title: In ovo L-arginine supplementation stimulates myoblast differentiation but negatively affects muscle development of broiler chicken after hatching.
abstract: In this study, we tested the hypothesis that in ovo feeding (IOF) of L-arginine (L-Arg) enhances nitric oxide (NO) production, stimulates the process of myogenesis, and regulates post-hatching muscle growth. Different doses of L-Arg were injected into the amnion of chicken embryos at embryonic day (ED) 16. After hatching, the body weight of individual male chickens was recorded weekly for 3 weeks. During in vitro experiments, myoblasts of the pectoralis major (PM) were extracted at ED16 and were incubated in medium containing 0.01 mm L-Arg, 0.05 mm L-Arg, and (or) 0.05 mm L-nitro-arginine-methyl-ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). When 25 mg/kg L-Arg/initial egg weight was injected, no difference was observed in body weight at hatch, but a significant decrease was found during the following 3 weeks compared to that of the non-injected and saline-injected control, and this also affected the growth of muscle mass. L-NAME inhibited gene expression of myogenic differentiation antigen (MyoD), myogenin, NOS, and follistatin, decreased the cell viability, and increased myostatin (MSTN) gene expression. 0.05 mm L-Arg stimulated myogenin gene expression but also depressed muscle cell viability. L-NAME blocked the effect of 0.05 mm L-Arg on myogenin mRNA levels when co-incubated with 0.05 mm L-Arg. L-Arg treatments had no significant influence on NOS mRNA gene expression, but had inhibiting effect on follistatin gene expression, while L-NAME treatments had effects on both. These results suggested that L-Arg stimulated myoblast differentiation, but the limited number of myoblasts would form less myotubes and then less myofibers, while the latter limited the growth of muscle mass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Laboratory of Translational Medicine, Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Willems
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Willemsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Franssens
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buyse
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Decuypere
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystems, Division of Livestock-Nutrition-Quality, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.|Animal Science Unit, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Everaert
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D002645:Chickens; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development*; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D001120:Arginine
keywords: in ovo feeding; myogenesis; nitric oxide; post-hatching