Effects of Oxidative Stress Induced by Diquat on Arginine Metabolism of Postweaning Pigs

Zheng, Ping; Yu, Bing; Lv, Mei; Chen, Daiwen

doi:2010.23.1.98

Article

Swine Nutrition and Feed Technology

Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 2010;23(1): 98-105.
https://doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2010.90270 Published online December 22, 2009.

Effects of Oxidative Stress Induced by Diquat on Arginine Metabolism of Postweaning Pigs

Ping Zheng, Bing Yu, Mei Lv, Daiwen Chen

Abstract

A total of 16 crossbred post-weaning pigs (10.640.27 kg BW) were individually penned and assigned to one of two treatments to investigate the influences of diquat-induced oxidative stress on performance and arginine metabolism. Pigs in the oxidative stress group were injected intra-peritoneally with 10 mg/kg BW of diquat, while the control group were injected with isotonic saline. All pigs were fed ad libitum. The experiment lasted for 7 days. The results indicated that compared with control treatment, oxidative stress induced by diquat significantly decreased average daily gain, intake and feed conversion. The treatment decreased activities of antioxidant enzymes, increased concentration of malondialdehyde in plasma, increased cationic amino acid transporter-1 mRNA level and activity of ornithine aminotransferase and concentrations of arginine and citrulline in the jejunum, decreased the concentrations of arginine in plasma and kidney, and decreased induced nitric oxide synthase mRNA level. It is concluded that oxidative stress induced by diquat can influence absorption and metabolism of arginine and consequently modify the requirement of arginine for post-weaning pigs.

Keywords: Pigs; Diquat; Oxidative Stress; Arginine Metabolism