Effects of feeding L-carnitine to gilts through day 70 of gestation on litter traits and the expression of insulin-like growth factor system components and L-carnitine concentration in foetal tissues.
We investigated the influence of supplemental L-carnitine on foetal blood metabolites, litter characteristics, L-carnitine concentration in skeletal muscle and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis components in foetal hepatic and skeletal muscle tissues at day 40, 55 and 70 of gestating gilts. A total of 59 gilts (body weight = 137.7 kg) received a constant feed allowance of 1.75 kg/day and a top-dress containing either 0 or 50 ppm of L-carnitine starting on the first day of breeding through the allotted gestation length. Foetuses from the gilts fed diets with L-carnitine tended to be heavier (p = 0.06) and the circulating IGF-II tended to be lower (p = 0.09) at day 70, compared with the foetuses from the control gilts. Insulin-like growth factor-I messenger RNA (mRNA) was lower (p = 0.05) in hepatic tissue in the foetuses collected from gilts fed L-carnitine. Free and total carnitine concentration increased (p < 0.05) in the skeletal muscle from the foetuses collected from gilts fed supplemental L-carnitine. This study showed that L-carnitine had beneficial effects on the average foetal weight at day 70 of gestation, associated with changes in the foetal IGF system.
Brown
K R
KR
Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
Goodband
R D
RD
Tokach
M D
MD
Dritz
S S
SS
Nelssen
J L
JL
Minton
J E
JE
Higgins
J J
JJ
Lin
X
X
Odle
J
J
Woodworth
J C
JC
Johnson
B J
BJ
D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002331:Carnitine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005865:Gestational Age; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011897:Random Allocation; D013002:Somatomedins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D013002:Somatomedins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D002331:Carnitine