This experiment evaluated the effects of two levels of metabolizable energy (ME; 2950 and 2850 kcal/kg) on performance, intestinal morphology, and mRNA abundance of amino acid (B0AT, b0,+ AT, CAT1, and y+LAT1) and peptide transporters (PepT1) in broilers during the starter period (0-10 days of age). This is the first reported in this case in human or animal. Two hundred and seventy day-old male Ross 308 broilers were used according to a completely randomized design with two treatments with nine replicates and fifteen birds in each replicate. The outcome variables were measured at ten days of age. The mRNA abundance of PepT1, b0,+ AT, B0AT, y+LAT1, and CAT1 were assayed using real-time PCR. The results showed that the dietary treatments did not affect feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P>0.05). mRNA abundance of the B0AT and b0,+AT decreased as ME level decreased from 2950 to 2850 kcal/kg (P≤0.05). Dietary energy level did not have a significant effect on jejunal mRNA level of PepT1, CAT1, and y+LAT1 (P>0.05). The use of the different dietary energy levels did not affect the villus width (VW), villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), villus surface area (VSA), and villus height to crypt depth ratio (VCR) (P>0.05). Results of the current experiment confirm that the dietary content of ME affected the expression of amino acid transporters to modulate absorption of nutrients in broilers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.