Exogenous nucleotides are a group of biologically active substances that play key roles in most of the biological processes, especially in the fast growing period with limited nutrient conditions. UMP and Uridine (UR) as different nucleotide forms, showed severely decreased from 0 to 28 d in lactation.  

Previous study has shown that exogenous UMP/UR supplementation can improve the growth performance (ADFI and ADG), promote intestinal development and nucleotide transport of weaned piglets. Most interestingly, short-term uridine treatment can prevent drug-induced liver lipid accumulation. However, the specific mechanism has not been elaborated and there is no information regarding the regulation of UMP/UR on lipid metabolism in animal nutrition. 

Researchers from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (ISA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a 10-day experiment to investigate whether short-term UMP/UR treatment could regulate lipid metabolism in early-weaned piglets. 

Researchers found that UMP and UR significantly decreased C12:0 and C14:0 fatty acid in liver. Experiments about key enzymes involved in de novo synthesis of fatty acid showed that the gene expression of LXRα, SREBP1c, FASD2 and ELOVL5 were remarkably down-regulated with UMP and UR treatment, and key factors of ATGL, HSL and CPT-1α involved in fatty acid catabolism were decreased in UR group. Additionally, liver protein expressions of P-mTOR was not affected while P-Akt showed repressed in UMP and UR group, which can stimulate de novo lipid synthesis through the activation of SREBP isoforms. 

Short-term UMP and UR treatment might stimulate de novo lipid synthesis via the AKT pathways to affect fatty acid content, thereby providing energy for early-weaned piglets. 

The study entitled “Short-term oral UMP/UR administration regulates lipid metabolism in early-weaned piglets” was published in Animals. Details can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/9/610/htm.  

It was supported by national key research and development program of China, the STS Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Science and Technology Projects of Hunan Province, Agricultural innovation project of Hunan Province, CAS President’s International Fellowship for Visiting Scientists. 

Contact: WU Xin 

E-mail: wuxin@isa.ac.cn 

Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences