Maternal nutrition affects the development of the offspring, maybe by modifying the fetal programming in an epigenetic manner. Fetal programming can affect the function of several organs permanently. Zinc (Zn) is an essential component for the function of the pancreas. It participates in the synthesis, storage, secretion and signaling of the insulin and glucagon, as well as the secretion of pancreatic enzymes. Usually, there are two kinds of Zn forms supplemented in animal diets. One is inorganic Zn and another is organic Zn.

Researchers from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture (ISA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the effects of replacing inorganic Zn (ZnSO₄) with organic Zn (Zn-Glycine) in the diets of ewe on the pancreatic function of the offspring. They found that pancreatic zinc contents in kids tended to be increased when replacing ZnSO₄ with Zn- Glycine. The serum insulin concentrations were greater and the glucagon were less in the Zn- Glycine group when compared to ZnSO₄ group. The activities of lipase and chymotrypsin were enhanced when replacing ZnSO₄ with Zn-Glycine.

Proteomics results showed that 234 proteins were differentially expressed between two groups, some of which were associated with the secretion of insulin, enzyme activity and signal transduction. All results suggested that supply of dietary Zn- Glycine to goats at the late pregnancy promoted the pancreas function of the offspring compared with the supply of dietary ZnSO₄. This provides new information about pancreatic function when supplementing different zinc sources in the diets of late pregnant goats.

This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Their study was published in Animal Nutrition on Sep. 24. More details were available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2022.08.014.

Contact: Jinhe Kang

Mail: kangjh@isa.ac.cn

Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Figure. Metabolite profiling analysis of pancreas of kids.(Jinhe Kang)