Dietary butyrate, lauric acid and stearic acid improve gut morphology and epithelial cell turnover in weaned piglets

Xianglin Zeng; Yuan Yang; Junmin Wang; Zhaobin Wang; Jun Li; Yulong Yin; Huansheng Yang

doi:10.1016/j.aninu.2022.07.012

Dietary butyrate, lauric acid and stearic acid improve gut morphology and epithelial cell turnover in weaned piglets

Anim Nutr. 2022 Aug 7:11:276-282. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2022.07.012. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

Xianglin Zeng¹, Yuan Yang², Junmin Wang¹, Zhaobin Wang¹, Jun Li^{1

3}, Yulong Yin^{1

4}, Huansheng Yang^{1

4

3}

Affiliations

¹ Hunan International Joint Laboratory of Animal Intestinal Ecology and Health, Animal Nutrition and Human Health Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, China.
² College of Pharmacy, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, Hunan, 410219, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Food Safety Technology for Meat Products, Yinxiang Group, Fujian Aonong Biological Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd., Key Laboratory of Swine Nutrition and Feed Science of Fujian Province, Aonong Group, Zhangzhou, Fujian 363000, China.
⁴ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Nutritional Physiology and Metabolic Process, Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan 410125, China.

Abstract

This study was to evaluate the effects of the supplementation of saturated fatty acids with different chain lengths on growth performance, intestinal morphology, epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis in weaned piglets. Thirty-two weaned piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, BW = 7.81 ± 0.26 kg) were weaned at 21 d and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental treatments: (1) a basal diet (control); (2) control + 0.3% butyrate (BT); (3) control + 0.3% lauric acid (LA); (4) control + 0.3% stearic acid (SA). All piglets were then slaughtered for tissue sampling after having been fed experimental diets for 28 d after weaning. Supplementation of BT increased the gain-to-feed ratio (G:F) (P < 0.05) compared to piglets fed the control diet from 14 to 28 d. In addition, the villus height (VH) to crypt depth (CD) ratio (VH:CD ratio) of the ileum were higher in the BT and LA diets than that of the control diet (P < 0.05). The SA-supplemented diet increased ileal VH (P < 0.05), whereas the BT-supplemented diet increased jejunal CD (P < 0.05). Compared to the control, diets supplemented with BT, LA, or SA all tended to increase jejunal proliferation (Ki67/crypt positive cells) (P = 0.190); diets supplemented with BT or SA significantly increased the number of ki67-positive cells in the ileal crypt (P < 0.05). Furthermore, in the jejunum, the protein expression of activated caspase 3 and villin were increased in piglets fed BT, LA, or SA diets compared to those on the control diet (P < 0.05). In the ileum, compared with the control diet, the BT diet tended to increase the protein level of mammalian phosphorylation target of rapamycin (p-mTOR, P < 0.10); LA or SA diets significantly increased p-mTOR protein expression (P < 0.05). These results show that dietary supplementation of BT, LA, or SA promotes jejunal cell renewal in weaned piglets. At the same time, increased proliferation of ileal crypt cells by promoting p-mTOR expression has beneficial effects on ileal morphology in weaned piglets.

Keywords: Growth performance; Intestinal morphology; Proliferation; Saturated fatty acid; Weaned piglet.