Maternal rumen-protected methionine supplementation and its effect on blood and liver biomarkers of energy metabolism, inflammation, and oxidative stress in neonatal Holstein calves

Abstract

In nonruminants, nutrition during pregnancy can program offspring development, metabolism, and health in later life. Rumen-protected Met (RPM) supplementation during the prepartum period improves liver function and immune response in dairy cows. Our aim was to investigate the effects of RPM during late pregnancy on blood biomarkers (23 targets) and the liver transcriptome (24 genes) in neonatal calves from cows fed RPM at 0.08% of diet dry matter/d (MET) for the last 21 d before calving or controls (CON). Blood (n=12 calves per diet) was collected at birth before receiving colostrum (baseline), 24 h after receiving colostrum, 14, 28, and 50 d (post-weaning) of age. Liver was sampled (n=8 calves per diet) via biopsy on d 4, 14, 28, and 50 of age. Growth and health were not affected by maternal diet. The MET calves had greater overall plasma insulin concentration and lower glucose and ratios of glucose-to-insulin and fatty acids-to-insulin, indicating greater systemic insulin sensitivity. Lower concentration of reactive oxygen metabolites at 14 d of age along with a tendency for lower overall concentration of ceruloplasmin in MET calves indicated a lesser degree of stress. Greater expression on d 4 of fructose-bisphosphatase 1 (FBP1), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 1 (PCK1), and the facilitated bidirectional glucose transporter SLC2A2 in MET calves indicated alterations in gluconeogenesis and glucose uptake and release. The data agree with the greater expression of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Greater expression on d 4 of the insulin receptor (INSR) and insulin-responsive serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT2) in MET calves indicated alterations in insulin signaling. In that context, the similar expression of sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1 (SREBF1) in CON and MET during the preweaning period followed by the marked upregulation regardless of diet after weaning (d 50) support the idea of changes in hepatic insulin sensitivity during early postnatal life. Expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) was overall greater and acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (ACOX1) was lower in MET calves, indicating alterations in fatty acid oxidation. Except forkhead box O1 (FOXO1), all genes changed in expression over time. Transcriptome results indicated that calves from MET-supplemented cows underwent a faster maturation of gluconeogenesis and fatty acid oxidation in the liver, which would be advantageous for adapting to the metabolic demands of extrauterine life.

Residual feed intake divergence during the preweaning period is associated with unique hindgut microbiome and metabolome profiles in neonatal Holstein heifer calves

“…Immediately after parturition, newborn Holstein heifer calves were separated from their dams. Calves were kept in the experiment if they fulfilled all the following criteria described previously by Jacometo et al [15]: (1) single heifer calf; (2) heifer calf birth weight > 36 kg; (3) calving difficulty score < 3; (4) dam first colostrum volume > 3.8 L; and (5) dam first colostrum IgG content > 50 mg/L. A subset of calves (n = 26; BW at birth = 42.0 ± 4.8 kg, mean ± SD) were selected randomly for the current study.…”

Short communication: Supply of methionine during late pregnancy enhances whole-blood innate immune response of Holstein calves partly through changes in mRNA abundance in polymorphonuclear leukocytes

“…Recent research has focused on how manipulation of maternal nutrition during late pregnancy alters or can improve calf health and reduce stress during neonatal and weaning periods (Osorio et al, 2013b;Jacometo et al, 2016). A nutritional strategy that our group has been researching is to enhance the maternal supply of methionine (Met) by feeding rumen-protected methionine (RPM) during the last 3 to 4 weeks prepartum.…”

“…In fact, the early period is particularly stressful, encompassing a rapid need to adapt to drastic physiologic changes (first 7 d of life) along with the gradual microbial colonization of the gut (21 to 50 d of age; Loor et al, 2002;Rey et al, 2014). The fact that MPO increased markedly at 7 d of age is suggestive of an activation of the oxidant status response (Jacometo et al, 2016). Given the lack of reference values for MPO in calves, it is difficult to establish with absolute confidence whether the values reported here denote oxidative stress.…”

Effects of different enrichment devices on some welfare indicators of post-weaned undocked piglets

“…Alterations of these biomarkers during the experiment was used to assess the welfare status. In particular, an increase of positive acute phase proteins and of ROM and a reduction in negative acute phase proteins and ORAC can to detect the presence of subclinical conditions of disease (Petersen et al, 2004;Loor et al, 2013;Jacometo et al, 2016). Moreover, the concentration of fructosamine, which reflects the glycemia concentration of the last 1-3 weeks (Armbruster 1987), can be used as indicator of under nutrition (low values), disease status, distress (high values).…”