Exploration of the Relationship between Intestinal Colostrum or Milk, and Serum Metabolites in Neonatal Calves by Metabolomics Analysis

Abstract

In contrast to colostral immunoglobulins, changes in metabolite composition of ingested colostrum in the gut have received little attention. Here, we characterized the metabolite profiles of colostrum and milk, ingested colostrum and milk, and serum of neonatal calves by liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics approaches. Colostrum and milk underwent similar changes in metabolite profiles in the gut after being ingested. These changes were characterized by increases in methionine, glutamate, thymine, and phosphorylcholine. After ingestion, colostrum concentrations of several metabolites, such as γ-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, cinnamic acid, and thymine increased, whereas concentrations of d-ribose, and arginine decreased. These increases and decreases occurred in a time-dependent manner and were associated with alanine, aspartate, glutamate, and pyrimidine metabolism, and valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, respectively. Meanwhile, similar changes in serum metabolites were also observed in neonatal calves fed colostrum, which implies that colostrum metabolites are transported across the small intestine and into the bloodstream. In addition, several metabolites of ingested milk were detected in the gut, and were also transferred to the bloodstream. These metabolites were related to phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, the citrate cycle, and histidine metabolism. These findings reveal that the serum metabolome of neonatal calves' changes as a result of ingesting colostrum, which can provide health-related benefits in early life.

Effect of host breeds on gut microbiome and serum metabolome in meat rabbits

“…Other studies have demonstrated that serum concentrations of glycine, histidine, lysine, and serine were associated with diverging RFI of different broiler chicken lines which may be attributed to their contributions to protein biosynthesis and ammonia recycling [52,53]. Additionally, certain organic acids, such as 4-aminobutyric acid, 3phenylpropanoic acid, and phenylacetic acid are involved in many biological processes: modulating glucose and lipid metabolism, regulating energy homeostasis, and exerting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective actions [54][55][56]. Thus, such breed-associated metabolites, which may be correlated with the health status and production traits of meat rabbits, could be considered as candidate biomarkers for breed improvement.…”

Alterations of the circular RNA profile in the jejunum of neonatal calves in response to colostrum and milk feeding

“…Animal care and use procedures were approved by the Animal Care Advisory Committee of the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Male calves from multiparous Holstein cows at Chuzhou dairy farm (Chuzhou, China) were selected for this study, and the detailed experimental procedures were characterized in our previous study (Qi et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2018). In brief, the animals were divided into 3 groups: the control group (CT) comprising 3 calves that were not fed colostrum or milk, the colostrum group (CO) comprising 3 calves that received 2 colostrum meals at 1 to 2 h and 10 to 12 h after birth, and the milk group (MK) comprising 3 calves that received 2 milk meals at 1 to 2 h and 10 to 12 h after birth.…”

Effects of colostrum instead of formula feeding for the first 2 days postnatum on whole-body energy metabolism and its endocrine control in neonatal calves

“…Glucose supply is clearly improved in colostrum-fed calves compared with calves fed a formula with the same lactose content as colostrum but much lower amounts of biologically active factors (Steinhoff-Wagner et al, 2011;Gruse et al, 2015). Colostrum intake affects the neonatal metabolome, indicating large systemic effects on neonatal metabolism after first colostrum intake (Hammon et al, 2012;Qi et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2018). Furthermore, thermoregulatory mechanisms, including the metabolism of brown adipose tissue, shivering, and physical activity, are important for adaptation to new environmental conditions after birth, and colostrum intake stimulates heat production in neonatal calves (Vermorel et al, 1983).…”