supported the theory of Sow and Piglet Integration.

Background: The effects and roles of the leucine (Leu) metabolite β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) in lipid metabolism in adipose tissues of pigs are still unknown. Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of excess Leu versus HMB on growth, carcass traits, and lipid metabolism in adipose tissues of growing pigs. Methods and results: Compared to control, the Leu/HMB group significantly increased/reduced weight of total fat mass, respectively, with a concurrent increase of serum adiponectin concentration (P < 0.05). Moreover, dietary HMB supplementation regulated the expression of genes involved in adipose tissue function, accompanied by increases/decreases in the phosphorylation of AMPKα/mTOR in perirenal adipose tissue, respectively (P < 0.05). Serum IL-15 concentration and the mRNA abundance of IL-15, PGC-1α, and NRF-1 were also increased in the HMB group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: HMB supplementation can regulate adipose tissue function including fatty acid oxidation, lipolysis, and adipokine secretion. These effects may be partly mediated by AMPKα-mTOR pathway and associated with mitochondrial biogenesis, the AMPK-PGC-1α axis, and myokines secreted by muscle tissues.

The aim of the study is to determine the effects of iron on circadian clock gene expression and serum lipid metabolism in sucking piglets. Twenty-four neonatal piglets were selected and randomly as...

BACKGROUND Recent research related to phase-feeding programs for pig nutrition do not always account for the variation among individuals, and feeds are usually formulated to optimize the performance of the whole pig population. This study aimed at measuring the effects of a daily 3-meal pattern with different dietary protein contents on pig growth performance, carcass and muscle quality traits. RESULTS The results showed that compared with the 3C treatment, ADG of pigs in the HCL treatment increased by 14.75% (P < 0.05) during period 1. The carcass weight (P = 0.006) and slaughter weight (P = 0.021) in the HCL group increased when compared with those in the 3C and LCH treatments. Moreover, the LCH feeding sequences contributed to reduce the drip loss in longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle (P < 0.05) when compared with the 3C treatment. The HCL or LCH feeding sequence contributed to increase the meat quality when compared with those receiving the 3C treatment. CONCLUSION Collectively, our results indicate that feeding high protein meal in the morning and a gradual reduction of the protein content in meals over the day may improve muscle quality characteristics, maximize performance, and reduce the pig feed cost.

Whether methionine content and its metabolites in liver and skeletal muscle show diurnal rhythmicity remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the diurnal rhythms in methionine and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) in plasma, liver, and longissimus thoracis muscle, as well as in enzymes involved in methionine-related transmethylation reaction using pigs maintained in a 12-h photoperiod. The results showed that concentration of methionine and SAM, as well as mRNA expression of methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT1A), DNA methyltranferase (DNMT3A and DNMT3B) in liver showed diurnal rhythmicity. Comparison with typical circadian clock genes revealed a similarity between the diurnal patterns of MAT1A and cryptochrome circadian clock 1 (CRY1) expression, whereas the daily patterns of MAT2A, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B expression were reversely related to the expression patterns of Timeless. These results imply that much attention should be paid to rhythms of methionine metabolism and methylation activity in the pathogenesis of diseases, such as cancer and metabolic syndrome.

Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) has been shown to reduce lipid accumulation in liver in mice and rats. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether maternal COS feeding affects hepatic lipid metabolism via influencing the expression of circadian clock genes in piglets. From day (d) 85 of gestation to d 14 of lactation, sixteen pregnant sows were divided into a control group (basal diet without COS supplementation) and a COS group (30 mg COS/kg basal diet). After farrowing, one piglet per litter in each group was selected for the collection of plasma and liver samples on d 0 and d 14 of age, respectively. Interestingly and significantly, we found that maternal COS supplementation promoted plasma and hepatic cholesterol accumulation and up-regulated the mRNA level of negative-regulated element period 1 (Per1), and reduced the abundance of the positive elements, circadian locomotor output cycles kaput (CLOCK), and brain muscle Arnt-like 1 (BMAL1) in the suckling piglets on d 14. These alterations may ...

The daily variations in circulating fatty acid (FA) contents and lipid metabolism have been well documented. However, whether long chain polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) contents and expression of genes involved in their de novo synthesis exhibit daily rhythms are yet unknown. We conducted the present study to investigate the daily variations in PUFA contents in plasma and liver of pigs. Moreover, diurnal expression of genes encode fatty acid desaturases and elongases, which are key enzymes catalyzed de novo synthesis of long chain PUFA, were also explored. The results showed that long chain PUFA contents in plasma and liver both exhibited diurnal rhythms. Diurnal variations were also observed in mRNA expression of FASD1 (Delta 5-desaturase), FASD2 (Delta 6-desaturase), ELOVL5 (fatty acid elongase 5) and ELOVL2 in liver, with an unexpectedly high level at night. Moreover, our results showed a similarity between the diurnal patterns of FASD1, FASD2, ELOVL2, ELOVL5 and Period 2. These results indicated a high activity of the desaturase-elongase pathway at night in pigs. These findings have important physiological and pathophysiological implications, since long chain PUFA are essential for cell function and closely involved in the development of metabolic syndrome.

A 60-days feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of Lonicera macranthoides leaf (LML) on growth performance, meat quality, and free amino acid profiles in growing-finishing pigs. L. macranthoides leaves were harvested, air-dried and milled to powder. A total of 288 crossbred barrows (Large White × Landrace) with an average initial BW of 54.0 ± 3.4 kg were randomly allocated to 3 treatment groups and fed either a basal diet or a diet supplemented with 0.5% or 1.0% LML powder. Results showed that diet supplemented with LML powder did not affect average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed: gain ratio (P > 0.05) in growing-finishing pigs. Moreover, diet supplemented with LML powder showed no significant effects on carcass traits (P > 0.05) including dressing percentage, backfat thickness and loin muscle area, and meat quality traits (P > 0.05) including meat color, intramuscular fat and cooking loss. However, diet supplemented with LML powder significantly improved free amino acid profiles in serum and longissimus thoracis muscle in growing-finishing pigs. Most importantly, dietary LML powder increased total free amino acids content (P

Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) has a blood glucose lowering effect in diabetic rats and is widely used as a dietary supplement. However, the effect of COS on the offspring of supplemented mothers is unknown. This experiment investigates the effect of supplementing sows during gestation and lactation on the levels of plasma glucose on suckling piglets. From day 85 of gestation to day 14 of lactation, 40 pregnant sows were divided into two treatment groups and fed either a control diet or a control diet containing 30mgCOS/kg. One 14 day old piglet per pen was selected to collect plasma and tissue (8pens/diet). Performance, hepatic gluconeogenesis genes and proteins expression, amino acids contents in sow milk, hepatic glycogen and free fatty acid were determined. Results showed that supplementation of the maternal diet with COS improved daily gain and weaning weight (P