L-肉碱对母猪胎盘绒毛膜IGFs和GLUT-1表达水平的影响

he research was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of L-carnitine during pregnancy on the IGFs and GLUT-1 expression of placental chorions in sows. A trial with 40 crossbred sows (Yorkshire × Landrace) was conducted which were assigned to two groups with consideration of their parity number (parity 3 to 5), fed either control diets with low native L-carnitine concentrations or the same diets supplemented with 50 mg of L-carnitine/kg during pregnancy. Collect placental chorionic samples when they were dischanged from sows. IGFs and GLUT-1gene expression by using Real-time quantitative PCR method and their protein expression by using Western Blot method. Real-time quantitative PCR results showed IGF-1 mRNA expression level of placental chorions in sows fed added L-carnitine was significantly higher than that in sows fed the control diet (P＜0.05). GLUT-1 mRNA expression level of chorions tended to be increased in sows supplemented with L-carnitine (P＜0.1). The mRNA expression levels of IGF-2 and IGFBP-3 were numerically higher for sows fed L-carnitine, but the differences were not significance (P＞0.05). Western Blot analysis showed Concentrations of IGF-1 protein of placental chorions in sows fed added L-carnitine were significantly higher than that in sows fed the control diet (P＜0.05). Concentrations of IGF-2 protein of chorions in sows fed additional L-carnitine were obviously higher than control sows (P＜0.01). Concentrations of GLUT-1 protein of chorions tended to be increased in sows supplemented with L-carnitine (P＜0.1).Generally, this study shows that plasma IGF-1 and IGF-2 concentrations in pregnant sows are increased through feeding dietary supplementation of L-carnitine. L-carnitine improves the expression level of GLUT-1 and IGFs mRNA and protein in chorions. This in turn may enhance development of the placenta and ability of tranporting nutrients. This may be the reason for improved reproductive performance of sows supplemented with L-carnitine.