Reduced plasma concentrations of glutamine and its metabolites in weaned pigs

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1995

Conference Title

Fifth Biennial Conference of the Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA)

Place of Publication

Canberra

ISBN

0 646 25622 x

ISSN

1324-9177

Keywords

Glutamine, Weaners, Pigs, Gut atrophy

Disciplines

Agriculture | Animal Sciences | Food Science | Meat Science | Nutrition | Structural Biology

Abstract

Atrophy of the gut is common in weaned piglets and is often associated with an absence of gut substrates and/or catabolic stress. This atrophy may be the result of a lack of glutamine because this amino acid is not only the primary respiratory fuel for gut enterocytes but also provides amide nitrogen that may support nucleotide biosynthesis (Windmueller, 1984). Despite the abundance of glutamine in plasma and muscle, there are conditions of catabolic stress where the intra-cellular concentration of glutamine may decline by as much as 50% and plasma concentrations by as much as 30%. Elevation of glucocorticoid concentrations in blood, as experienced during stress, may increase oxidation of glutamine by increasing glutaminase activity.

Share

COinS