Effect of pre- and post-weaning dietary supplementation with arginine and glutamine on rabbit performance and intestinal health

Abstract

Background The purpose of the present study was to assess if the exposure to glutamine (Gln), arginine (Arg) or their combination from pregnancy, through the maternal diet, to a post weaning supplemented diet, can stimulate litter performance, gut development and immune function. To this end does and their litters were fed the same basal diet no supplemented (control C), or supplemented with 0.4% Gln, 0.4% Arg, or 0.4 Gln + 0.4 Arg. Rabbits were weaned at 25 d of age and fed the same experimental diet as their mothers for 10 additional days (35 d of age). Bacterial translocation to mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) at 6 d of age and intestinal histology, enzymatic activity, phenotypical and functional analysis of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) from the appendix were determined at 6, 25 and 35 d of age. Results No significant differences on animal performance or mortality rates were observed among dietary treatments. However, kits from rabbit does supplemented with Gln tended ( P ≤ 0.10) to reduce the translocation of total number of both aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria to the MLN. Also, rabbits fed the Gln supplemented diets maintained intestinal villous height at weaning compared to the non-supplemented diets ( P < 0.05). The proportions of CD45 + CD4 + and CD45 + CD8 + IEL in the appendix were not affected by dietary means. However, in rabbits IEL at weaning dietary Gln significantly upregulated IL-2 and downregulated IL-6 expression. Conclusions Despite a lack of effect on performance and mortality the inclusion of 0.4% Gln has a positive effect by maintaining intestinal villous height and modulating the cytokine profile at weaning. The supplementation with Arg or Arg + Gln at the selected doses in this study did not exert positive effects on rabbit intestinal health.

The Effect of Substitution of Palm Fat with Linseed Oil on the Lipid Peroxidation, Antioxidative Capacity and Intestinal Morphology in Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

“…Addition of inulin in a rabbit diet increase crypt depth and health of gut [43], supplementation of rabbit diet with whey powder increase gut health, but addition of citric acid, had no positive effect [44]. Also, an addition of 0.4% glutamine in a rabbit diet had a positive effect on intestinal villus high, but depended on the age of animals, the addition of arginine, and arginine and glutamine did not have the effect [45].…”

Free Amino Acids in Human Milk: A Potential Role for Glutamine and Glutamate in the Protection Against Neonatal Allergies and Infections

“…Moreover, dietary glutamine in healthy weaning piglets lowered the production of T H 2 cytokine IL-4 and increased the IFNγ/IL-4 ratio in mesenteric lymph node cells (153). Finally, in weaning rabbits, dietary glutamine upregulated IL-2 and IL-10 expression by IELs, while inhibiting expression of IL-6, an inducer of T H 2 differentiation of naïve T cells (174,175). Although further confirmation in neonatal animals is critical, these data may indicate that glutamine plays a role in promoting a more balanced T H 1/T H 2 immune system in the neonatal period.…”

Dietary Supplementary of Modified Si-jun-zi&nbsp;Granule&nbsp;Promotes Intestinal Development and Enhances Mucosal Immunity of Weaned Rex Rabbits

“…However, M-SJZG had noticeable effects on protection of it. This results indicated that M-SJZG might improve the survival rate from early weaning (Delgado et al, 2019). Previous studies have shown that dietary supplement such as Gln (positive group) could improve intestinal development and protect it from atrophy and injury under various stress conditions in young animals (Wang et al, 2015).…”