Age‐related intestinal monosaccharides transporters expression and villus surface area increase in broiler and layer chickens

Abstract

In the chicken small intestine, glucose is mainly transported by the apically located sodium/glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) and the basolaterally located glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2). Fructose is transported by the apically located glucose transporter 5 (GLUT5) and similarly by GLUT2. During the early post‐hatching period, the intestinal villus surface area (VSA) should be considered as an important factor related to the monosaccharide absorption capacity. Our objective here was to study intestinal monosaccharide absorption by analyzing the effects of age, diet, and breed on monosaccharide transporters and the VSA. The mRNA expression patterns of SGLT1, GLUT2 and GLUT5 genes in broiler and layer chickens were measured from the day of hatching to day 28 using the absolute quantitative real‐time PCR. Both the intestinal mRNA expression levels of these genes and the VSA were affected by age. The mRNA expression levels of SGLT1 and GLUT2 were significantly increased from day 1 to day 3 and then decreased from day 3 to day 28. The expression levels of GLUT5 decreased from day 1 to day 7. The broiler chickens VSAs were significantly larger than those of the layer chickens from days 7 to 28. The effect of diet on the gene expression patterns of these monosaccharide transporters and the VSA were not significant. Our results suggest that the expression levels of these monosaccharide transporters are increased rapidly at the beginning of intestinal growth to meet the demands for monosaccharides to support the fast growth of the chick before day 7. As intestinal maturation and VSA increased, the expression levels of these monosaccharide genes decreased to a certain expression level to maintain the intestinal transport capacity and the absorption balance of all other nutrients.

Alterations in Intestinal Brush Border Membrane Functionality and Bacterial Populations Following Intra-Amniotic Administration (Gallus gallus) of Nicotinamide Riboside and Its Derivatives

“…Further and as was previously suggested, these functional changes, as demonstrated via gene expression of key BBM proteins (zinc transporter, inflammatory cytokines, absorptive proteins, and mucin), were previously associated with BBM tissue physiological and morphometric alterations, as increased villi size [ 24 , 50 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 ]. These alterations may potentially also be associated with increased proliferation of cellular populations that hold essential roles in BBM function, including, enterocytes, and therefore, increased villus surface area (the intestinal digestive and absorptive surface), and goblet cells (produce and secrete mucus), both number and diameter in intestinal villi and crypt [ 18 , 22 , 24 , 47 , 50 , 93 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 ]. In this context, it was previously demonstrated that colonocytes and enterocytes oxidation pathways utilize butyrate as fuel for cell metabolism [ 106 , 107 , 108 ], via SL16 monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1, SCL16A1) and Sodium-coupled monocarboxylate transporter 1 (SMCT1, SLC5A8) that transport butyrate through epithelial cells in the small intestine [ 109 , 110 ].…”

The effect of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli colonization on the gut morphology, functional integrity, and microbiota composition of female turkeys

“…Therefore, it was not surprising that no response to mucosal glucose addition could be detected in cecal tissues. Though there are limited studies on glucose transport in turkey intestines, in chickens, glucose is not only absorbed via SGLT1 but also the non-electrogenic apical and basolateral glucose transporters GLUT5 and GLUT2, respectively [ 34 , 35 ]. Further, glucose transporters seem to be downregulated significantly after seven to 28 days of life when the main growth period is over [ 34 ], which may also be the case in turkeys.…”

“…Though there are limited studies on glucose transport in turkey intestines, in chickens, glucose is not only absorbed via SGLT1 but also the non-electrogenic apical and basolateral glucose transporters GLUT5 and GLUT2, respectively [ 34 , 35 ]. Further, glucose transporters seem to be downregulated significantly after seven to 28 days of life when the main growth period is over [ 34 ], which may also be the case in turkeys. Nevertheless, studies in chickens also showed that C. jejuni- inoculation caused a downregulation of both SGLT1 and GLUT2 gene expression [ 8 ].…”

Age-dependent response to fasting during assessment of metabolizable energy and total tract digestibility in chicken

“…It can be further noted that fasting slightly decreased the total tract digestibility of total starch in broilers. The lower total tract digestibility of total starch in broilers than adult roosters in this study may be explained by the lower monosaccharide transporter expression in broilers compared to adult roosters ( Li et al., 2020 ). Similarly, decreased total tract digestibility of total starch was found in 20-day-old broilers that fasted for 16 h ( Peron et al., 2005 ).…”

“…More recently, researchers have found that fasting influences the development of the small intestine ( Lu et al., 2020 ; Yang et al., 2020 ), thereof the absorptive functions. Development of digestive and absorptive functions in adult roosters is different from that of broilers ( Lilburn and Loeffler, 2015 ; Fondevila et al., 2020 ), in terms of intestinal nutrient transporters expression, villus surface area ( Li et al., 2020 ) and relative weight of digestive organs ( Yang et al., 2020 ). Correspondingly, it has indicated that apparent metabolizable energy ( AME ), TME, and nutrient digestibility varied with age of birds ( Dale and Fuller, 1980 ; Stefanello et al., 2016 ; Yang et al., 2020 ).…”