This study was conducted to investigate the effects of zinc sources on gene expression of zinc-related transporters in intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-1). IPEC-1 cells were treated with zinc glycine chelate (Zn-Gly), zinc methionine (Zn-Met), and zinc sulfate (ZnSO4), respectively, for measurement of cell viability. Then, the relative expression of zinc-related transporters in IPEC-1 in response to different zinc sources (50 μmol/L zinc) was measured. Zinc transporter SLC39A4 (ZIP4) expression was selectively silenced to assess the function of ZIP4 in inorganic and organic zinc absorption. The result showed that Zn-Gly and Zn-Met had lower cell damage compared with ZnSO4 on the same zinc levels. Different zinc sources improved the expression of metallothionein1 (MT1) and zinc transporter SLC30A1 (ZnT1) messenger RNA (mRNA) compared with the control (P < 0.05), while ZIP4 decreased (P < 0.05) in response to zinc addition. MT1 and ZnT1 mRNA expressions in Zn-Gly and Zn-Met were higher than those in ZnSO4, and ZIP4 mRNA expression in Zn-Met was the lowest among three kinds of zinc sources (P < 0.05). Expression of divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) mRNA in control was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than added different zinc sources groups. Silencing of ZIP4 significantly decreased MT1 mRNA expression in ZnSO4 and Zn-Gly treatments, reduced zinc absorption rate, and increased DMT1 mRNA expression in ZnSO4 compared with negative control. In summary, different zinc sources could improve zinc status on IPEC-1 cells and organic zinc had lower cell damage compared with ZnSO4. Moreover, Zn-Gly and Zn-Met are more efficient on zinc absorption according to the expression of various zinc-related transporters MT1, ZIP4, ZnT1, and DMT1. ZIP4 played a direct role in inorganic zinc uptake, and the absorption of zinc in Zn-Gly depends on ZIP4 partly, while absorption of Zn-Met is less dependent on ZIP4.
Keywords: RNA interference; Zinc glycine chelate; Zinc methionine; Zinc sulfate; Zinc transporters.