Low Dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA Ratio Regulates Meat Quality, Reduces Triglyceride Content, and Improves Fatty Acid Composition of Meat in Heigai Pigs

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with different n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) ratios on growth performance, meat quality, and fatty acid profile in Heigai pigs. A total of 54 Heigai finishing pigs (body weight: 71.59 ± 2.16 kg) were randomly divided into three treatments with six replications (three pigs per replication) and fed diets containing different n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios: 8:1, 5:1, and 3:1. Pigs fed the dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio of 8:1 had the highest feed to gain ratio (p < 0.01), carcass weight (p < 0.05), redness a* (p < 0.01), and yellowness b* (p < 0.01). Fatty acid compositions in longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were significantly changed (p < 0.01). Notably, the meat from the pigs fed with the low dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio had higher n-3 PUFA contents (p < 0.01) and lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (p < 0.01). The triglyceride and total cholesterol contents were significantly decreased in SAT from the pigs fed with dietary n-6/n-3 PUFA ratios of 5:1 (p < 0.05) and 3:1 (p < 0.01). Reducing n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio upregulated the expression of HSL (p < 0.05), CPT1 (p < 0.01), and FABP4 (p < 0.01) but downregulated ATGL (p < 0.01) expression. These results demonstrate that the lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio regulates meat quality and enhances the deposition of n-3 PUFA in Heigai pigs.

Comprehensive evaluation of the metabolic effects of porcine CRTC3 overexpression on subcutaneous adipocytes with metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses

“…Using a combination of transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses, overexpression of CRTC3 was shown to activate C/EBPα, the cAMP/PKA and FA metabolism and other signaling pathways to regulate adipogenesis, lipolysis and FA metabolism and subsequently induce lipid accumulation and metabolic changes in porcine adipocytes. Arrows with a dashed line indicate that the regulatory effect must be confirmed, arrows with a solid line indicates direct regulation or a direct connection, and the orange arrow indicates the process of adipogenesis to regulate meat quality and fatty acid deposition in pigs [29][30][31]. We also detected high levels of choline in CRTC3-overexpressing cells, which is required for the conversion to acetylcholine and the formation of phospholipid membranes [32].…”

Intramuscular adipocyte and fatty acid differences between high‐fat and control rabbit groups subject to a restricted diet

“…Studies on lipid omics have found that hundreds of fatty acids and arachidonic acids are involved in obesity‐related complications, among them polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (n‐3, eicosapentaenoic [EPA]) can effectively reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases (Satoh‐Asahara, 2010). A higher ratio of n‐3/n‐6 UFAs can reduce the inflammatory response caused by obesity in high‐fat mice (Nong et al., 2020). Although, intramuscular fat deposition in rabbits is rich in lecithin and a variety of unsaturated fatty acids (Martínez‐lvaro et al, 2018 ), it is unclear whether a high‐fat diet can influence intramuscular fatty acids and meat quality in rabbits.…”

Effects of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Supplementation on The Meat Quality of Pigs: A Meta-Analysis

“…Nutritional regulation is one of the safe and acceptable methods to improve meat quality of pigs. Previous studies have found that dietary fatty acid composition plays an important role in regulating the nutritional quality of pork not only in lean breeds pigs but also in Chinese indigenous breeds pigs [3,4]. It is an acceptable and effective strategy for consumers to improve meat quality of pigs through added fatty acids supplementation in diet.…”