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The biological mechanism by which maternal undernutrition increases the metabolic disorder risk of skeletal muscles in offspring is not fully understood. We hypothesize that maternal intake restriction influences metabolic signals in the skeletal muscles of offspring via a glucagon-mediated pathway. Twenty-four pregnant goats were assigned to the control group (100% of the nutrients requirement, n = 12) and restricted group (60% of the control feed allowance from pregnant days 45 to 100, n = 12). Blood and Longissimus thoracis muscle were sampled from dams (100 d of gestation), fetuses (100 d of gestation), and kids (90 d after birth) in each group. The data were analyzed using the linear MIXED model, with the multiple comparison method of SIDAK applied. Intake restriction reduced (P

Several researchers have testified that feeding with diets high in rice grain induces subacute ruminal acidosis and increases the risk of gastrointestinal inflammation. However, whether diets high in rice grain affect spleen growth and related molecular events remains unknown. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding a high-concentrate (HC) diet based on rice on the growth and microRNA expression profiles in goat spleen. Sixteen Liuyang black goats were used as an artiodactyl model and fed an HC diet for five weeks. Visceral organ weight, LPS (lipopolysaccharide) concentration in the liver and spleen, and microRNA expression were analyzed. The results showed that feeding an HC diet increased the heart and spleen indexes and decreased the liver LPS concentration (p &lt, 0.05). In total, 596 microRNAs were identified, and twenty-one of them were differentially expressed in the spleens of goats fed with the HC diet. Specifically, several microRNAs (miR-107, miR-512, miR-51b, miR-191, miR-296, miR-326, miR-6123 and miR-433) were upregulated. Meanwhile, miR-30b, miR-30d, miR-1468, miR-502a, miR-145, miR-139, miR-2284f, miR-101 and miR-92a were downregulated. Additionally, their target gene CPPED1, CDK6, CCNT1 and CASP7 expressions were inhibited (p &lt, 0.05). These results indicated that the HC diet promoted the growth of the heart and spleen. The HC diet also regulated the expression of miR-326, miR-512-3p, miR-30b, miR-30d, miR-502a and their target genes (CPPED1, CDK6 and CCNT1) related to the enhancement of splenocyte proliferation. The HC diet also modulated the expression of miR-15b-5p, miR-1468 and miR-92a, related to the suppression of splenocyte apoptosis.

Background Liver has important immune function during fetal development and after birth. However, the effect of maternal malnutrition on immune function of the fetal liver is rarely reported. In this study, twelve pregnant goats (Xiangdong black goat, at d 45 of gestation) were assigned to the control group (fed 100% of nutritional requirements) and the restriction group (fed 60% of the intake of the control group) during gestation from d 55 to 100. Fetal goats were harvested at d 100 of gestation and immune indexes and amino acid profiles of the umbilical cord blood and liver Toll-like receptors (TLRs) signaling pathways were measured. Results Maternal body weight in the restriction group was lower than the control group (P P < 0.05) heart weight, heart index, alkaline phosphatase and serum amyloid protein A in the umbilical cord blood (UCB). Moreover, only histidine was decreased in the restricted group (P = 0.084), and there were no differences in other amino acids contents in the UCB between the two groups (P > 0.05). The TLR2 and TLR4 mRNA expression in the fetal liver in the restriction group was greater (P < 0.05) than that in the control group. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels of myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88), TNF receptor associated factor 6, nuclear factor kappa B subunit 1, NFKB inhibitor alpha, IFN-β, TGF-β, TNF-α and IL-1β in the restricted group were upregulated (P < 0.05), and the expression of TLR3 (P = 0.099) tended to be higher in the restricted group. However, protein levels of TLR2, TLR4, IκBα, phosphorylated IκBα, phosphorylated IκBα/total IκBα, TRIF and MyD88 were not affected (P > 0.05) by maternal intake restriction. Conclusions These results revealed that the restriction of maternal feed intake influenced the development of heart and hepatic protein synthesis at the acute phase of fetal goats and upregulated the mRNA expression of genes involved in MyD88-dependent signaling pathways and of target cytokines.

Background Maternal undernutrition programs fetal energy homeostasis and increases the risk of metabolic disorders later in life. This study aimed to identify the signs of hepatic metabolic programming in utero and during the juvenile phase after intrauterine undernutrition during midgestation. Methods Fifty-three pregnant goats were assigned to the control (100% of the maintenance requirement) or restricted (60% of the maintenance requirement from day 45 to day 100 of midgestation and realimentation thereafter) group to compare hepatic energy metabolism in the fetuses (day 100 of gestation) and kids (postnatal day 90). Results Undernutrition increased the glucagon concentration and hepatic hexokinase activity, decreased the body weight, liver weight and hepatic expression of G6PC, G6PD, and PGC1α mRNAs, and tended to decrease the hepatic glycogen content and ACOX1 mRNA level in the dams. Maternal undernutrition decreased the growth hormone (GH) and triglyceride concentrations, tended to decrease the body weight and hepatic hexokinase activity, increased the hepatic PCK1, PCK2 and PRKAA2 mRNAs levels and glucose-6-phosphatase activity, and tended to increase the hepatic PRKAB1 and CPT1α mRNAs levels in the male fetuses. In the restricted female fetuses, the hepatic hexokinase activity and G6PC mRNA level tended to be increased, but PKB1 mRNA expression was decreased and the ACACA, CPT1α, NR1H3 and STK11 mRNA levels tended to be decreased. Maternal undernutrition changed the hepatic metabolic profile and affected the metabolic pathway involved in amino acid, glycerophospholipid, bile acid, purine, and saccharide metabolism in the fetuses, but not the kids. Additionally, maternal undernutrition increased the concentrations of GH and cortisol, elevated the hepatic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, and tended to decrease the hepatic glycogen content in the male kids. No alterations in these variables were observed in the female kids. Conclusions Maternal undernutrition affects the metabolic status in a sex- and stage-specific manner by changing the metabolic profile, expression of genes involved in glucose homeostasis and enzyme activities in the liver of the fetuses. The changes in the hormone levels in the male fetuses and kids, but not the female offspring, represent a potential sign of metabolic programming.

The objective of this study was to investigate the variations in nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation, serum biochemical parameters, and performance resulting from an increase in the proportion of ramie (Boehmeria nivea) substitution for alfalfa in the diets of goats. In a completely randomized block design, thirty-two Liuyang black goats were divided into two blocks according to body weight (BW) (light, BW: 16.7 ± 1.72 kg; and heavy, BW: 26.6 ± 2.95 kg). Then, the sixteen goats in each block were further randomly divided into four subgroups that randomly accepted four treatments, i.e., alfalfa was replaced by ramie at 0%, 35%, 70% and 100%. The results showed that the apparent digestibility of gross energy (GE) (linear, p 0.05) by the inclusion of ramie. The concentration of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) in the rumen fluid decreased (linear, p

BackgroundThe biological mechanism about that maternal undernutrition increases the metabolic disorder risk of skeletal muscles in offspring is less known. We hypothesize that maternal intake restriction influences metabolic signals in the skeletal muscles of offspring via a glucagon-mediated pathway. Twenty-four pregnant goats were assigned to the control (100% of the nutrients requirement) and restricted (60% of the control from pregnant days of 45 to 100) groups. Blood and longissimus thoracis muscle were sampled from dams, fetuses and kids in each group.ResultsIntake restriction reduced the total blood protein of dams and fetuses. Maternal restriction decreased the CREB1, CREBBP, PKA, BMAL1, AKT1, mTOR, and RPTOR mRNA expressions in the fetuses, reduced the CREBBP, NR1H3, DBP and PKA mRNA levels in the kids, but increased the PGC1α and TSC2 mRNA levels in the fetuses, while the mRNA expression of CLOCK and TSC2 genes was increased in the restricted kids. The protein expression of total PKA and phosphorylated PKA of the restricted fetuses and kids were downregulated, while the protein expression of total mTOR and phosphorylated mTOR were reduced in the restricted fetuses and kids. ConclusionsMaternal intake restriction regulated fat oxidation, protein synthesis, and circadian clock expression in the muscles of the offspring via the glucagon-mediated PKA-CREB pathway, which reveals a molecular pathway that maternal undernutrition leads to metabolic adaptation of skeletal muscle in offspring.

Effects of a high proportion of concentrate in the diet on the ileal microbiota and metabolites in small ruminants are rarely reported. This study was designed to investigate the ileal microbiota and its relationship with host metabolic function in goats and aimed to elucidate the mechanisms involving in the ileal adaptation to a diet containing a high proportion of rice. Sixteen goats were equally divided into two groups and fed a diet with a normal concentrate proportion (NC, 55% concentrate) or a high-concentrate diet (HC, 90% concentrate). Results showed that the HC diet decreased bacterial diversity and elevated the abundance of five genera (Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Eubacterium_nodatum_group, Ruminococcus_gauvreauii_group, Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group and Ruminococcus 1), but reduced the number of Anaerotruncus. Microbial functional potentials indicated that the HC diet activated the pathways related to metabolism of carbohydrate, glycan, lipid and vitamins, but inhibited the pathways associated with cell motility and signal transduction. The activities of amylase and alkaline phosphatase were greater (p &lt, 0.05) in the intestinal digesta of the HC-fed goats. However, there were no differences in the villus height, crypt depth and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the ileum between the two groups. These results indicate that the HC diet alters the bacterial community and pathways related to the metabolism of dietary nutrients and cell motility and signal transduction of bacteria in the ileum of goats.

Weaning usually leads to stress in livestock, which has a negative impact on their growth and development. Research on oxidative stress and inflammation induced by weaning has not been reported in goats. Here, we focused on oxidative stress profile and inflammation status of the lower gut (jejunum, ileum, and colon) of goats. First, we illustrated the status of antioxidant activity and inflammation in the intestine of young goats on pre-(2 weeks postnatal, 2 wkpn) or post-(11 wkpn, weaning at day 45 postnatal)-weaned period of young goats. Malondialdehyde (MDA) was higher (p &lt, 0.0001) in jejunum and ileum of the young goats in 11 wkpn than that in 2 wkpn, whereas superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was lower (p = 0.012) in the lower gut of the young goats with 11 wkpn than that in 2 wkpn. Furthermore, we intended to explore the protective influence of a probiotic additive (Lactobacillus plantarum (LAC) P-8, 10 g/d) and a prebiotic additive (Sangrovit&reg, Macleaya cordata (MAC) extract 3.75% w/w premix, 0.3 g/d) on intestinal oxidative stress and inflammation status of early-weaned young goats (average weights of 5.63 &plusmn, 0.30 kg, weaned on d 45 postnatal). We observed that LAC reduced MDA in jejunum and ileum (p &lt, 0.0001), increased SOD activity in ileum (p &lt, 0.01), and increased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in jejunum (p &lt, 0.05). Similarly, MAC reduced MDA contents (p &lt, 0.0001), increased SOD activities (p &lt, 0.01) in both of ileum and jejunum, and increased GSH-Px activity (p &lt, 0.05) in jejunum. However, there were no differences in feed intake, average daily gain, inflammation parameters (interleukin 2 and interleukin 6), and colon oxidative stress profile (MDA, SOD, or GSH-Px) among treatments. These results provide evidence that weaning induces oxidative damage in the lower gut of young goats, and the oxidative damage in the small intestine can be reduced by adding the addition of LAC or MAC in diets depending on the region of the lower gut.

The effect of replacing inorganic zinc with organic zinc in diets of pregnant goats was investigated on the development of the liver and spleen of offspring. Pregnant goats (n = 14; Xiangdong black goat, local breed) of similar parity and body weight (BW, 37.17 ± 5.28 kg) were selected and divided randomly into two groups: the zinc sulfate group (ZnSO4; n = 7) and the methionine-chelated zinc group (Zn-Met; n = 7). Goats were fed for 45 days (day 106 of gestation to delivery). After delivering, lactating goats were fed a diet without extra zinc supplement. Kid goats were weaned at 2 months of age and both the groups were fed the same diet. All goats were fed a mixed diet and had free access to fresh water. Kid goats were slaughtered on day 100, and the liver and spleen were collected, weighed, and stored in liquid nitrogen for genomic DNA methylation and related gene expression determination. In the Zn-Met group, the liver organ index of kid goats showed an increasing trend (P 0.10). Furthermore, the blood zinc content of the offspring was reduced (P

A high-grain (HG) diet can result in ruminal subacute acidosis, which is detrimental to gut health and can lead to decreased productivity. This study investigated the ileal epithelial microbiota and its relationship with host epithelial function in goats fed a HG diet (concentrate/hay, 90:10) and a control diet (concentrate/hay, 55:45), aiming to elucidate the mechanisms involved in ileal adaptation to subacute acidosis. The HG challenge increased the ileal volatile fatty acid concentration ( p = 0.030) and altered the ileal epithelial microbiota by increasing (FDR < 0.05) relative abundances of active carbohydrate and protein degraders Synergistetes, Prevotella, Fibrobacter, Clostridium, Treponema, and unclassified Ruminococcaceae by 20.1-, 6.3-, 16.8-, 8.5-, 19.9-, and 7.1-fold, respectively. However, the HG diet tended to reduce (FDR < 0.10) the relative abundance of Candidatus Arthromitus (38.8 ± 36.1 versus 2.1 ± 3.1). Microbial functional potentials inferred using PICRUSt indicated that the HG challenge elevated abundances of pathways associated with metabolism of amino acid, glycan, cofactors, and vitamins, whereras it decreased pathways associated with signal transduction, xenobiotic biodegradation, and metabolism. Additionally, in the ileal epithelium of HG goats, transcriptome analysis identified the increment (FDR < 0.10) of candidate genes involved in metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, and the proinflammatory cytokine pathway, while downregulating genes encoding antimicrobials and complements (FDR < 0.05). Collectively, the HG challenge shifted the structure and functional potentials of the ileal microbial community and affected the host responses in the ileum of goats toward increased metabolic activities of macro- and micronutrients, together with an increased risk of gut inflammation.

Maternal nutrition during gestation is a leading factor of modifying the foetal epigenome and phenotype for mammals. Imprinting genes have important roles in regulating foetal growth, programming and development. There, however, are limited data available on the effects of feed intake restriction on the expression of imprinting genes in pregnant goats. The present study, therefore, was conducted to assess the effects of maternal feed intake restriction on the relative abundance of mRNA for growth imprinting, DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) and epigenetic transcription-related genes in the liver and heart of foetal goats during gestation. A total of 24 Liuyang black goats (2.0±0.3 yr) with similar body weight (BW, 31.22±8.09 kg) and parity (2) were allocated equally to either a control group (CG) or a restriction group (RG) during both early (from 26 to 65 days) and late (from 96 to 135 days) gestation. All goats were fed a mixed diet and had free access to fresh water. The feed of the RG was 40% less than that of the CG. The early and late gestation goats were weighed, bled and slaughtered on days 65 and 135 of gestation, respectively. In early gestation, the foetal weight, body length, the weight of foetal heart and liver were greater (P 0.05) in the RG. The CpG methylation of genomic DNA in the foetal heart was less (P = 0.0001) in the RG. The relative abundance of mRNA of methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 2 (MBD2) and methyl-CpG-binding domain protein 3 (MBD3) genes in the foetal liver were greater (P 0.05) in the RG. During the late gestation, the foetal weight, heart weight and liver weight were less (P 0.05) in the RG. The relative abundance of mRNA for the MBD2 gene (P = 0.043) in the foetal heart, and the ten-eleven translocation protein 1 (TET1) gene (P 0.05) in both the foetal heart and liver were greater in the RG. These results indicate feed intake restriction during gestation influenced foetal development and regulated the relative abundance of mRNA for epigenetic transcription-related genes.

A total of twenty-four healthy twin-bearing Liuyang black goats were allocated to two trials. In Trial 1, twelve goats received either the control diet (CG, n 6, 100 % feed) or restricted diet (RG, n 6, 60 % feed of CG) from gestation days 26 to 65 after synchronisation. In Trial 2, the remaining goats were randomly and equally divided into two treatments: CG and RG from days 95 to 125 of gestation. Placental traits, fetal weight, serum parameters, nitric oxide (NO), angiogenesis gene expression and cotyledon proteome were measured at the end of each trial. In early pregnancy, the total and relative weights of placenta, uterine caruncle and cotyledon, as well as fetus, were increased (PPPPP

A dependence between dietary protein and starch levels flowing to the duodenum has been characterized in monogastric animals for optimal enzymatic secretions of the pancreas, but those in ruminants remain unclarified. The present experiment was conveyed to assess the pancreas growth and mRNA expression of the small intestine enzymes in growing goats fed a low-protein diet. Twenty-four Liuyang goats (19.55 ± 3.55 of body weight (BW)) and aged approximately 8 months were randomly assigned to either a control protein diet (NP: 10.77% CP) or a low-protein diet (LP: 5.52% CP) for 70 days. The results show that no statistical differences (p &gt, 0.05) were observed in the pancreas growth indices between the groups. Pancreas and small intestine α-amylase and lipase activities were unaffected (p &gt, 0.05) by the LP diet, while activities of trypsin and chymotrypsin were decreased (p &lt, 0.05). The LP diet reduced (p &lt, 0.05) the mRNA expressions of trypsin and chymotrypsin in the duodenum and jejunum, and had no effects (p &gt, 0.05) on the mRNA expressions of α-amylase and lipase. Goats fed with the LP diet had higher (p &lt, 0.05) concentrations of cholecystokinin and insulin than those fed with the NP diet. In conclusion, feeding an LP diet (5.52% CP) had no profound influence on pancreas growth and digestive enzyme synthesis in goats.

Background In developing countries, maternal undernutrition is the major intrauterine environmental factor contributing to fetal development and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Maternal nutrition restriction (MNR) in gestation has proven to impact overall growth, bone development, and proliferation and metabolism of mesenchymal stem cells in offspring. However, the efficient method for elucidation of fetal bone development performance through maternal bone metabolic biochemical markers remains elusive. Methods We adapted goats to elucidate fetal bone development state with maternal serum bone metabolic proteins under malnutrition conditions in mid- and late-gestation stages. We used the experimental data to create 72 datasets by mixing different input features such as one-hot encoding of experimental conditions, metabolic original data, experimental-centered features and experimental condition probabilities. Seven Machine Learning methods have been used to predict six fetal bone parameters (weight, length, and diameter of femur/humerus). Results The results indicated that MNR influences fetal bone development (femur and humerus) and fetal bone metabolic protein levels (C-terminal telopeptides of collagen I, CTx, in middle-gestation and N-terminal telopeptides of collagen I, NTx, in late-gestation), and maternal bone metabolites (low bone alkaline phosphatase, BALP, in middle-gestation and high BALP in late-gestation). The results show the importance of experimental conditions (ECs) encoding by mixing the information with the serum metabolic data. The best classification models obtained for femur weight (Fw) and length (FI), and humerus weight (Hw) are Support Vector Machines classifiers with the leave-one-out cross-validation accuracy of 1. The rest of the accuracies are 0.98, 0.946 and 0.696 for the diameter of femur (Fd), diameter and length of humerus (Hd, Hl), respectively. With the feature importance analysis, the moving averages mixed ECs are generally more important for the majority of the models. The moving average of parathyroid hormone (PTH) within nutritional conditions (MA-PTH-experim) is important for Fd, Hd and Hl prediction models but its removal for enhancing the Fw, Fl and Hw model performance. Further, using one feature models, it is possible to obtain even more accurate models compared with the feature importance analysis models. In conclusion, the machine learning is an efficient method to confirm the important role of PTH and BALP mixed with nutritional conditions for fetal bone growth performance of goats. All the Python scripts including results and comments are available into an open repository at https://gitlab.com/muntisa/goat-bones-machine-learning.

How short-chain fatty acids (FAs) affect cell membrane morphology and milk fat biosynthesis in mammary epithelial cells (MECs) is yet unclear. This study investigated the primary bovine MEC response to different FAs. We observed that the cell surface ultrastructures were influenced by chain length and degree of saturability of FAs. The CD36, FATP1, and FABP3 gene expression was affected independent of the type of FA. FASN, LPIN1, PPARα, and PPARγ transcripts were more sensitive to the short-chain FAs (acetic and β-hydroxybutyric acids). Furthermore, short-chain FAs inclined to regulate FA degradation-, elongation-, and metabolism-associated pathways, while long-chain FAs (stearic and trans-10,cis-12 conjugated linolenic acids) modulated extracellular matrix-receptor interaction-, transcriptional misregulation-, microRNA-, and ribosome biogenesis-related pathways. However, triacylglycerol accumulation in the cytoplasm was not changed by all of the FAs. Overall, FAs with different chain lengths and degrees of saturability could differentially alter primary bovine MEC cell morphology and influence protein profiles involved in milk fat synthesis pathways.

This trial was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding system and age on morphological development (including villus height, crypt depth, and ratio of villus height to crypt depth) and expression of hexose transporters (i.e., SGLT1, GLUT2 and GLUT5) in different segments of the small intestine of goat kids. A total of 40 Liuyang black goat kids were randomly slaughtered at 0, 7, 28, 42, 56 and 70 days of age. There were two feeding systems [i.e., supplemental feeding (S) and grazing (G)] from 28 to 70 days of age. Duodenal, jejunal and ileal tissues were collected to measure the villus height and crypt depth. Mucosa samples were taken to quantify mRNA or protein expression of sodium-dependent glucose-linked transporter-1 (SGLT1), facilitated glucose/fructose transporter 2 (GLUT2), and facilitated glucose transporter 5 (GLUT5). Villus height was not affected ( P > 0.05) by feeding system, and crypt depth was only affected ( P P = 0.006) with increasing age in the duodenum, whereas it decreased as age increased in the jejunum ( P = 0.040) and ileum ( P P P P

In non-ruminants, sweet taste receptor and monosaccharide transporters are important components of nutrient chemosensing in the intestinal tracts. Ruminants, however, have evolved a polygastric digestive system linked to a transition in nutrient supply from readily-digestible carbohydrate (lactose) in milk during the pre-ruminant suckling phase to poorly-digestible structural carbohydrates when the rumen becomes functional. Whether these developmental and feed changes alter the mRNA expression of genes related to monosaccharide sensing (Taste receptor family 1 member 2, T1R2; Taste receptor family 1 member 3, T1R3) and transporting (monosaccharide transporters Na+/glucose co-transporter, SGLT1; glucose activated ion channel, SGLT3; solute carrier family 2 member 5, GLUT5; solute carrier family 2 member 2, GLUT2) are unknown. This study investigates the expression of sweet taste receptors (T1R2 and T1R3) and monosaccharides transporters (SGLT1, SGLT3, GLUT5 and GLUT2) along the gastrointestinal tracts (GIT) during different stages of development (suckling, weaning and grazing) in goats. The results showed that the expression of T1R2 decreased with age, and was mainly expressed in the duodenum and jejunum. Although T1R3 expression in different GIT segments fluctuated during growth, there was an increase with age, with the abomasum showing the greatest expression. Both SGLT1 and SGLT3 were mainly expressed in the jejunum at all ages, with the greatest expression in the middle jejunum during suckling, and decreased greatly (P

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of maternal nutritional restriction on fetal growth and bone metabolism in early pregnancy. Twelve twin-bearing goats (Xiangdong black goats) in second pregnancy, with similar weight (31.2 ± 8.1 kg) and age (2.0 ± 0.3 year) were assigned to two dietary treatments in early gestation (26–65 days): control group (CON, 100% feed) and intake restriction group (IR, 60% of CON intake). The umbilical blood, right femur and liver of the fetuses were sampled on day 65 to determine the bone metabolism indicators and expression of genes involved in bone development. Maternal intake restriction did not affect the growth performance of pregnancies (P > 0.05), increased (P

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the dietary ratio of ruminal degraded protein (RDP) to ruminal undegraded protein (RUP) and the dry matter intake (DMI) on the intestinal flows of endogenous nitrogen (N) and amino acids (AA) in goats. The experiment was designed as a 4×4 Latin square using four ruminally, duodenally and ileally cannulated goats. The treatments were arranged in a 2×2 factorial design; two ratios of RDP to RUP (65:35 and 45:55, RDP1 and RDP2, respectively) and two levels at 95% and 75% of voluntary feed intake (DMI1 and DMI2, respectively) were fed to the goats. There were no significant differences in the N intake, duodenal flow of total N, undegraded feed N, microbial N, endogenous N or ileal flow of endogenous N, but the duodenal and ileal flow of endogenous N numerically decreased by approximately 22% and 9%, respectively, when the feed intake changed from DMI1 (0.63 kg/d) to DMI2 (0.50 kg/d). The dietary ratio of RDP to RUP had significant effects (p0.05) on the ileal flows of endogenous leucine, phenylalanine and cysteine. The present results implied that the duodenal flows of endogenous N and AA decreased when the dietary RDP to RUP ratio and DMI decreased, and the flow of endogenous AA at the ileum also decreased when the DMI decreased but increased with decreasing RDP to RUP ratios.

L-theanine has various advantageous functions for human health; whether or not it could mediate the nutrients absorption is unknown yet. The effects of L-theanine on intestinal nutrients absorption were investigated using rats ingesting L-theanine solution (0, 50, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight) per day for two weeks. The decline of insulin secretion and glucose concentration in the serum was observed by L-theanine. Urea and high-density lipoprotein were also reduced by 50 mg/kg L-theanine. Jejunal and ileac basic amino acids transportersSLC7a1andSLC7a9, neutralSLC1a5andSLC16a10, and acidicSLC1a1expression were upregulated. The expression of intestinalSGLT3andGLUT5responsible for carbohydrates uptake andGPR120andFABP2associated with fatty acids transport were inhibited. These results indicated that L-theanine could inhibit the glucose uptake by downregulating the related gene expression in the small intestine of rats. Intestinal gene expression of transporters responding to amino acids absorption was stimulated by L-theanine administration.

Nutritional status during mid-gestation is often ignored under extensive husbandry. This study aimed to examine the effect of maternal undernutrition during mid-gestation on kid meat production under an extensive system. Twenty-seven goats (45 &plusmn, 3 d of gestation) were randomly assigned to an unrestricted group (100% of nutrient requirements), or a restricted group (60% of nutrient requirements from 45 to 100 d of gestation, and then re-alimented to 100%). Among the offspring, 16 eligible kids (eight per treatment) were selected, based on birth type and survival, and were harvested to evaluate the meat yield, quality, and composition at 90 d after birth. Maternal undernutrition reduced the body weight and size, average daily gain and hot carcass weight of the kids (p &lt, 0.05). The lightness of the meat at 45 min postmortem was increased (p = 0.029) in the restricted kids. Apart from an increase in tyrosine concentration (p = 0.046), the proximate composition and the amino acid and fatty acid profiles were unaffected in the restricted kids (p &gt, 0.05). Overall, maternal undernutrition during mid-gestation decreased the yield of kid meat, but did not significantly modify the quality and composition. These results highlight the importance of nutrient status during mid-gestation in the meat production of small ruminants under an extensive regime.

Effects of energy, protein, or both energy and protein restriction on gastrointestinal morphological development were investigated in 60 Liuyang Black kids, which were sourced from local farms and weaned at 28 d of age. Weaned kids were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 4 dietary treatments (15 kids per treatment), which consisted of adequate nutrient supply (CON), energy restriction (ER), protein restriction (PR), or energy and protein restriction (EPR). The entire experiment included adaptation period (0 to 6 d), nutritional restriction period (7 to 48 d), and recovery period (49 to 111 d). Three kids from each group were killed at d 48 and 111, and the rumen, duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were harvested. On d 48 (end of nutritional restriction), lengths of the duodenum (P = 0.005), jejunum (P = 0.003), and ileum (P = 0.003), and weights of the rumen (P = 0.004), duodenum (P = 0.006), jejunum (P = 0.006), and ileum (P = 0.004) of kids in ER, PR, and EPR were less than those of kids in CON. Compared with CON, PR decreased papillae width (P = 0.03) and surface area (P = 0.05) of the rumen epithelium, villus surface area (P = 0.05), and N concentration (P = 0.02) of the jejunum mucosa on d 48. Compared with CON, EPR decreased papillae height (P = 0.001), width (P = 0.001), and surface area (P = 0.003), N concentration (P = 0.01), and the ratio of N to DNA (P = 0.03) of the rumen epithelium. Compared with CON, EPR also decreased villus height (P = 0.01), width (P = 0.006), and surface area (P = 0.006), N concentration (P < 0.001), and the ratio of N to DNA (P < 0.001) of the jejunum mucosa on d 48. On d 111 (end of nutritional recovery), lengths of the duodenum (P = 0.001), jejunum (P = 0.001), and ileum (P = 0.001), weights of the rumen (P < 0.001), duodenum (P = 0.001), jejunum (P < 0.001), and ileum (P < 0.001) of kids in ER, PR, and EPR were still less than those of kids in CON; N concentrations of rumen epithelium of kids in PR (P = 0.01) and EPR (P = 0.001), and the ratio of N to DNA of jejunum mucosa of kids in EPR (P < 0.001) were greater than those of kids in CON. Results indicate that nutritional restriction of 6 wk can retard gastrointestinal morphological development for kids weaned at 28 d of age and retarded development remains evident, even after nutritional recovery of 9 wk.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the regulatory effects of L-theanine on secretion of immune cytokines, hormones, and neurotransmitters, and mRNA expression of phospholipase C (PLC) in rats, and to explore its regulatory mechanism in immune function. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixty-four Sprague-Dawley rats received daily intragastric infusion of different doses of L-theanine solution [0, 50 (LT), 200 (MT), and 400 (HT) mg/kg BW]. Cytokines, immunoglobulins, and hormones in the serum, neurotransmitters, and mRNA expression of PLC in the relevant tissues were assayed. RESULTS L-theanine administration increased the splenic organ index and decreased the contents of ILs-4/6/10 and the ratio of IL-4/IFN-γ in the serum. High-dose L-theanine administration increased the levels of dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine in the pituitary and hippocampus, resulting in decrease in corticosterone level in the serum. L-theanine administration decreased the mRNA expressions of PLC isomers in the liver and PLC-γ1 and PLC-δ1 in the spleen. Interestingly, mRNA expressions of PLC-β1 in the spleen and PLC isomers mRNA in the heart were up-regulated by L-theanine administration. CONCLUSIONS Administration of 400 mg/kg BWL-theanine improved immune function of the rats by increasing the splenic weight, altering the Th2/Th1 cytokine balance, decreasing the corticosterone level in the serum, elevating dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine in the brain, and regulating the mRNA expression of PLC isomers in the heart.

The effects of dietary phosphorus (P) variation on nutrient digestion, endogenous loss and plasma parameters were investigated in sixteen Liuyang black wether goats (8 months of age and average BW of 15 ± 0.25 kg) using a completely randomized design. The factors were phosphorus deficient in diet (1.41 g/kg DM, PDD) and phosphorus adequate in diet (PAD1.59, 1.77 and 1.92 g/kg DM, PAD1, PAD2 and PAD3). The results showed that increasing dietary P content increased the duodenal flow of dry matter (DM) (P 0.05) on apparent digestibility of DM, OM and nitrogen (N) digestion. Intestinal P digestibility linearly decreased (P 0.05) was noted in fecal endogenous P loss, which ranged from 0.767 to 0.884 g/kg DMI or 0.372 to 0.473 g/d, and true dietary P digestibility, which ranged from 42.9 to 51.2%, for PDD and PAD, but the proportion of endogenous P in feces tended (P 0.05) in plasma Calcitonin (CT), fibroblast growth factor 2,3 (FGF2,3), Parathormone (PTH), Thyroxine (T4), Ca and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) concentrations. These results indicated that slight deficiency of dietary P had no significant effects on nutrient digestion. Insulin may be a regulator in phosphate absorption or re-absorption by ruminants.

The mammary gland of dairy cows is a formidable lipid-synthesizing machine for lactation. This unique function depends on the activities of plasma membrane (PM) proteins in mammary cells. Little information is known about the expression profiles of PM proteins and their functions during the lactating process. This study investigated the proteome map of PM fractions of mammary gland in lactating cows using 1D-Gel-LC-MS/MS and identified 872 nonredundant proteins with 141 unknown proteins, wherein 215 were PM-associated proteins. Most of the PM-associated proteins were binding, transport, and catalytic proteins such as annexin proteins, heat shock proteins, integrins, RAS oncogene family members, and S100 calcium binding proteins. The PM-associated pathways such as caveolae-mediated endocytosis, leukocyte extravasation, aldosterone signaling in epithelial cells, and remodeling of epithelial adherens junctions were also significantly over-represented. Proteomic analysis revealed the characteristics and predicted functions of PM proteins isolated from the lactating bovine mammary gland. These results further provide experimental evidence for the presence of many proteins predicted in the annotated bovine genome. The data generated here also provide a reference for the PM-related functional research in the mammary gland of lactating cows.