Fermented liquid feeding (FLF) has been proposed as a nutritional intervention with the potential to influence pork quality, yet its effects on intramuscular fat deposition and muscle lipid composition remain unclear. In this study, pigs were fed a basal dry feed, liquid feed, or FLF regimen for 173 days, and porcine muscle samples were subsequently evaluated for carcass traits, meat quality, lipid composition, and molecular changes associated with lipid deposition. Compared with CON, FLF reduced average backfat thickness, while intramuscular fat and triglyceride contents in the longissimus thoracis muscle were greater than those in CON and LF (p < 0.05). Fatty-acid profiling showed that FLF increased several major fatty acids, including palmitic acid. Metabolomic analysis identified contrast-specific changes in phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine species. Proteomic analysis, together with Western blotting and RT-qPCR, showed higher abundances of PPARγ, FASN, and downstream lipogenic transcripts in the FLF group. These findings demonstrate that FLF modulates lipid deposition and lipid composition in porcine muscle and provide mechanistic insight into the nutritional regulation of pork quality formation.
L. Wang, Hefeng Luo, Zhongyang Guo et al.· Foods· 0 citations
Low-birth-weight (LBW) piglets often exhibit glycolipid metabolic disorders at birth, which severely impair their postnatal growth and survival. Bile acids (BAs) act as signaling molecules that participate in the regulation of glycolipid metabolism. However, whether the hepatic metabolic abnormalities observed in LBW piglets are associated with altered BA metabolism remains largely unclear. Thus, using naturally occurring LBW fetal pigs, neonatal piglets, and hepatic cell lines as models, the present study aimed to elucidate the association between BA homeostasis and hepatic glycolipid metabolism and to further reveal the underlying molecular mechanisms through integrated analyses of BA-targeted metabolomics, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and molecular docking. Compared with normal-birth-weight (NBW) fetal pigs, LBW fetal pigs exhibited a marked reduction in hepatic glycogen storage accompanied by excessive lipid accumulation. As key nuclear receptors governing glycolipid metabolism, farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) were significantly down-regulated in the liver of LBW fetal pigs at both the transcriptional and protein levels, which was coupled with impaired glycogen synthetic capacity and lipolytic capacity in these fetal pigs. Targeted BA metabolomic analysis revealed a profound alteration in the hepatic BA profile of LBW fetal pigs, characterized by an increased proportion of secondary BAs. Notably, the hepatic level of taurolithocholic acid (TLCA) was markedly decreased in LBW fetal pigs. Further analyses demonstrated that critical processes of BA metabolism, including synthesis, transport, detoxification and conjugation, were impaired in LBW fetal pigs, along with disrupted endogenous TLCA biosynthesis. Mechanistically, molecular docking results suggested that TLCA might act as a potential agonist of FXR and HNF4α. In vitro assays confirmed that TLCA modulated hepatic glycolipid metabolism by activating FXR and HNF4α. More importantly, in vivo studies indicated that exogenous supplementation of TLCA significantly ameliorated hepatic glycolipid metabolism and improved overall liver function in LBW neonatal piglets. These findings reveal crosstalk between hepatic glucose-lipid and BA metabolism via HNF4α and FXR, providing potential nutritional strategies to improve liver health in LBW piglets and a theoretical basis for using BAs as feed additives in pig production.
Tianle Gao, Hairong Liang, Meizheng Li et al.· Journal of Animal Science an...· 0 citations
