The aim of this work was to investigate the serum biochemical profile, ileal amino acid (AA) digestibility, and expression of nutrient-sensing, hormone secretion, gastrointestinal (GIT) digestive enzyme and nutrient transporter genes in pigs subjected to dietary protein restriction. Twenty-four weaned pigs were distributed into three treatments, and the animals in each treatment were fed crude protein (CP) diets at one of three levels (20, 17, and 14%). Our results showed that pigs fed the 20% CP diet had greater (P < 0.05) average daily gain and ratio of feed to gain than those fed the 14% CP diet, but there were no differences between the 20% CP and 17% CP diets. Additionally, the 20% CP diet tended to upregulate (P < 0.05) the expression of nutrient-sensing-related genes, such as taste receptor type 1 member 1 (TasR1), calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), and solute carrier family 1 (EAAC1), and the 17% CP diet tended to up-regulate (P < 0.05) the expression of digestive enzyme-related genes, hormone secretion-related genes, and nutrient transporter-related genes, such as pepsinogen, cholecystokinin type A receptor (CCK-1R), and dipeptide transporter 1 (PepT1), respectively. These results suggested that weaned pigs that were chronically fed a moderately restricted 17% CP protein diet could catch up to pigs fed a 20% CP diet in terms of growth performance and feed efficiency. In conclusion, the provision of 20% dietary CP was beneficial to the expression of nutrient-sensing and nutrient transporter genes in the GIT, and the provision of 17% dietary CP was beneficial to lipid metabolism and digestive enzymes in the GIT.
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