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. 2023 Dec 22;14(1):9.
doi: 10.3390/metabo14010009.

Metabolomics Changes in Meat and Subcutaneous Fat of Male Cattle Submitted to Fetal Programming

Arícia Christofaro Fernandes  1 , Guilherme Henrique Gebim Polizel  1 , Roberta Cavalcante Cracco  1 , Fernando Augusto Correia Queiroz Cançado  1 , Geovana Camila Baldin  1 , Mirele Daiana Poleti  2 , José Bento Sterman Ferraz  2 , Miguel Henrique de Almeida Santana  1
Affiliations

Metabolomics Changes in Meat and Subcutaneous Fat of Male Cattle Submitted to Fetal Programming

Arícia Christofaro Fernandes et al. Metabolites. .

Abstract

This study investigated changes in meat and subcutaneous fat metabolomes and possible metabolic pathways related to prenatal nutrition in beef cattle. For this purpose, 18 Nellore bulls were used for meat sampling and 15 for fat sampling. The nutritional treatments during the gestation were: NP-not programmed or control, without protein-energy supplementation; PP-partially programmed, with protein-energy supplementation (0.3% of body weight (BW)) only in the final third of pregnancy; and FP-full programming, with protein-energy supplementation (0.3% of BW) during the entire pregnancy. The meat and fat samples were collected individually 24 h after slaughter, and the metabolites were extracted using a combination of chemical reagents and mechanical processes and subsequently quantified using liquid chromatography or flow injection coupled to mass spectrometry. The data obtained were submitted to principal component analysis (PCA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and functional enrichment analysis, with a significance level of 5%. The PCA showed an overlap between the treatments for both meat and fat. In meat, 25 metabolites were statistically different between treatments (p ≤ 0.05), belonging to four classes (glycerophospholipids, amino acids, sphingolipids, and biogenic amine). In fat, 10 significant metabolites (p ≤ 0.05) were obtained in two classes (phosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylcholine). The functional enrichment analysis showed alterations in the aminoacyl-tRNA pathway in meat (p = 0.030); however, there was no pathway enriched for fat. Fetal programming influenced the meat and fat metabolomes and the aminoacyl-tRNA metabolic pathway, which is an important candidate for the biological process linked to meat quality and related to fetal programming in beef cattle.

Keywords: meat quality; metabolites; muscular and adipose development; pregnancy; prenatal supplementation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest. The reviewer J.P. declares a shared affiliation with the authors to the handling editor at the time of the review. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Principal component analysis (PCA) of meat (A) and subcutaneous fat; (B) metabolome of males programmed during gestation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Metabolic processes expressed in the meat of males submitted to fetal programming (NP, PP and FP).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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