Early weaning leads to the remodeling of lipid profile in piglet jejunal crypt cells during post-weaning days

Yirui Shao; Xia Xiong; Kexing Wang; Pi Cheng; Lijun Zou; Jian Zhou; Ming Qi; Yulong Yin

doi:10.1016/j.aninu.2022.07.001

Early weaning leads to the remodeling of lipid profile in piglet jejunal crypt cells during post-weaning days

Anim Nutr. 2022 Jul 15:11:102-111. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2022.07.001. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

Yirui Shao^{1

2}, Xia Xiong¹, Kexing Wang³, Pi Cheng⁴, Lijun Zou⁵, Jian Zhou^{1

2}, Ming Qi^{1

2}, Yulong Yin¹

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process, National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100008, China.
³ Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Human Health, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China.
⁴ Hunan Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China.
⁵ Laboratory of Basic Biology, Hunan First Normal University, Changsha 410205, China.

Abstract

Reportedly, proteins involved in lipid metabolism change significantly in the jejunal crypt cells of early-weaned piglets, but the exact lipid profile change remains uncertain. In the present study, 32 piglets weaned at 21 d of age were randomly divided into 4 groups with 8 replicates. The jejunal crypt cells of a group of piglets on the post-weaning day (PWD) 1, 3, 7, and 14 were isolated per time point. Crypt cell lipid profiles were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. This study showed that piglets suffered the greatest weaning stress on PWD 3 in terms of the lowest relative weight of the small intestine, the highest relative weight of the spleen, and the highest levels of malondialdehyde, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The lipid profile of jejunal crypt cells including carnitine, sulfatide, sphingomyelin, hexosylceramide, and ceramide greatly changed after weaning, especially between PWD 3 and 14 (P < 0.05). The differential lipid species between these 2 d were mainly involved in the glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway. In addition, potential lipid biomarkers for weaning stress in crypt cells such as phosphatidylcholine (PC) (9:0/26:1), PC (17:0/18:2), carnitine (24:0), carnitine (22:0), sphingomyelin (d14:1/22:0), PC (P-18:0/18:4), phosphatidylethanolamine (P-16:0/20:4), phosphatidylinositol (15:1/24:4), and dihexosylceramide (d14:1/26:1) were identified. The changes in lipid profile might be related to the inflammation caused by early weaning. These findings might provide new therapeutical targets for intestinal dysfunctions caused by weaning stress.

Keywords: Crypt cell; Early-weaned piglet; Inflammation; Lipidomics; Weaning stress.