Nutritional exchanges and cooperation between bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and the mammalian host play an important role in health and disease. Ethanolamine is an essential dietary lipid nutrient for animals and is abundant in both intestinal and bacterial cell membranes. Ethanolamine can be utilized by intestinal eukaryotic cells via the cytidine phosphoethanolamine pathway for de novo synthesis of phosphatidylethanolamine, and certain bacteria are able to catabolize it as a major carbon and/or nitrogen source with the help of ethanolamine utilization proteins. In addition, ethanolamine utilization dramatically affects lipid metabolism and short-chain fatty acid biosynthesis. Ethanolamine metabolism plays a significant role in the renewal and proliferation of intestinal cells and intestinal inflammation, and ethanolamine may be a nutritional target to diagnose or treat diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. This review summarizes the mechanisms of ethanolamine metabolism in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract and its influence on intestinal health and immunity, thus providing a theoretical reference for further studies on mammalian nutrition and disease.
Weaning stress results in gastrointestinal dysfunction and depressed performance in pigs. This study aimed to investigate the effect of soy oil, glucose, and glutamine on the growth and health of weaned piglets. Compared with those in the glutamine group, piglets in the glucose and soy oil groups had greater average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and gain: feed ratio from day 0 to 14, and gain: feed ratio for the overall period. There were no differences with regard to serum amino acids among the three groups on day 14, except glycine and threonine. The serum concentration of histidine, serine, threonine, proline, and cysteine was the highest in the glutamine group, while the content of glycine and lysine in the soy oil group on day 28 was the highest among all groups. Piglets fed with glutamine had greater serum glucose and creatinine on day 14, high-density lipoprotein on day 28, and serum IgG and IgM on day 28. Piglets in the glutamine group demonstrated lower serum total superoxide dismutase on day 14 and 28; however, they demonstrated higher total superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity in the duodenum and ileum on day 14. Weaned pigs supplemented with glucose or soy oil demonstrate better growth performance possibly due to their enhanced feed intake, whereas those supplemented with glutamine may have improved immunity and intestinal oxidative capacity.
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