Deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin) , the most general mycotoxin, causes a big economical loss to swine production.

However, the effects of DON on the cell signaling pathway is not well established although it is believed to play a role in the suppression of protein synthesis and genotoxic effects of DON. Numerous studies have examined the toxic effects of DON and potential migration strategies, little has been done to investigate nutritional strategies that might be used to protect animal consuming DON contaminated diets. In this regard, it is possible that nutrients with functional properties may offer protection against DON toxicity.

Glutamic acid, a functional amino acid, plays a crucial functional role in the intestinal tract. Specifically, glutamic acid has a significant role in substrate for protein synthesis , energy source for some tissues, and substrate for glutathione production, and so on. Considering the known functional roles of glutamic acid, it was hypothesized that dietary supplementation with glutamic acid may ameliorate the toxic effects of DON in growing swine.

Researchers in the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISA) assigns twenty-eight piglets were randomly into 4 dietary treatments. Then,they detects piglets’ blood samples at day 15, 30 and 37. As expected, the results shows that treatment with glutamic acid may be able to improve antioxidation capacity, intestinal permeability, and increase protein synthesis and cell proliferation in weaned piglets induced by DON.

The findings were published recently in PLoS ONE (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100591). For the paper, please click http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0100591

This study was jointly supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.31330075, 31110103909, and 31201813), National Science and Technology Support Program Funding (2012BAD39B03), Nanjing Branch Academy of Chinese Academyof Science and Jiangxi Province Cooperation Project, Hunan Project (2013RS4065 and 2012GK4066) and Guandong project (2012B091100210).