Effects of dietary l-arginine or N-carbamylglutamate supplementation during late gestation of sows on the miR-15b/16, miR-221/222, VEGFA and eNOS expression in umbilical vein

Abstract

Placental vascular formation and blood flow are crucial for fetal survival, growth and development, and arginine regulates vascular development and function. This study determined the effects of dietary arginine or N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) supplementation during late gestation of sows on the microRNAs, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression in umbilical vein. Twenty-seven landrace × large white sows at day (d) 90 of gestation were assigned randomly to three groups and fed the following diets: a control diet and the control diet supplemented with 1.0% l-arginine or 0.10% NCG. Umbilical vein of fetuses with body weight around 2.0 kg (oversized), 1.5 kg (normal) and 0.6 kg (intrauterine growth restriction, IUGR) were obtained immediately after farrowing for miR-15b, miR-16, miR-221, miR-222, VEGFA and eNOS real-time PCR analysis. Compared with the control diets, dietary Arg or NCG supplementation enhanced the reproductive performance of sows, significantly increased (P < 0.05) plasma arginine and decreased plasma VEGF and eNOS (P < 0.05). The miR-15b expression in the umbilical vein was higher (P < 0.05) in the NCG-supplemented group than in the control group. There was a trend in that the miR-222 expression in the umbilical vein of the oversized fetuses was higher (0.05 < P < 0.1) than in the normal and IUGR fetuses. The expression of eNOS in both Arg-supplemented and NCG-supplemented group were lower (P < 0.05) than in the control group. The expression of VEGFA was higher (P < 0.05) in the NCG-supplemented group than in the Arg-supplemented and the control group. Meanwhile, the expression of VEGFA of the oversized fetuses was higher (P < 0.05) than the normal and IUGR fetuses. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that dietary Arg or NCG supplementation may affect microRNAs (miR-15b, miR-222) targeting VEGFA and eNOS gene expressions in umbilical vein, so as to regulate the function and volume of the umbilical vein, provide more nutrients and oxygen from the maternal to the fetus tissue for fetal development and survival, and enhance the reproductive performance of sows.

MicroRNA‑24 inhibits the proliferation and migration of endothelial cells in patients with atherosclerosis by targeting importin‑α3 and regulating inflammatory responses

“…miRNAs have previously been reported to participate in the regulation of vascular endothelial cell functions, and have important roles in the development of atherosclerosis; for example, enhanced expression of miR-221 and miR-222 in human arterial endothelial cells causes reduced levels and activity of nitric oxide synthase, leading to cell dysfunction (35). In addition, reduced miR-126 and increased miR-125b expression results in increased endothelial inflammatory response protein secretion (36).…”

Effects of reducing dietary protein on the expression of nutrition sensing genes (amino acid transporters) in weaned piglets

“…Target mRNA and β-actin mRNA were amplified with comparable efficiencies (Wang et al, 2009;He et al, 2013). Negative controls, in which cDNA was replaced by water, were also tested (Liu et al, 2012).…”

Functional amino acids in nutrition and health

“…Some of the nutritionally ''nonessential'' AA (e.g., arginine, glutamine, glutamate, glycine, and proline for adults) play important roles in regulating gene expression (Kim et al 2011a, b;Wu et al 2011a, b) and micro-RNA levels (Liu et al 2012), cell signaling Jewell et al 2013), blood flow , nutrient transport and metabolism in animal cells (Suryawan et al 2012;Wang et al 2013), development of brown adipose tissue , intestinal microbial growth and metabolism (Dai et al 2012a, b), anti-oxidative responses (Hou et al 2012a, b), as well as innate and cell-mediated immune responses (Ren et al 2011(Ren et al , 2013. Of particular interest, AA participate in and modulate cell signaling through: (1) several well-conserved protein kinases (including mammalian target of rapamycin, AMP-activated protein kinase, cGMP-dependent kinase, cAMP-dependent kinase, and mitogen-activated protein kinase), (2) G protein-coupled receptors, and (3) gaseous molecules, including NO, CO, and H 2 S (Wu 2013).…”