Glutamine as a Feed Supplement for Piglets: a Review / Glutamina jako dodatek do paszy dla prosiąt: przegląd

Abstract

Weaning is a crucial moment in a piglet’s life. It is characterized by a generally low nutrient intake and adverse changes in the small intestinal mucosa. Proper feeding is therefore necessary to ensure normal development of the gastrointestinal tract. One substance that could provide intestinal epithelial cells with necessary energy is the amino acid glutamine. It improves epithelium structure and accelerates the growth of intestinal villi in which nutrients are absorbed, thus improving feed utilization and growth performance in piglets. The effect of glutamine on intestinal microflora also improves animal health. In addition to liver and kidneys, small intestine is the main site of glutamine metabolism, which leads to the synthesis of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides and of the important antioxidant glutathione. Glutamine is also a precursor for the synthesis of proline and arginine, the components of body proteins. Glutamine downregulates the expression of genes responsible for oxidative stress and immune activation, and increases the expression of genes that are necessary for cell growth and removal of oxidants. Due to these properties, glutamine is considered an essential amino acid in diets for weaned piglets.

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

“…Feeding diets supplemented with 0.4% Gln, Arg or their combination to does and rabbits did not affect animal performance. Studies in piglets have shown that there is not always a productive enhancement with Gln supplementation despite the well reported positive effects of Gln on gut integrity and physiology [26]. In previous research, we were unable to detect significant differences on feed efficiency, daily gain or feed intake in young rabbits fed diets supplemented with 1% Gln [12].…”

Dietary Addition of Antioxidant Complex Packs and Functional Amino Acids Can Improve the Digestion, Absorption, and Immunity of Huanjiang Minipigs

“…Therefore, it is very important to add nutrients during weaning. Glutamine can be effectively used in the small intestine and can repair intestinal mucosal damage caused by weaning stress [ 18 ]. Glutamine is the main source of intestinal cells; in fact, glutamate and aspartic acid can also be used as fuel to provide energy to the intestine and so does glutamine [ 7 ].…”

The use of functional amino acids in different categories of pigs - A review

“…Glutamine is also a precursor to glutathione, which is an essential antioxidant protecting cells from free oxygen radicals. Positive effects were obtained when feeding 1% glutamine in feed to 21-day-old weaned piglets for 20 days (Hanczakowska and Niwinska 2013).…”

“…There are several mechanisms by which glutamine and glutamate can contribute to healthy gut development in weaned piglets (Xiong et al 2019). Both of them are important sources of energy for intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and integrity repair (Hanczakowska and Niwinska 2013;He et al 2016b) and both serve as oxidative substrates for intestinal epithelial cells and are important sources of carbon atoms for gluconeogenesis (Modina et al https://doi.org/10.17221/72/2023-VETMED 2019). In the intestine, glutamine may increase secretory IgA production by regulating the intestinal microbiota and/or T-cell-dependent and T-cellindependent pathways (Wu et al 2016).…”