TY - JOUR
T1 - Dietary N -carbamylglutamate and rumen-protected l -arginine supplementation during intrauterine growth restriction in undernourished ewes improve fetal thymus development and immune function
AU - Zhang, Hao
AU - Zhao, Fangfang
AU - Nie, Haitao
AU - Ma, Tiewei
AU - Wang, Ziyu
AU - Wang, Feng
AU - Loor, Juan J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank all the members of Hongrong Wang’s laboratory (Yangzhou University, China) who helped with sample collection and analysis. This research was supported by funds from the Research Project of Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20170488), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M610358), Su Bei Special Science and Technology Foundation (SZ-HA 2017008) and Yangzhou University Science and Technology Innovation Foundation (2017 CXJ 081).
Publisher Copyright:
© CSIRO 2018.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The aims of the present study were to determine whether dietary supplementation with N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) and rumen-protected l-arginine (RP-Arg) to underfed Hu sheep would improve fetal thymus development and immune function. From Day 35 to Day 110 of gestation, 32 Hu ewes carrying twin fetuses were randomly allocated to one of four groups (n = 8 per group): 100% National Research Council (NRC)-recommended nutrient requirements (CON), 50% NRC recommendations (RES), 50% NRC recommendations supplemented with 20 g day -1 RP-Arg (RES+ARG), and 50% NRC recommendations supplemented with 5 g day -1 NCG (RES+NCG). Medullary thickness was increased (P < 0.05) in RES compared with CON ewes, but was reduced (P < 0.05) in both RES+ARG and RES+NCG ewes compared with RES ewes. There were no differences in superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activity or malondialdehyde levels in the RES+ARG and RES+NCG groups compared with the CON group (P > 0.05). Concentrations of IgA, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-10 in fetal umbilical cord blood were reduced (P < 0.05) in RES compared with CON ewes, but were increased (P < 0.05) in both RES+ARG and RES+NCG ewes. Expression of Bax, Fas and p53 mRNA was increased (P < 0.05) in RES compared with CON ewes, but were reduced (P > 0.05) in both RES+ARG and RES+NCG ewes. These results indicate that dietary supplementation with NCG and RP-Arg could help alleviate the negative effects of intrauterine growth restriction on fetal thymus development and immune function.
AB - The aims of the present study were to determine whether dietary supplementation with N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) and rumen-protected l-arginine (RP-Arg) to underfed Hu sheep would improve fetal thymus development and immune function. From Day 35 to Day 110 of gestation, 32 Hu ewes carrying twin fetuses were randomly allocated to one of four groups (n = 8 per group): 100% National Research Council (NRC)-recommended nutrient requirements (CON), 50% NRC recommendations (RES), 50% NRC recommendations supplemented with 20 g day -1 RP-Arg (RES+ARG), and 50% NRC recommendations supplemented with 5 g day -1 NCG (RES+NCG). Medullary thickness was increased (P < 0.05) in RES compared with CON ewes, but was reduced (P < 0.05) in both RES+ARG and RES+NCG ewes compared with RES ewes. There were no differences in superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activity or malondialdehyde levels in the RES+ARG and RES+NCG groups compared with the CON group (P > 0.05). Concentrations of IgA, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-10 in fetal umbilical cord blood were reduced (P < 0.05) in RES compared with CON ewes, but were increased (P < 0.05) in both RES+ARG and RES+NCG ewes. Expression of Bax, Fas and p53 mRNA was increased (P < 0.05) in RES compared with CON ewes, but were reduced (P > 0.05) in both RES+ARG and RES+NCG ewes. These results indicate that dietary supplementation with NCG and RP-Arg could help alleviate the negative effects of intrauterine growth restriction on fetal thymus development and immune function.
KW - immune function
KW - sheep
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U2 - 10.1071/RD18047
DO - 10.1071/RD18047
M3 - Article
C2 - 31039948
AN - SCOPUS:85052315731
VL - 30
SP - 1522
EP - 1531
JO - Australian journal of scientific research. Ser. B: Biological sciences
JF - Australian journal of scientific research. Ser. B: Biological sciences
SN - 1031-3613
IS - 11
ER -