Zinc plays an essential role in various fundamental biological processes. The focus of this research was to investigate the dosage effect of zinc glycine chelate (Zn-Gly) on zinc metabolism and the gene expression of zinc transporters in intestinal segments. A total of 30 4-week-old SD rats were randomized into five treatment groups. The basal diets for each group were supplemented with gradient levels of Zn (0, 30, 60, 90, and 180 mg/kg) from Zn-Gly. After 1-week experiment, the results showed that serum and hepatic zinc concentration were elevated linearly with supplemental Zn levels from 0 to 180 mg Zn/kg. Serum Cu-Zn SOD activities resulted in a significant (P < 0.01) quadratic response and reached the peak when fed 60 mg Zn/kg. There were linear responses to the addition of Zn-Gly from 0 to 180 mg Zn/kg on Cu-Zn SOD and AKP activities in the liver. In the duodenum, MT1 mRNA was upregulated with the increasing dietary Zn-Gly levels and reached the peak of 180 mg Zn/kg (P < 0.05). Zip4 mRNA expression was downregulated with the increasing zinc levels (P < 0.05) in both duodenum and jejunum. In the jejunum, Zip5 mRNA expression in 60 mg Zn/kg was higher compared with other groups (P < 0.05). ZnT1 mRNA in duodenum was numerically increased with the rising levels of zinc content and was significantly higher (P < 0.05) with 180 mg Zn/kg. In the duodenum, adding 60 or 90 mg Zn/kg increased PepT1 expression, but in the jejunum, 60 mg Zn/kg did not differ from 0 added Zn. In summary, there is a dose-dependent effect of dietary Zn-Gly on serum and hepatic zinc levels and the activities of Cu-Zn SOD and AKP on rats. Dietary Zn-Gly has a certain effect on MT1, Zip4, Zip5, and ZnT1 expression, which expressed differently in intestinal segments with different levels of Zn-Gly load. Besides, Zn-Gly also could regulate PepT1 expression in intestinal segments.
Keywords: Dosage effect; Intestinal segments; Rat; Zinc glycine chelate; Zinc transporters.