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. 2018 Apr;31(4):548-555.
doi: 10.5713/ajas.17.0426. Epub 2017 Nov 3.

The effect of dietary asparagine supplementation on energy metabolism in liver of weaning pigs when challenged with lipopolysaccharide

Ping Kang  1 , Yulan Liu  1 , Huiling Zhu  1 , Jing Zhang  1 , Haifeng Shi  1 , Shuang Li  1 , Dinan Pi  1 , Weibo Leng  1 , Xiuying Wang  1 , Huanting Wu  1 , Yongqing Hou  1
Affiliations

The effect of dietary asparagine supplementation on energy metabolism in liver of weaning pigs when challenged with lipopolysaccharide

Ping Kang et al. Asian-Australas J Anim Sci. 2018 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: This experiment was conducted to investigate whether asparagine (Asn) could improve liver energy status in weaning pigs when challenged with lipopolysaccharide.

Methods: Forty-eight weaned pigs (Duroc×Large White×Landrace, 8.12±0.56 kg) were assigned to four treatments: i) CTRL, piglets received a control diet and injected with sterile 0.9% NaCl solution; ii) lipopolysaccharide challenged control (LPSCC), piglets received the same control diet and injected with Escherichia coli LPS; iii) lipopolysaccharide (LPS)+0.5% Asn, piglets received a 0.5% Asn diet and injected with LPS; and iv) LPS+1.0% Asn, piglets received a 1.0% Asn diet and injected with LPS. All piglets were fed the experimental diets for 19 d. On d 20, the pigs were injected intraperitoneally with Escherichia coli LPS at 100 μg/kg body weights or the same volume of 0.9% NaCl solution based on the assigned treatments. Then the pigs were slaughtered at 4 h and 24 h after LPS or saline injection, and the liver samples were collected.

Results: At 24 h after LPS challenge, dietary supplementation with 0.5% Asn increased ATP concentration (quadratic, p<0.05), and had a tendency to increase adenylate energy charges and reduce AMP/ATP ratio (quadratic, p<0.1) in liver. In addition, Asn increased the liver mRNA expression of pyruvate kinase, pyruvate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase β (linear, p<0.05; quadratic, p<0.05), and had a tendency to increase the mRNA expression of hexokinase 2 (linear, p<0.1). Moreover, Asn increased liver phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (pAMPK)/total AMP-activated protein kinase (tAMPK) ratio (linear, p<0.05; quadratic, p<0.05). However, at 4 h after LPS challenge, Asn supplementation had no effect on these parameters.

Conclusion: The present study indicated that Asn could improve the energy metabolism in injured liver at the late stage of LPS challenge.

Keywords: Asparagine; Energy Metabolism; Lipopolysaccharide; Piglets.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

We certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.

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