Melatonin promotes the growth and development of lambs by increasing growth hormone and testosterone, targeting on apoptosis signaling pathway and intestinal microflora

Abstract

Melatonin is an indole-like neuroendocrine hormone. A large number of studies have shown that melatonin can improve production performance of ewes, but it is not clear in lambs. In this study, the growth and development of the 2-month-old lambs implanted with melatonin were monitored for 60 days. The results showed that the growth rate of body weight and body skew length of lambs with melatonin treatment were significantly improved compared to the controls. The similar results were also observed in red blood cell count, hematocrit, red blood cell volume distribution width, the levels of growth hormone, testosterone, immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin M and albumin. In addition, the cross sectional area of muscle fibers and adipose cells of lambs with melatonin implantation were also significantly increased compared to the controls (P<0.05). To further explore the potential mechanisms, the muscle and adipose tissue were selected for transcriptome sequencing. KEGG enrichment results showed that melatonin regulated the expression of genes related to apoptotic signaling pathway in muscle and adipocytes. Since the intestinal microbiota are involved in the nutritional balance and animal growth, the 16SrRNA sequencing related to the intestinal microbiota was also performed. The data indicated that the structural differences of fecal microflora mainly occur in the pathways of Cardiovascular disease, Excretory system and Signaling molecules and interaction. In brief, melatonin promotes the growth and development of lambs. The potential mechanisms may be that melatonin increased the growth hormone and testosterone mediated apoptosis signaling pathway and regulated intestinal microbial flora. Our results provide valuable information for melatonin to improve the production of sheep husbandry in the future.

The Effect Of Melatonin On The Leptin And Growth Hormone In Mice

“…About the 6weeks groups, the GH levels were: group (A) ( Depending on the table above that shows mean±standard error, we noticed that Growth hormone and leptin increase with extension in duration of melatonin intake. Some studies show that melatonin effect the GH level in mice, the GH level increase with the intake of melatonin [24,31]. There is some evidence that chemically, melatonin can behave somewhat like a growth hormone-releasing peptide and trigger the hypothalamus to tell the pituitary gland to make and release more GH.…”

Melatonin Supplementation during the Late Gestational Stage Enhances Reproductive Performance of Sows by Regulating Fluid Shear Stress and Improving Placental Antioxidant Capacity

“…Melatonin has been used to improve reproductive activity in different animals. For example, in sheep, the subcutaneous embedding of melatonin promoted the growth and development of lambs [ 29 ]. As mentioned above, Peng et al, gave melatonin to early gestated sows and also tested their oxidative stress responsibility [ 22 ].…”

Evaluation of Clinical and Biochemical Traits in Egyptian Barki Sheep with Different Growth Performances

“…This is due to increased provision of trophic signals (represented by increased Serum IGF-1 secretions) and/or blood-borne metabolites (glucose, cholesterol, and lipids) [ 7 ]. Another study reported that melatonin implantation improved the sheep growth and development via increasing the growth hormone release [ 24 ]. In the same context, appropriate thyroid gland function and activity of thyroid hormones (TH) are considered crucial to sustain productive performance in domestic animals (growth, milk, hair fiber production), and circulating TH can be considered as an indicator of the metabolic and nutritional status of the animals [ 25 , 26 ].…”