Procyanidins regulate colonic metabolome, inflammatory response and antioxidant capacity in lambs fed a high‐concentrate diet.

This study explored the mechanism by which grape seed procyanidins (GSPs) alleviate colon inflammatory injury induced by a high‐concentrate diet in lambs. Forty‐eight 1/2 Dorper (♂) × 1/2 Small thin‐tailed (♀) crossed male lambs were randomly assigned into four groups: the control group (CON), fed with a high‐concentrate diet (concentrate:forage = 7:3) and three GSPs groups fed a high‐concentrate diet + 10 (LGSP), 20 (MGSP) and 40 (HGSP) mg/kg body weight (BW) GSPs per day, respectively. The results showed that the levels of interleukin (IL)−1β and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α in plasma of lambs of the MGSP (0.155 and 38.52 pg/ml) and HGSP (0.165 and 39.60 pg/ml) groups were significantly lower than those in the CON (0.248 and 48.74 pg/ml) and LGSP (0.245 and 50.52 pg/ml) group (p < 0.05), and levels of IL‐1β in colon tissue in the MGSP (28.49 ng/g) and HGSP (26.67 ng/g) groups were also lower (p < 0.05) than that in CON (40.55 ng/g). Metabonomics analysis of colon tissue showed that differentially expressed metabolites were mainly enriched in the arachidonic acid metabolism, citric acid cycle, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor signalling pathway (p < 0.05). In conclusion, GSPs alleviate the colonic epithelium inflammatory response induced by a high‐concentrate diet by increasing energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, antioxidant metabolism and inhibiting arachidonic acid metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]