title: Growth performance, serum biochemical profile, jejunal morphology, and the expression of nutrients transporter genes in deoxynivalenol (DON)- challenged growing pigs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fusarium infection with concurrent production of deoxynivalenol (DON) causes an increasing safety concern with feed worldwide. This study was conducted to determine the effects of varying levels of DON in diets on growth performance, serum biochemical profile, jejunal morphology, and the differential expression of nutrients transporter genes in growing pigs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of twenty-four 60-day-old healthy growing pigs (initial body weight = 16.3 ± 1.5 kg SE) were individually housed and randomly assigned to receive one of four diets containing 0, 3, 6 or 12 mg DON/kg feed for 21 days. Differences were observed between control and the 12 mg/kg DON treatment group with regards to average daily gain (ADG), although the value for average daily feed intake (ADFI) in the 3 mg/kg DON treatment group was slightly higher than that in control (P<0.01). The relative liver weight in the 12 mg/kg DON treatment group was significantly greater than that in the control (P<0.01), but there were no significant differences in other organs. With regard to serum biochemistry, the values of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate amino transferase (AST) in the 3 treatment groups were higher than those in the control, and the serum concentrations of L-valine, glycine, L-serine, and L-glutamine were significantly reduced in the 3 treatment groups, especially in the 12 mg/kg DON group (P<0.01). Serum total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were markedly decreased after exposure to DON contaminated feeds (P<0.01). The villi height was markedly decreased and the lymphocyte cell numbers markedly increased in the 3 DON contaminated feeds (P<0.01). The mRNA expression levels of excitatory amino acid transporter-3 (EAAC-3), sodium-glucose transporter-1 (SGLT-1), dipeptide transporter-1 (PepT-1), cationic amino acid transporter-1 (CAT-1) and y(+)L-type amino acid transporter-1 (LAT-1) in control were slightly or markedly higher than those in the 3 DON treatment groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results showed that feeds containing DON cause a wide range of effects in a dose-dependent manner. Such effects includes weight loss, live injury and oxidation stress, and malabsorption of nutrients as a result of selective regulation of nutrient transporter genes such as EAAC-3, SGLT-1, PepT-1, CAT-1 and LAT-1.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. 75543253@qq.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. liaopeng@isa.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. 285687180@qq.com.
authors.forename: Liuqin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. 592018505@qq.com.
authors.forename: Wenkai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. 516123372@qq.com.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. 791292383@qq.com.
authors.forename: Jielin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 644# Yuandaer Road, Changsha, 410125, China. tjli@isa.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Tiejun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000097:blood; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000097:blood; D001786:Blood Glucose; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D007583:Jejunum / Q000473:pathology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012709:Serum Albumin; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D014255:Trichothecenes / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D001786:Blood Glucose; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012709:Serum Albumin; D014255:Trichothecenes; D003404:Creatinine; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase; C007262:deoxynivalenol