草食家畜母体营养对子代生命健康影响的研究进展

母体营养对胎儿基因表达的调节作用逐渐成为围产期生命营养科学研究的热点。妊娠期作为发育可塑性的关键窗口,甲基供体对胎儿发育的相关代谢基因起到修饰作用,表观遗传学可能涉及其中的分子机制。动物研究表明,母体营养供给不足或过剩都会限制胎儿的生长。结合国内外研究报道,探讨了草食家畜妊娠期母胎的营养需求、激素在稳态调节中发挥的作用以及妊娠期能量需求对妊娠健康的重要意义,概括了妊娠期草食动物营养在表观遗传学方面的研究进展,探讨了表观遗传相关技术在草食家畜育种中的应用,以期为制定草食动物妊娠期最佳营养策略、提高胚胎质量、培养高质量后代提供参考。     

Maternal periconceptual nutrition,early pregnancy,and developmental outcomes in beef cattle

The focus of this review is maternal nutrition during the periconceptual period and offspring developmental outcomes in beef cattle, with an emphasis on the first 50 d of gestation, which represents the embryonic period. Animal agriculture in general, and specifically the beef cattle industry, currently faces immense challenges. The world needs to significantly increase its output of animal food products by 2050 and beyond to meet the food security and agricultural sustainability needs of the rapidly growing human population. Consequently, efficient and sustainable approaches to livestock production are essential. Maternal nutritional status is a major factor that leads to developmental programming of offspring outcomes. Developmental programming refers to the influence of pre-and postnatal factors, such as inappropriate maternal nutrition, that affect growth and development and result in long-term consequences for health and productivity of the offspring. In this review, we discuss recent studies in which we and others have addressed the questions, “Is development programmed periconceptually?” and, if so, “Does it matter practically to the offspring in production settings?” The reviewed studies have demonstrated that the periconceptual period is important not only for pregnancy establishment but also may be a critical period during which fetal, placental, and potentially postnatal development and function are programmed. The evidence for fetal and placental programming during the periconceptual period is strong and implies that research efforts to mitigate the negative and foster the positive benefits of developmental programming need to include robust investigative efforts during the periconceptual period to better understand the implications for life-long health and productivity.     

Ruminant Nutrition Symposium: Optimizing Performance of the Offspring: nourishing and managing the dam and postnatal calf for optimal lactation, reproduction, and immunity

For several mammalian species, it has been shown that fetal and early postnatal nutrition has a role in long-term lipid and glucose metabolism of the offspring, and it thus also may have consequences on milk yield in the dairy cow. For instance, high-energy diets during the last weeks of pregnancy may result in increased glycemia, which in turn, may alter fetal adipose tissue development. However, most research efforts on management and nutrition of dry cows have focused on minimizing metabolic disorders of the postpartum cow without devoting much attention to potential consequences for the offspring. Similarly, nutritional needs for proper placental development and early fetal growth have received little attention, despite the fact that alterations in placental and fetal development may alter expression of genes participating in homeorhesis of the offspring. Therefore, nutrition of the pregnant cow, both while lactating and dry, should also consider aspects of placental and fetal development that may affect health and performance of the progeny. Similarly, newborn calves and young heifers are fed to ensure a particular growth target without compromising mammary development, although data linking postnatal growth targets with future milk yield are scarce. However, milk yield not only depends on mammary development, but also on nutrient partitioning, which is regulated by the endocrine milieu. There are some periods of time during development where nutrition may have long-lasting effects on metabolic function and milk production. For instance, the first months of postnatal life seem to be critical because recent data from both retrospective and controlled studies indicate that increased growth rate or plane of nutrition during this phase is positively associated with future milk production. Postnatal growth rate depends on nutrition (a necessary but not sufficient condition) and management (i.e., grouping strategies and housing systems), and thus optimal rearing programs should be designed considering long-term consequences on milk yield.     

Factors controlling nutrient availability to the developing fetus in ruminants

Inadequate delivery of nutrients results in intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), which is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in livestock. In ruminants, inadequate nutrition during pregnancy is often prevalent due to frequent utilization of exensive forage based grazing systems, making them highly susceptible to changes in nutrient quality and availability. Delivery of nutrients to the fetus is dependent on a number of critical factors including placental growth and development, utero-placental blood flow, nutrient availability, and placental metabolism and transport capacity. Previous findings from our laboratory and others, highlight essential roles for amino acids and their metabolites in supporting normal fetal growth and development, as well as the critical role for amino acid transporters in nutrient delivery to the fetus. The focus of this review will be on the role of maternal nutrition on placental form and function as a regulator of fetal development in ruminants.     

Factors controlling nutrient availability to the developing fetus in ruminants

Inadequate delivery of nutrients results in intrauterine growth restriction(IUGR), which is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in livestock. In ruminants, inadequate nutrition during pregnancy is often prevalent due to frequent utilization of exensive forage based grazing systems, making them highly susceptible to changes in nutrient quality and availability. Delivery of nutrients to the fetus is dependent on a number of critical factors including placental growth and development, utero-placental blood flow, nutrient availability, and placental metabolism and transport capacity. Previous findings from our laboratory and others, highlight essential roles for amino acids and their metabolites in supporting normal fetal growth and development, as well as the critical role for amino acid transporters in nutrient delivery to the fetus. The focus of this review will be on the role of maternal nutrition on placental form and function as a regulator of fetal development in ruminants.     

胎儿宫内发育迟缓的原因

胎儿宫内发育迟缓(intrauterine growth retardation,IUGR)在畜牧生产中发生率较高,导致新生儿死亡率增加,影响日后生长发育及健康。了解IUGR发生原因对降低其发生,提高畜牧业生产水平具有重要意义。作者综述了引起IUGR的主要因素。     

Effects of maternal nutrition and porcine growth hormone (pGH) treatment during gestation on endocrine and metabolic factors in sows, fetuses and pigs, skeletal muscle development, and postnatal growth

Prenatal growth is very complex and a highly integrated process. Both maternal nutrition and the maternal somatotropic axis play a significant role in coordinating nutrient partitioning and utilization between maternal, placental and fetal tissues. Maternal nutrition may alter the nutrient concentrations and in turn the expression of growth regulating factors such as IGFs and IGFBPs in the blood and tissues, while GH acts in parallel via changing IGFs/IGFBPs and nutrient availability. The similarity in the target components implies that maternal nutrition and the somatotropic axis are closely related to each other and may induce similar effects on placental and fetal growth. Severe restriction of nutrients throughout gestation has a permanent negative effect on fetal and postnatal growth, whereas the effects of both temporary restriction and feeding above requirements during gestation seem to be of transitional character. Advantages in fetal growth gained by maternal growth hormone treatment during early to mid-gestation are not maintained to term, whereas treatment during late or greatest part of gestation increases progeny size at birth, which could be of advantage for postnatal growth. This review summarizes the available knowledge on the effects of different maternal feeding strategies and maternal GH administration during pregnancy and their interactions on metabolic and hormonal (especially IGFs/IGFBPs) status in the feto-maternal unit, skeletal muscle development and growth of the offspring in pigs.     

Gut health,stress, and immunity in neonatal dairy calves: the host side of host-pathogen interactions

The cumulative evidence that perinatal events have long-lasting ripple effects through the life of livestock animals should impact future nutritional and management recommendations at the farm level. The implications of fetal programming due to malnutrition, including neonatal survival and lower birth weights, have been characterized,particularly during early and mid-gestation, when placental and early fetal stages are being developed. The accelerated fetal growth during late pregnancy has been known for some time, while the impact of maternal stressors during this time on fetal development and by extent its postnatal repercussions on health and performance are still being defined.Maternal stressors during late pregnancy cannot only influence colostrogenesis but also compromise adequate intestinal development in the fetus, thus, that further limits the newborn's ability to absorb nutrients, bioactive compounds, and immunity(i.e., immunoglobulins, cytokines, and immune cells) from colostrum. These negative effects set the newborn calf to a challenging start in life by compromising passive immunity and intestinal maturation needed to establish a mature postnatal mucosal immune system while needing to digest and absorb nutrients in milk or milk replacer. Besides the dense-nutrient content and immunity in colostrum, it contains bioactive compounds such as growth factors, hormones, and cholesterol as well as molecular signals or instructions [e.g., microRNAs(miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs)] transferred from mother to offspring with the aim to influence postnatal gut maturation. The recent change in paradigm regarding prenatal materno-fetal microbiota inoculation and likely the presence of microbiota in the developing fetus intestine needs to be addressed in future research in ruminants. There still much to know on what prenatal or postnatal factors may predispose neonates to become susceptible to enteropathogens(e.g., enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli), causing diarrhea. From the host-side of this host-pathogen interaction, molecular data such as fecal RNA could, over time, help fill those gaps in knowledge. In addition, merging this novel fecal RNA approach with more established microbiome techniques can provide a more holistic picture of an enteropathogenesis and potentially uncover control points that can be addressed through management or nutrition at the farm level to minimize preweaning morbidity and mortality.     

Aspects of prenatal development of muscle and adipose tissue: principles, regulation, and influence of maternal nutrition

During pregnancy the developing embryo/foetus is completely dependent on the supply with nutrients and the removal of metabolic by-products through the maternal organism. Therefore, each lasting inadequate nutrient supply may have serious consequences for foetal development. As a kind of "nutritional programming" resulting adaptive changes may be maintained until or manifested at adult age. Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) may cause problems in animal health and result in poor animal performance. The relationships between prenatal development and the postnatal phenotypic appearance of muscle and fat are insufficiently investigated. The present paper provides selected aspects of the prenatal development of skeletal muscle (myogenesis) and adipose tissue (adipogenesis), refers to the importance of interactions between both tissues and is focussed on the influence of maternal nutrition on these processes.     

Alpharma Beef Cattle Nutrition Symposium: implications of nutritional management for beef cow-calf systems

The beef cattle industry relies on the use of high-forage diets to develop replacement females, maintain the cow herd, and sustain stocker operations Forage quantity and quality fluctuate with season and environmental conditions Depending on class and physiological state of the animal, a forage diet may not always meet nutritional requirements, resulting in reduced ADG or BW loss if supplemental nutrients are not provided It is important to understand the consequences of such BW loss and the economics of providing supplementation to the beef production system Periods of limited or insufficient nutrient availability can be followed by periods of compensatory BW gain once dietary conditions improve This may have less impact on breeding animals, provided reproductive efficiency is not compromised, where actual BW is not as important as it is in animals destined for the feedlot A rapidly evolving body of literature is also demonstrating that nutritional status of cows during pregnancy can affect subsequent offspring development and production characteristics later in life The concept of fetal programming is that maternal stimuli during critical periods of fetal development have long-term implications for offspring Depending on timing, magnitude, and duration of nutrient limitation or supplementation, it is possible that early measures in life, such as calf birth BW, may be unaffected, whereas measures later in life, such as weaning BW, carcass characteristics, and reproductive traits, may be influenced This body of research provides compelling evidence of a fetal programming response to maternal nutrition in beef cattle Future competitiveness of the US beef industry will continue to be dependent on the use of high-forage diets to meet the majority of nutrient requirements Consequences of nutrient restriction or supplementation must be considered not only on individual animal performance but also the developing fetus and its subsequent performance throughout life.     

胎盘糖代谢对猪宫内发育迟缓的调控作用

宫内发育迟缓（intrauterine growth retardation,IUGR）是指胚胎或其器官在怀孕期间生长和发育受阻,表现为后代生长发育受限或停滞。初生低体重或极低体重是IUGR仔猪的主要特征。IUGR严重影响新生仔猪的存活和后期的生长发育。诱发IUGR的原因包括母体在妊娠期间养分摄入不足、发病、环境应激以及子宫和胎盘功能异常等。猪作为多胎家畜,受IUGR影响最为严重,主要原因在于妊娠期间母猪无法提供足够的养分满足子宫角上所有胎儿正常生长发育的需要。胎盘作为母子之间唯一的联系,胎盘营养物质能否正常转运与代谢是影响胎儿发育的重要因素。碳水化合物是胎儿宫内发育最主要的能量底物,胎盘的糖类转运及代谢异常对IUGR的形成至关重要。在糖代谢的过程中,葡萄糖、磷酸戊糖和果糖可以通过葡萄糖转运蛋白、胎盘滋养层细胞和血管生成等对仔猪宫内发育起到调控作用。文章阐述了胎盘糖代谢对仔猪宫内发育迟缓的调控作用,以期为减少IUGR发生及改善IUGR仔猪的生长发育提供科学依据。     

Nutritional Programming of Intrauterine Development: A Concept Applicable to the Horse?

Human epidemiological observations and studies of experimental animals have shown that low birth weight is associated with adult phenotypes characterized by abnormalities in cardiovascular, metabolic, and endocrine function. In human populations, these changes can lead to overt degenerative diseases such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Because fetal growth depends primarily on the nutrient supply, the associations between birth weight and adult phenotype have been linked to poor nutrition in utero. The fetal supply of nutrients and oxygen depends on both the availability of these substances in the mother and the functional capacity of the placenta to supply them to the fetus. This review takes a comparative approach to examining the nutritional programming of adult physiological phenotype in mammals with emphasis on the horse where possible. It considers the role of maternal nutritional state and placental function in these processes and discusses the cellular and molecular mechanisms operating in utero that are responsible for the epigenetic regulation of phenotypical diversity.     

哺乳动物胎盘营养感应研究进展

妊娠期间母体营养的改变会影响胎儿的生长发育,而胎盘是母体-胎儿间进行气体、营养和代谢物交流的重要枢纽,哺乳动物胎盘营养感应系统响应母体和胎儿营养信号的变化,保证母体健康和胎儿生长发育。鉴于胎盘营养感应系统对哺乳动物繁育的重要性,本文从胎盘营养感应和胎盘养分分配方面综述了哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶蛋白(mammalian target of rapamycin,mTOR)、磷酸腺苷活化蛋白激酶(AMP-activated protein kinase,AMPK)、氨基己糖(Hexosamine)信号通路、糖原合成酶3(glycogen synthase kinase,GSK-3)、胰岛素/胰岛素样生长因子(insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway,IIS)等信号通路及其对妊娠期养分响应和对胎儿发育的影响,以期为哺乳动物的繁育提供参考依据。     

Impacts of prenatal nutrition on animal production and performance: a focus on growth and metabolic and endocrine function in sheep

The concept of foetal programming(FP) originated from human epidemiological studies, where foetal life nutrition was linked to health and disease status later in life. Since the proposal of this phenomenon, it has been evaluated in various animal models to gain further insights into the mechanisms underlying the foetal origins of health and disease in humans. In FP research, the sheep has been quite extensively used as a model for humans. In this paper we will review findings mainly from our Copenhagen sheep model, on the implications of late gestation malnutrition for growth, development, and metabolic and endocrine functions later in life, and discuss how these implications may depend on the diet fed to the animal in early postnatal life. Our results have indicated that negative implications of foetal malnutrition, both as a result of overnutrition and, particularly, late gestation undernutrition, can impair a wide range of endocrine functions regulating growth and presumably also reproductive traits. These implications are not readily observable early in postnatal life, but are increasingly manifested as the animal approaches adulthood. No intervention or cure is known that can reverse this programming in postnatal life. Our findings suggest that close to normal growth and slaughter results can be obtained at least until puberty in animals which have undergone adverse programming in foetal life, but manifestation of programming effects becomes increasingly evident in adult animals.Due to the risk of transfer of the adverse programming effects to future generations, it is therefore recommended that animals that are suspected to have undergone adverse FP are not used for reproduction. Unfortunately, no reliable biomarkers have as yet been identified that allow accurate identification of adversely programmed offspring at birth,except for very low or high birth weights, and, in pigs, characteristic changes in head shape(dolphin head). Future efforts should be therefore dedicated to identify reliable biomarkers and evaluate their effectiveness for alleviation/reversal of the adverse programming in postnatal life. Our sheep studies have shown that the adverse impacts of an extreme, high-fat diet in early postnatal life, but not prenatal undernutrition, can be largely reversed by dietary correction later in life. Thus, birth(at term) appears to be a critical set point for permanent programming in animals born precocial,such as sheep. Appropriate attention to the nutrition of the late pregnant dam should therefore be a priority in animal production systems.     

Placentomal differentiation may compensate for maternal nutrient restriction in ewes adapted to harsh range conditions

Maternal nutrient restriction from early to midgestation can lead to fetal growth retardation, with long-term impacts on offspring growth, physiology, and metabolism. We hypothesized that ewes from flocks managed under markedly different environmental conditions and levels of nutrition might differ in their ability to protect their own fetus from a bout of maternal nutrient restriction. We utilized multiparous ewes of similar breeding, age, and parity from 2 flocks managed as 1) ewes adapted to a nomadic existence and year-long, limited nutrition near Baggs, WY (Baggs ewes), and 2) University of Wyoming ewes with a sedentary lifestyle and continuous provision of more than adequate nutrition (UW ewes). Groups of Baggs ewes and UW ewes were fed 50 (nutrient restricted) or 100% (control fed) of National Research Council recommendations from d 28 to 78 of gestation, then necropsied, and fetal and placental data were obtained. Although there was a marked decrease (P < 0.05) in fetal weight and blood glucose concentrations in nutrient-restricted vs. control fed UW ewes, there was no difference in these fetal measurements between nutrient-restricted and control-fed Baggs ewes. Nutrient-restricted and control-fed UW ewes exhibited predominantly type A placentomes on d 78, but there were fewer (P c0.05) type A and greater (P < 0.05) numbers of type B, C, and D placentomes in nutrient-restricted than control-fed Baggs ewes. Placental efficiency (fetal weight/placentomal weight) was reduced (P = 0.04) in d 78 nutrient-restricted UW ewes when compared with control-fed UW ewes. In contrast, nutrient-restricted and control-fed Baggs ewes exhibited similar placental efficiencies on d 78. This is the first report of different placental responses to a nutritional challenge during pregnancy when ewes were selected under different management systems. These data are consistent with the concept that Baggs ewes or their conceptuses, which were adapted to both harsh environments and limited nutrition, initiated conversion of type A placentomes to other placentomal types when subjected to an early to mid-gestational nutrient restriction, whereas this conversion failed to occur in UW ewes. This early placentomal conversion in the Baggs ewes may function to maintain normal nutrient delivery to their developing fetuses during maternal nutrient restriction.     

丁酸梭菌在家禽生产中应用的研究进展

丁酸梭菌作为一种益生菌,存在于人和动物的肠道中,不易受到胃酸、消化酶和胆汁酸等因素的影响,不仅可以通过把营养物质降解成丁酸为动物提供营养与能量,而且可以保护肠道健康,促进营养物质的吸收和动物的生长,以及增强免疫功能等,因此丁酸梭菌可以作为饲料添加剂用于畜禽生产。本文对丁酸梭菌对家禽生理、生产性能的影响及其机制进行综述,以便为丁酸梭菌在家禽生产中的应用提供参考。     

Anesthesia and acoustic stress-induced intra-uterine growth retardation in mice

Stress interferes with reproduction, adversely influencing implantation and fetal growth, and sometimes even leading to abortion. Here, we attempted to evaluate the early gestational effects of uncomfortable sound on pregnant mice and their offspring. Ten-week-old pregnant Jcl:ICR mice were exposed to sound (100 dB, random frequency between 9-34 kHz) for 8 hours on the 3(rd), 5(th) and 7(th) gestational days (GD). The effects of general anesthesia were also investigated, with or without acoustic stress. All groups were examined on the 18(th) GD for fetal growth. Fetal weight, number of ossified sacrococcygeal vertebrae and placental weight were all significantly reduced (P<0.0001) when stress was induced on the 7(th) GD, but not on the 3(rd) or 5(th) GD. This intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) was significantly inhibited by general anesthesia (P<0.0001), although general anesthesia alone induced significant IUGR (P<0.0001) when compared with control mice. This suggests that acoustic exposure indirectly exerts an effect on fetal growth, possibly via a psycho-maternal pathway. We also found that analysis of the number of ossified sacrococcygeal vertebrae is the most sensitive tool for the study of IUGR.     

宫内生长受限对胎猪肝脏microRNA表达谱的影响

本试验旨在分析宫内生长受限(IUGR)和正常胎猪肝脏microRNA(miRNA)表达的差异,以揭示IUGR对胎猪肝脏miRNA表达谱的影响。试验选用6头达兰(Dalland)母猪,在孕110 d左右致死,剖腹并取出整个子宫。在每窝中选取1头IUGR胎猪和1头正常胎猪,分别取出肝脏备用。利用双荧光标记miRNA芯片技术对IUGR和正常胎猪肝脏进行分析。结果表明:IUGR对胎猪肝脏miRNA的表达产生显著影响,共有41种miRNA存在表达差异,其中27种在IUGR胎猪肝脏中表达上调,14种表达下调。其所导致的胎猪葡萄糖吸收代谢紊乱、脂肪代谢紊乱、蛋白质合成受阻;肝脏解毒能力下降以及肝脏细胞增殖抑制,可能是造成IUGR仔猪出生后营养利用率低、患病率和死亡率高以及生长发育不良的重要原因。     

反刍家畜对蛋白质和非蛋白氮的利用

通过对反刍家畜营养生理的认识,阐述如何提高饲料蛋白质和非蛋白氮在反刍家畜生产中的利用效率.     

母体妊娠期应激对后代出生前后下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的影响及其机制

动物的生理健康与其正常下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺(hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical,HPA)轴活性是密不可分的.母体妊娠期应激对后代出生前后HPA轴功能及生长发育等均有显著的程序化影响,尤其是对胎儿期HPA轴的影响更大.这种影响主要是通过改变后代上游海马体、下丘脑和垂体中的糖皮质激素受体和盐皮质激素受体表达实现的.下游器官肾上腺皮质作为HPA轴的重要组成部分,也可能是HPA轴程序化的靶器官,有待深入研究.