Project description:Background: Consumption of high fat diets has negative impacts on health and well-being, some of which may be epigenetically regulated. Selenium and folate are two compounds which influence epigenetic mechanisms. We investigated the hypothesis that post-weaning supplementation with adequate levels of selenium and folate in mouse offspring fed a high fat, low selenium and folate diet during gestation and lactation will lead to epigenetic changes of potential importance for long-term health. Female offspring of mothers fed the experimental diet were either maintained on this diet (HF-low-low), or weaned onto a high-fat diet with sufficient levels of selenium and folate (HF-low-suf), for 8 weeks. Gene and protein expression, DNA methylation, and histone modifications were measured in colon and liver of female offspring. Results: Adequate levels of selenium and folate post-weaning affected gene expression in colon and liver of offspring, including decreasing Slc2a4 gene expression. Protein expression was only altered in the liver. There was no effect of adequate levels of selenium and folate on global histone modifications in the liver. Global liver DNA methylation was decreased in mice switched to adequate levels of selenium and folate, but there was no effect on methylation of specific CpG sites within the Slc2a4 gene in liver. Conclusions: Post-weaning supplementation with adequate levels of selenium and folate in female offspring of mice fed high-fat diets during gestation and lactation can alter global DNA methylation in liver. This may be one mechanism by which the negative effects of a poor diet during early life can be ameliorated. Further research is required to establish what role epigenetic changes play in mediating observed changes in gene and protein expression, and the relevance of these changes to health. Female wild type C57BL/6 mice (Animal Resource Centre, Western Australia) were fed a High Fat diet containing low levels of selenium and folate (HF-Low) for 7 days prior to mating with male C57BL/6 mice (Ruakura Small Animal Facility, Hamilton, New Zealand). Mothers were maintained on the HF-Low diet throughout gestation and lactation. Offspring of these female mice were randomly assigned to one of two different dietary treatments: either the same diet as the mothers (HF-Low), or a High Fat diet containing adequate selenium and folate (HF-Suf). At 12 weeks of age, mice were euthanized and colon and liver samples taken for microarray, proteomics, and DNA methylation analyses. Genomic DNA, total RNA and protein from whole colon and liver tissue was extracted using an AllPrepM-BM-. DNA/RNA/Protein mini kit (Qiagen, Cat number 80004). Colon and liver RNA from six female offspring on the HF-Low diet was compared with colon and liver RNA from six female offspring on the HF-Suf diet. All individual RNA samples were hybridized against a common reference RNA on separate arrays. The reference RNA was prepared by pooling in equimolar proportions RNA extracted from the intestine and liver of twelve female C57BL/6 mice, these being all of the mice from which samples were derived for microarray analysis in the current study.

Project description:A better understanding of impacts of nutrition during pre- weaning and post- weaning period is needed in order to design feeding strategies that optimize lifetime productivity. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were three-fold: to evaluate nutrition-induced changes of 1) growth from birth to first calving in heifers, 2) its impact on first-lactation milk yield and composition and 3) evaluate nutrition-induced changes in gene expression of mammary gland in Parda de Montaña heifers. Sixteen Parda de Montaña heifers, were randomly but equally assigned at birth to one of four management strategies, in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment. In the pre-weaning period (0-6 months of age), all the heifers suckled their dams twice daily for 30 minutes. Half of the heifers (n=8) were supplemented a starter concentrate (CON) while the other half only had access to their dam’s milk (NOCON). In the post-weaning period (6-15 months), half of the heifers of each pre-weaning feeding treatment received alfalfa hay ad libitum plus concentrates, with a different forage to concentrate ratio (F:C), 67:33 (67F:33C) or 87:13 (87F:13C). Plasma metabolites and hormones concentration at weaning was determined, and cows and their calves weigh was recorded once/week throughout the first lactation, and their ADG was calculated. Milk composition and quantity was determined during the first 4 months of lactation. Mammary tissue samples were taken by biopsy at weaning at the end of first lactation. RNA mammary gland samples (n=16, 8 samples from each treatment) were analyzed by using Bovine Gene 1.1 ST Array Strip. The results of the present study showed that heifers that received concentrate during pre- weaning period had greater BW at weaning when compared to NOCON heifers. Concentrate supplementation during the pre-weaning period increased heifers’ weight gains in the pre-weaning period (P < 0.001) but decreased weight gains in the post-weaning period (P < 0.01) and during pregnancy (P < 0.05). In addition, CON cows had lower milk production throughout the 4 months of the first lactation when compared with NOCON (P < 0.01). Moreover CON cows had decreased milk crude protein, crude fat, lactose, extract and casein content in their first lactation. In addition, cows that received concentrate during pre- weaning period showed greater SCC at the third and fourth month of lactation. Different gene expression patterns were found between CON and NOCON animals. Overall, concentrate supplementation at pre- weaning resulted in up –regulation of genes related with immune response and chemokine activity, suggesting that these animals might be in a compromised immune status, probably being at greater risk to develop mastitis in the later periods.

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Post weaning pig supplementation

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