Effects of concentrations of cyanocobalamin in the gestation diet on some criteria of vitamin B12 metabolism in first-parity sows1,2

Abstract

In swine nutrition, little is known about the role of vitamin B(12) in the reproductive processes. The current study was undertaken to obtain information on the dose-response pattern of different metabolic criteria related to the homeostasis of vitamin B(12) and homocysteine in gestating sows receiving various concentrations of dietary vitamin B(12) (cyanocobalamin). Homocysteine is a detrimental intermediate metabolite of the vitamin B(12)-dependent remethylation pathway of Met. Forty nulliparous (Large White x Landrace) sows were randomly assigned during gestation to dietary treatments containing 5 concentrations of cyanocobalamin (0, 20, 100, 200, or 400 microg/kg). During lactation, a diet containing 25 microg of cyanocobalamin/kg (as-fed) was given to all sows. During gestation, plasma vitamin B(12) increased as concentrations of dietary cyanocobalamin increased (linear and quadratic, P < 0.01) and the effect persisted during lactation (21 d postpartum) both in plasma (linear and quadratic, P < 0.05) and the liver (linear and quadratic, P < 0.04). Plasma homocysteine decreased with concentrations of cyanocobalamin provided to sows during gestation (linear, quadratic, and cubic, P < 0.01). At parturition, vitamin B(12) in colostrum increased as concentrations of cyanocobalamin increased (linear and quadratic, P < 0.01), but the treatment effect persisted (linear, P = 0.01) only up to 1 d postfarrowing. However, in piglets there was no treatment effect (P = 0.59) on plasma vitamin B(12) before colostrum intake, but a linear effect of concentrations of cyanocobalamin (P = 0.04) was observed 1 d later. Plasma homocysteine in piglets during lactation decreased with increasing concentrations of cyanocobalamin given to sows in gestation (linear and quadratic, P < 0.01). Based on a broken-line regression model, the concentrations of dietary cyanocobalamin that maximized plasma vitamin B(12) and minimized plasma homocysteine of sows during gestation were estimated to be 164 and 93 microg/kg, respectively. The maximal residual responses in sows and piglets during lactation were observed with treatments of 100 or 200 microg of cyanocobalamin/kg. The dietary cyanocobalamin concentration necessary to optimize the response of these metabolic criteria remains to be refined within lower and narrower ranges of cyanocobalamin concentrations (i.e., <200 mg/kg). Moreover, the biological significance of such concentrations of cyanocobalamin needs to be validated with performance criteria by using greater numbers of animals during several parities.

Methionine, folic acid and vitamin B12in growing-finishing pigs: Impact on growth performance and meat quality

“…Such response of plasma vitamin B 12 to dietary cyanocobalamin is in line with results reported for post-weaning pigs by House and Fletcher (2003), where effects on plasma vitamin B 12 were observed between 0 and 35 mg/kg with no further significant increase beyond 35 and up to 140 mg/kg of dietary cyanocobalamin. However, the present results differ from recent observations in gilts (Simard et al 2007) showing that the concentration of cyanocobalamin, which maximised plasma vitamin B 12 , was estimated at 164 mg/kg. It is possible that age and/or physiological stage might be important factors in this apparent discrepancy of plasma vitamin B 12 responses to dietary cyanocobalamin between piglets, growing-finishing pigs and gilts.…”

“…In contrast, the homocysteine response of V2 over V1 pigs during the finishing period (i.e. with older animals) is consistent with recent results in gilts (Simard et al 2007) estimating at 93 mg/kg the dietary concentrations of cyanocobalamin that minimised plasma homocysteine.…”

Homocysteine metabolism, growth performance, and immune responses in suckling and weanling piglets1

“…A major metabolic route for disposal of Hcy is remethylation where B 12 -dependent methionine synthase transfers a methyl group from 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate for regeneration of methionine (Bässler, 1997). In pigs, plasma Hcy (pHcy) responds to folic acid and/or B 12 at University of Cambridge on December 3, 2014 www.journalofanimalscience.org Downloaded from supplements but minimum values remain high (> 15 µM) as compared to other species (< 10 µM) (Simard et al, 2007;Giguère et al, 2008). To our knowledge, it is not known yet if such greater pHcy is harmful for piglets.…”

“…This daily allowance was complemented with a top-dressing providing an equivalent of 1 mg of folic acid and 20 µg of B 12 per kg of diet to a group of 15 sows (S -) or 10 mg of folic acid and 200 µg of B 12 (S + ) per kg of diet to another group of 16 sows. The levels of dietary supplementation to sows were chosen according to Matte et al (1992), Matte and Girard (1999), and Simard et al (2007) to modulate folates and B 12 transfer from dams to fetuses and suckling piglets and maximize the range of pHcy in piglets during lactation.…”

“…The maternal transfer of micronutrients to piglets has not paralleled the increase of prolificacy (Matte and Lauridsen, 2013). For instance, increase of "in utero" and colostrum-milk transfers of vitamin B 12 (B 12 ) to suckling piglets are associated with a reduction of homocysteinemia, which develops acutely from approximately 3 to 30 µM during the first 2 wk of life (Ballance and House, 2005;Simard et al, 2007).…”