The effect of maternal HMB supplementation on bone mechanical and geometrical properties, as well as histomorphometry and immunolocalization of VEGF, TIMP2, MMP13, BMP2 in the bone and cartilage tissue of the humerus of their newborn piglets

Abstract

The presented experiment focuses on assessing the impact of HMB ( hydroxy-β-methobutyrate ) supplementation of mothers during pregnancy on the development of the skeletal system of their offspring. For this purpose, an experiment was carried out on 12 clinically healthy sows of the Great White Poland breed, which were divided randomly into two groups the control and the HMB group. All animals were kept under standard conditions and received the same feed for pregnant females. In contrast, females from the HMB group between 70 and 90 days were supplemented with 3-hydroxy-3-methylbutyle in the amount of 0.2g/kg b.w/day. Immediately after birth, the piglets were also divided into groups based on: sex, and presence or lack HMB supplementation, and subsequently were euthanized and humerus bones from all piglets were collected. Mother’s HMB supplementation during pregnancy affected the multiple index of their offspring. The higher humerus mass and length was observed with the greater effect in males. Maternal supplementation also influenced on the geometrical and mechanical properties of the humerus as in the case of mass, this effect was higher in males. Also, the collagen structure of the compacted and trabecular bone changed under the HMB addition. Maternal supplementation also affected the expression of selected proteins in growth cartilage and trabecular bone. The obtained results show that the administration to the mother during pregnancy by the HMB significantly affects the development of the humerus in many ways. The obtained results also confirm the utility of such experiments in understanding of the importance of the pregnancy diet as an develop and adaptable factor of offspring organisms and are the base for further research in that area as well as in the protein markers expression area.

Prenatal programming of the small intestine in piglets: the effect of supplementation with 3-hydroxy-3-methylbutyric acid (HMB) in pregnant sows on the structure of jejunum of their offspring

“…In recent years, the effects of nutritional programming of various systems have been intensively studied. The nutritional factors can be toxic or they can improve the growth and development of the whole organism and individual systems, including digestive or skeletal systems (Tomaszewska et al, 2014;Blicharski et al, 2017;Duan et al, 2019;Tomaszewska et al, 2019Dobrowolski et al, 2021;Tomczyk-Warunek et al, 2021). There is one study, which showed the important role of branched-chain amino acids in the biosynthesis of proteins that enable proper development and adaptation of the intestines in the postnatal period (Mou et al, 2019).…”

“…It is produced naturally when leucine is oxidized in the cell cytoplasm, mainly in the liver and muscles (Nissen and Abumrad, 1997;Nissen et al, 2000;Lis et al, 2014). Administration of HMB to sows during pregnancy increases milk`s fat content, the birth weight of piglets, and has a positive effect on the development of the skeletal system in the offspring (Flummer and Theil, 2012;Blicharski et al, 2017;Tomaszewska et al, 2018Tomaszewska et al, , 2019Tomczyk-Warunek et al, 2021), increases the concentration of growth hormone and the activity of the bone alkaline phosphatase as a specific marker of bone formation processes in newborns, which in turn lead to the increase of the bone mass tissue (Tatara et al, 2007;Blicharski et al, 2017;Tomaszewska et al, 2019). Research results also show that administering HMB to lactating sows increases the energy and immunological value of milk and colostrum and increases the fat content of milk (Nissen et al, 1994).…”