The Potential of Guanidino Acetic Acid to Reduce the Occurrence and Severity of Broiler Muscle Myopathies

Abstract

Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is the biochemical precursor of creatine, which, in its phosphorylated form, is an essential high-energy carrier in the muscle. Although creatine has limited stability in feed processing, GAA is well established as a source of creatine in the animal feed industry. Published data demonstrate beneficial effects of GAA supplementation on muscle creatine, energy compounds, and antioxidant status, leading to improvements in broiler body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and breast meat yield. Although increases in weight gain and meat yield are often associated with wooden breast (WB) and other myopathies, recent reports have suggested the potential of GAA supplementation to reduce the occurrence and severity of WB while improving breast meat yield. This disorder increases the hardness of the Pectoralis major muscle and has emerged as a current challenge to the broiler industry worldwide by impacting meat quality. Genetic selection, fast-growth rates, and environmental stressors have been identified to be the main factors related to this myopathy, but the actual cause of this disorder is still unknown. Creatine supplementation has been used as a nutritional prescription in the treatment of several muscular myopathies in humans and other animals. Because GAA is a common feed additive in poultry production, the potential of GAA supplementation to reduce broiler myopathies has been investigated in experimental and commercial scenarios. In addition, a few studies have evaluated the potential of creatine in plasma and blood enzymes related to creatine to be used as potential markers for WB. The evidence indicates that GAA could potentially minimize the incidence of WB. More data are warranted to understand the factors affecting the potential efficacy of GAA to reduce the occurrence and severity of myopathies.

Effects of Dietary Guanidinoacetic Acid on the Feed Efficiency, Blood Measures, and Meat Quality of Jinjiang Bulls

“…Could there be a GAMT catalytic reaction that occurs in the body after dietary GAA supplementation? This may be evidenced from the serum metabolites HCY and CRE, given that HCY is the end-product of the methylation reaction on GAA (20,24) and CRE is the endproduct of CK catalyzing PCr in an energy releasing reaction (20,(40)(41)(42)(43)(44). In our study, we found that dietary GAA increased the HCY content of plasma, and CRE in both serum and LT muscles, indicating a substantial GAMT catalytic reaction and energy buffering effect.…”

Feeding broiler chickens with arginine above recommended levels: effects on growth performance, metabolism, and intestinal microbiota

“…Interestingly, our metabolomics analyses revealed greater concentrations of circulating and hepatic creatine in ARG birds. Creatine is mainly produced by the liver and is subsequently delivered to target tissues through the bloodstream [19,68]. In light of this, it can be supposed that the skeletal muscle of ARG birds had a higher creatine content than that of CON birds, as previously proved by Chamruspollert et al [67].…”

“…Arginine has also been demonstrated to induce expression and secretion of anabolic hormones, such as insulin, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) [14][15][16][17]. Moreover, arginine affects skeletal muscle development through the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway [18], and is used to generate creatine, an amino acid derivative that is vital for the function and energy homeostasis of muscles [19]. Over the last two decades, there has also been an increasing interest in the effects of arginine on the gastrointestinal tract.…”

Guanidinoacetic Acid as a Nutritional Adjuvant to Multiple Sclerosis Therapy

“…Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress plays a major role in the pathogenesis of MS ( Ohl et al, 2016 ). Preclinical trials suggest that dietary GAA can minimize oxidative stress and improve antioxidant defense in target tissues ( Aziza et al, 2020 ; Oviedo-Rondón and Córdova-Noboa, 2020 ; Zhao et al, 2021 ), possibly via mechanisms related to attenuating lipid peroxidation. A human study demonstrated augmented brain glutathione levels, an antioxidant indispensable for preventing lipid peroxidation in brain cells, after a 21-day GAA intervention in MS ( Ostojic et al, 2022 ).…”