The influence of postnatal nutrition on reproductive tract and endometrial gland development in dairy calves

Abstract

Uterine gland development occurs after birth in cattle and other mammals. The timeline of gland development has been described in various species, but little is known about how postnatal diet influences uterine gland development. This is especially concerning in dairy heifers, where a variety of milk replacer and whole milk nutrition options exist. Little work also exists in cattle to describe how early exposure to steroids influences reproductive tract and uterine gland development. The objective of this work was to determine the effects of early postnatal plane of nutrition and estrogen supplementation on uterine gland development in calves. In both studies, Holstein heifer calves were assigned to restricted milk replacer (R-MR) or enhanced milk replacer (EH-MR) diets. In study 1, calves (R-MR, n = 6; EH-MR, n = 5) were euthanized at 8 wk. In study 2, calves were weaned at 8 wk and administered estradiol (R-MR, n = 6; EH-MR, n = 6) or placebo (R-MR, n = 6; EH-MR, n = 5) for an additional 14 d before euthanasia. Average daily gain and final body weight was greater in both studies in heifers fed the enhanced diet. At 8 wk, EH-MR calves had a greater number of glands and a smaller average gland size, but total gland area was not different from the R-MR group. At 10 wk, uterine gland number and size were not affected by diet or estrogen. Expression profiles of several paracrine mediators of gland development were examined. Increases in transcript abundance for IGF1 and IGFBP3 and a decrease in abundance of WNT7A were detected in calves fed the enhanced diet at 8 wk of age. Plane of nutrition did not affect transcript profiles at 10 wk of age, but estradiol supplementation decreased MET and WNT7A transcript abundance. To conclude, heifer calves on a restricted diet exhibited a uterine morphology and transcript profile suggestive of delayed uterine gland development. These changes appear to be corrected by wk 10 of life. Also, this work provides evidence supporting the contention that early estradiol exposure has detrimental effects on uterine gene expression.

Carryover effects of pre- and postweaning planes of nutrition on reproductive tract development and estrous cycle characteristics in Holstein heifers

“…In the present study, although endometrial thickness was greater from 26 to 33 wk of age in heifers that received the high postweaning diet than in those that received the low postweaning diet, it did not differ between the preweaning diet groups. Using a different approach to compare dietary planes of nutrition, Wilson et al (2017) compared calves that were fed restricted versus enhanced milk replacer diets and observed reduced number and size of uterine glands at 8 wk of age in calves receiving the restricted milk replacer diet. Interestingly, however, they reported that the negative effect of restricted versus enhanced milk replacer diet observed on uterine glandular development at 8 wk of age was no longer evident 2 wk after weaning (Wilson et al, 2017).…”

“…Using a different approach to compare dietary planes of nutrition, Wilson et al (2017) compared calves that were fed restricted versus enhanced milk replacer diets and observed reduced number and size of uterine glands at 8 wk of age in calves receiving the restricted milk replacer diet. Interestingly, however, they reported that the negative effect of restricted versus enhanced milk replacer diet observed on uterine glandular development at 8 wk of age was no longer evident 2 wk after weaning (Wilson et al, 2017). Notably, in the present study, the increase in endometrial thickness from 26 to 33 wk was not consistent among weeks in the high postweaning diet group (Figure 3a).…”

“…During the preweaning phase, increasing volumes of milk or milk replacer offered to calves to approximately 20% of birth BW per day compared with conventional feeding schemes Carryover effects of pre-and postweaning planes of nutrition on reproductive tract development and estrous cycle characteristics in Holstein heifers T. C. Bruinjé, 1 J. P. Rosadiuk, 1 F. Moslemipur, 1,2 J. E. Carrelli, 1 M. A. Steele, 1,3 and D. J. Ambrose 1,4 * of approximately 10% of birth BW per day has been associated with improved performance and welfare (as reviewed by Khan et al, 2011). For instance, positive effects of increasing the preweaning nutritional plane (10 vs. 5 L/d) were reported on ME intake, circulating IGF-1 (Haisan et al, 2018), body growth (Brown et al, 2005;Shamay et al, 2005;Rodríguez-Sánchez et al, 2015;Haisan et al, 2018), uterine development (Wilson et al, 2017), mammary development (Geiger et al, 2016), age at puberty (Shamay et al, 2005;Davis Rincker et al, 2011), and future milk production (Davis Rincker et al, 2011;Soberon and Van Amburgh, 2013). During the postweaning phase, increasing the plane of either protein or energy content, sometimes by increasing the concentrate: straw ratio in the diet, resulted in greater DMI and ADG (Groen et al, 2015), greater number and size of ovarian follicles (Armstrong et al, 2001;Chelikani et al, 2003), reduced age at puberty (Chelikani et al, 2003;Shamay et al, 2005;Nepomuceno et al, 2017) and at first breeding (Radcliff et al, 2000), improved pregnancy risk (Nepomuceno et al, 2017), and increased future milk yield (Shamay et al, 2005).…”

Different milk feeding intensities during the first 4 weeks of rearing dairy calves: Part 3: Plasma metabolomics analysis reveals long-term metabolic imprinting in Holstein heifers

“…These molecules are present in whole milk, and calves fed whole milk ad libitum were found to produce more milk during their first lactation than calves fed milk replacer ad libitum (Moallem et al, 2010). In addition to increased milk yield, enhanced organ growth, mammary gland development, and gut-associated immune system development were associated with a higher plane of preweaning nutrition (Geiger et al, 2016;Wilson et al, 2017;Hammon et al, 2018). Presumably, epigenetic mechanisms play a role in maintaining long-term effects of preweaning nutrition, accounting for stable alterations in the phenotype as a form of metabolic imprinting (Bartol et al, 2013).…”

TRIENNIAL LACTATION SYMPOSIUM/BOLFA: Plasticity of mammary development in the prepubertal bovine mammary gland1,2

“…In addition, increased appreciation of the milk microbiome in establishment of the gut microbiome and modulation of immune responses (Rautava, 2016) further emphasizes the relevance of mammary secretions to neonatal development. A recent report (Wilson et al, 2017) showed that preweaned restricted-fed calves have impaired endometrial gland development and alterations in growth factor-related signaling molecules. This suggests that the level of nutrition or components in milk replacer can affect reproductive tract development in calves.…”