TRIENNIAL GROWTH SYMPOSIUM: Important roles for l-glutamine in swine nutrition and production1,2

G. Wu,*3 F. W. Bazer,* G. A. Johnson,* D. A. Knabe,* R. C. Burghardt,* T. E. Spencer,* X. L. Li,* and J. J. Wang*†

*Departments of Animal Science and of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843; and †State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition,

China Agricultural University, Beijing, China 100193

ABSTRACT: l-Glutamine (Gln) has traditional-ly not been considered a nutrient needed in diets for livestock species or even mentioned in classic animal nutrition textbooks. This is due to previous techni-cal difficulties in Gln analysis and the unsubstanti-ated assumption that animals can synthesize sufficient amounts of Gln to meet their needs. Consequently, the current (1998) version of NRC does not recommend dietary Gln requirements for swine. This lack of knowl-edge about Gln nutrition has contributed to subopti-mal efficiency of global pig production. Because of re-cent advances in research, Gln is now known to be an abundant AA in physiological fluids and proteins and a key regulator of gene expression. Additionally, Gln can regulate cell signaling via the mammalian target of ra-pamycin pathway, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, extracellular signal-related kinase, Jun kinase, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and nitric ox-

ide. The exquisite integration of Gln-dependent regula-tory networks has profound effects on cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, metabolism, homeostasis, survival, and function. As a result of translating basic research into practice, dietary supplementation with 1% Gln maintains gut health and prevents intestinal dysfunction in low-birth-weight or early-weaned piglets while increasing their growth performance and surviv-al. In addition, supplementing 1% Gln to a corn- and soybean-meal-based diet between d 90 and 114 of ges-tation ameliorates fetal growth retardation in gilts and reduces preweaning mortality of piglets. Furthermore, dietary supplementation with 1% Gln enhances milk production by lactating sows. Thus, adequate amounts of dietary Gln, a major nutrient, are necessary to sup-port the maximum growth, development, and produc-tion performance of swine.

Key words: amino acid, function, growth, physiology, requirement

©2011 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. J. Anim. Sci. 2011. 89:2017–2030 doi:10.2527/jas.2010-3614

INTRODUCTION

Chemists have known for more than a century about l-glutamine (Gln) as a neutral AA containing 2 nitro-gen atoms per molecule (molecular weight = 146.15). It was first obtained from beet juice in 1883, first isolated from a protein (i.e., edestin) in 1932, and first synthe-sized chemically in 1933 (Meister, 1965). However, Gln has traditionally not been considered a nutrient needed in diets for livestock species, has not been described as a component of protein (Maynard et al., 1979; Bondi, 1987), or has not even been mentioned (Morrison, 1956; Crampton and Harris, 1969; Cullison and Lowrey, 1987; Cheeke, 1999) in classic animal nutrition textbooks. Thus, the current 10th edition of NRC (1998) does not recommend dietary Gln requirements for swine.

Two main reasons explain why Gln has long been ignored in animal nutrition. First, there were techni-cal difficulties in analyzing Gln in feeds and animal

1 Based on a presentation at the Triennial Growth Symposium, “Dietary Regulation of Growth and Development,” preceding the Joint Annual Meeting, July 11, 2010, Denver, Colorado. The sympo-sium was sponsored, in part, by the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP, Rome, Italy), Pfizer Animal Health (New York, NY), and Elanco Animal Health (Greenfield, IN), with publication sponsored, in part, by the Journal of Animal Science and the Ameri-can Society of Animal Science.

2 Supported by National Research Initiative Competitive Grants (Washington, DC) from the Animal Reproduction Program (2006-35203-17199 and 2008-35203-19120) and Animal Growth & Nutri-ent Utilization Program (2008-35206-18764) of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Washington, DC), and Texas AgriLife Research (College Station; H-8200). We thank all person-nel in our laboratories for their technical support with this work, K. Lilie (Texas A&M University, College Station) for assistance with animal husbandry, and F. Mutscher (Texas A&M University, College Station) for office support.

3 Corresponding author: g-wu@tamu.eduReceived October 19, 2010.Accepted December 8, 2010.

2017

Published December 4, 2014

proteins because Gln is completely converted to glu-tamate under the standard conditions of acid hydro-lysis (i.e., 6 M HCl, 110°C, and 24 h; Wu and Knabe, 1994). Second, generations of animal nutritionists had little knowledge about Gln because they had not been taught about this nutrient. Because of recent advances in analytical methods and biochemical research, Gln is now known to be particularly abundant in physiological fluids (e.g., plasma, cytoplasm, milk, fetal fluids; Wu, 2009) and both plant and animal proteins (Li et al., 2010). Indeed, Gln is a major metabolic fuel for rapidly dividing cells, including enterocytes and lymphocytes, as well as a key regulator of gene expression and cell signaling pathways (Rhoads and Wu, 2009).

The major objective of this article is to highlight 1) recent advances in understanding of the roles for Gln in improving swine nutrition, and 2) the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for the effects of Gln in animals.

ABUNDANCE OF GLN IN PHYSIOLOGICAL FLUIDS

AND TISSUE PROTEINS

Although Gln was known in the 1980s to be the most abundant free α-AA in skeletal muscle (Maclennan et al., 1987), intensive interest in a potentially important role for Gln in swine nutrition arose from a seminal finding in the early 1990s that concentrations of free Gln in porcine milk increased progressively and mark-edly from 0.1 to 4 mM (i.e., 7 times the Gln concentra-tion in maternal plasma) between d 1 and 28 of lacta-tion (Wu and Knabe, 1994). Using a combination of proteases and peptidases to hydrolyze peptide bonds, Haynes et al. (2009) determined the content of Gln in porcine milk proteins. These authors found that Gln content was similar to glutamate content in the milk

proteins of sows fed a 16% CP diet during the entire period of lactation. Notably, Gln plus glutamate ac-counted for approximately 20% of total peptide-bound AA in the colostrum and milk of sows fed an 18.4% CP diet (Table 1). The great abundance of both free and protein-bound Gln in porcine milk supports the rapid growth and maturation of the small intestine of the piglet (Wu, 1998). Note that the content of Gln plus glutamate in porcine colostrum and milk is greater than the maximal 12.4% of protein as a safety allow-ance for human consumption set by the Food and Drug Administration (Code of Federal Regulations: Title 21, Section 172.320, Subsection C.4).

The intriguing observation of the Gln abundance in milk led to extensive studies of Gln concentrations in the conceptus (i.e., embryo or fetus and associated membranes) and fetal fluids of pigs (Wu et al., 1995a, 1996a). We found that concentrations of Gln in the plasma of fetal pigs ranged from 0.8 to 1.4 mM during gestation (Wu et al., 1995a, 1996a), which were 2 to 3 times those in the plasma of all postnatal mammals studied (including pigs and sheep). Of particular note, concentrations of Gln in porcine amniotic and allantoic fluids increased from 0.64 to 1.3 and 0.69 to 3.5 mM, respectively, between d 30 and 40 of gestation (total duration of gestation = 114 d; Wu et al., 1996a, 1998), a critical period for placental growth and development (Bazer et al., 2009b). Similarly, concentrations of Gln in ovine allantoic fluid increased from 1.2 to 25 mM between d 30 and 60 of gestation (total duration of gestation = 147 d; Kwon et al., 2003). For comparison, concentrations of Lys (i.e., the reference AA in the “ide-al protein”) in porcine amniotic fluid were relatively small (i.e., only 0.2 to 0.3 mM) during early pregnancy (Wu et al., 1996a). Recently, we observed that total re-coverable amounts of Gln in porcine and ovine uterine flushings increased by 20-fold between d 10 and 15 of

Table 1. Concentrations of free and protein-bound Gln and glutamate in sow milk1

Variable

Day of lactation

1 3 8 15 22 29

Free Gln 0.02 ± 0.00e 0.05 ± 0.01d 0.18 ± 0.03c 0.21 ± 0.02c 0.30 ± 0.04b 0.50 ± 0.09a

Protein-bound Gln 11.0 ± 1.18a 7.24 ± 0.77b 4.78 ± 0.46c 4.43 ± 0.50c 4.30 ± 0.39c 4.27 ± 0.32c

Total Gln 11.0 ± 1.18a 7.29 ± 0.80b 4.95 ± 0.48c 4.64 ± 0.51c 4.60 ± 0.42c 4.78 ± 0.36c

Free glutamate 0.02 ± 0.00c 0.06 ± 0.01b 0.17 ± 0.02a 0.18 ± 0.02a 0.17 ± 0.02a 0.17 ± 0.02a

Protein-bound glutamate 13.8 ± 1.40a 8.59 ± 0.95b 5.54 ± 0.63c 5.23 ± 0.71c 4.86 ± 0.49c 4.81 ± 0.45c

Total glutamate 13.8 ± 1.40a 8.65 ± 0.94b 5.72 ± 0.64c 5.42 ± 0.51c 5.03 ± 0.50c 4.98 ± 0.46c

Total Gln + glutamate 24.9 ± 1.78a 16.0 ± 1.24b 10.7 ± 0.83c 10.1 ± 0.88c 9.63 ± 0.73c 9.76 ± 0.62c

Total protein 113.7 ± 9.4a 73.4 ± 5.7b 50.8 ± 4.1c 47.2 ± 4.3c 46.3 ± 3.7c 47.0 ± 4.1c

Total AA 116.8 ± 9.6a 76.7 ± 5.9b 53.8 ± 4.4c 50.6 ± 4.6c 49.9 ± 3.9c 50.3 ± 4.3c

Gln in milk protein, % 9.73 ± 0.64 9.90 ± 0.72 9.42 ± 0.69 9.40 ± 0.61 9.33 ± 0.67 9.10 ± 0.70Glutamate in milk protein, % 12.1 ± 0.87 11.7 ± 0.80 10.9 ± 0.73 11.1 ± 0.75 10.5 ± 0.79 10.3 ± 0.71Gln + glutamate in milk protein, % 21.9 ± 1.26 21.6 ± 1.14 20.4 ± 1.10 20.6 ± 1.05 19.9 ± 1.33 19.4 ± 1.29

a–eMeans within a row with different superscript letters differ (P < 0.05), as analyzed by 1-way ANOVA and the Student-Newman-Keuls multiple-comparison test.

1Data, expressed as grams per liter of whole milk, are means ± SEM (n = 10). First-parity sows were fed a corn- and soybean meal-based diet containing 18.4% CP during the entire gestation (Mateo et al., 2008). The basal diet contained 1.72% Gln on an as-fed basis. The BW of sows on d 1 of lactation was 167 ± 5.8 kg (n = 10). Free and protein (peptide)-bound AA in milk were determined as described by Haynes et al. (2009). Molecular weights of intact AA were used for the calculation of AA content in milk proteins.

2018 Wu et al.

pregnancy (Bazer et al., 2009a; Gao et al., 2009). The unusual abundance of Gln in mammalian conceptuses implicates a key role for this AA in embryonic and fetal survival and growth.

Both the neonate and fetus contain a relatively high content of Gln in tissue proteins, compared with many nutritionally essential and nonessential AA. For exam-ple, Gln represents approximately 5.2% of total AA in the body proteins of fetal pigs, 7-d-old pigs, and 30-d-old pigs that were weaned at 21 d of age (Wu et al., 1999, 2010a). Because skeletal muscle accounts for 40 to 45% of BW (Wu et al., 2006), this tissue is quan-titatively the most important site for Gln storage in animals, including pigs (Li et al., 2009a). Thus, require-ments of Gln for protein deposition are relatively large for gestating and rapidly growing neonatal pigs.

PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF GLN

Physiological functions of Gln include its partici-pation in multiple metabolic pathways (Figure 1) as well as its role in regulating gene expression and signal transduction. l-Glutamine is a major energy substrate for rapidly dividing cells, including enterocytes and immunologically challenged lymphocytes, and other cell types (e.g., kidneys during food deprivation and activated macrophages), providing ATP for intracel-lular protein turnover, nutrient transport through the plasma membrane, and cell growth and migration, as well as maintaining the integrity of cells (Curi et al., 2005). The formation of ammonia from Gln is vital for renal regulation of the acid-base balance in animals, particularly under acidotic conditions (Curthoys and Watford, 1995). l-Glutamine is also a precursor for the synthesis of purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, which are essential for the proliferation of cells, including em-bryonic cells, trophoblasts, intraepithelial lymphocytes, and mucosal cells (Wu, 1998). It is important to note that Gln is a major AA for the endogenous synthesis of citrulline and Arg in most mammals, including pigs,

cattle, and sheep, via the intestinal-renal axis (Wu and Morris, 1998). This synthetic pathway compensates for 1) a deficiency of Arg (a nutritionally essential AA for young pigs) in milk during the suckling period, and 2) the extensive catabolism of dietary Arg by the small in-testine of postweaning animals (Wu et al., 2009). In ad-dition, Gln is converted into Ala in enterocytes through the glutaminolysis pathway (Wu et al., 1995b), which compensates for a relatively small concentration of Ala in porcine milk for suckling piglets (Wu et al., 2010a). Furthermore, Gln is required for the formation of N-acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate, a common substrate for the synthesis of glycoproteins that are particularly abundant in mucosal cells and plasma membranes (Wu et al., 2001). As a precursor of glutamate, Gln plays a role in the synthesis of glutathione, the most abundant small-molecular-weight antioxidant in cells (Reeds et al., 1997; Stipanuk et al., 2009).

In addition to its roles as a major substrate for mul-tiple metabolic pathways, Gln has a plethora of key regulatory functions in animals (Figure 2). For exam-ple, Gln modulates the expression of genes that ben-eficially regulate nutrient metabolism and cell survival (Curi et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2008a; Brasse-Lagnel et al., 2009). These genes include those for ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), heat-shock proteins, and nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NOS) in multiple cell types (Kwon et al., 2004; Rhoads and Wu, 2009). Heat-shock proteins are crucial for protecting cells from death, whereas NOS catalyzes Arg oxygenation to form NO, a signaling molecule that regulates many cellular func-tions (Bryan et al., 2009). In activated macrophages, expression of inducible NOS is critical for the killing of pathogens (e.g., bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites) by macrophages, and this depends on the availability of Gln (Wu and Meininger, 2002). Notably, ODC is a key enzyme for converting ornithine into polyamines, which stimulate DNA and protein synthesis (Wu et al., 2009). Emerging evidence shows that Gln regulates the transcription of genes related to antioxidative reactions in multiple cell types. For example, results of microar-ray analysis revealed that Gln increased (120 to 124%) intestinal expression of genes that are necessary for cell growth and the removal of oxidants while reducing (34 to 75%) expression of genes that promote oxidative stress and immune activation (Wang et al., 2008a). The transcription of a gene to mRNA may be regulated by Gln through one or more of the following mechanisms: 1) alteration of the specificity of RNA polymerase for promoters; 2) binding of repressors to noncoding DNA sequences that are near or that overlap the promoter region; and 3) changes in the availability of transcrip-tion factors (e.g., upregulation and downregulation of coactivators and corepressors; Brasse-Lagnel et al., 2009; Palii et al., 2009).

Cell signaling pathways are also regulated by Gln. For example, in the presence of physiological concentra-tions of glucose, Gln activates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in diverse cell types, including

Figure 1. Multiple metabolic pathways for Gln utilization in ani-mals. Note that the synthesis of ornithine (Orn), citrulline (Cit), and Arg from Gln occurs exclusively in the small intestine. Other metabo-lites of Gln include pyruvate, Asn, urea, and possibly Gly. The asterisk indicates that the reaction cannot be replaced by any other AA in cells. Lact = lactate.

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skeletal muscle, the small intestine, and placental cells (Curi et al., 2005; Kim et al., 2011; Xi et al., 2011) through the phosphorylation of this well-conserved pro-tein kinase. Activated mTOR phosphorylates ribosom-al protein S6 kinase-1 and eukaryotic translation initia-tion factor 4E-binding protein-1 (proteins critical to the initiation of mRNA translation) to stimulate protein synthesis (Curi et al., 2005). Activation of mTOR may also result in inhibition of protein degradation via au-tophagy (Meijer and Dubbelhuis, 2004). Thus, increas-ing extracellular concentrations of Gln stimulates pro-tein synthesis and inhibits proteolysis in skeletal muscle (Maclennan et al., 1987; Wu and Thompson, 1990) and enterocytes (Xi et al., 2011), leading to an anabolic ef-fect in organisms. Evidence also exists that Gln affects the activities of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, extracellular signal-related kinase, Jun kinase, and mitogen-activated protein kinase, thereby initiating a cascade of protein phosphorylation and a series of physiological responses (Curi et al., 2005; Wu et al., 2007). At present, it is not known whether Gln directly or indirectly phosphorylates mTOR and pro-tein kinases. However, α-ketoglutarate, a major metab-olite of Gln, promotes mTOR phosphorylation in the pig small intestine (Hou et al., 2010). Furthermore, Gln modulates the production of NO and CO in diverse cell types (e.g., endothelial cells), which are important gas-eous signaling molecules in the body (Li et al., 2009c; Wu and Meininger, 2009). It is interesting that Pervin et al. (2007) demonstrated physiological concentrations of NO stimulate phosphorylation of mTOR in cells, leading to enhancement of their proliferation. Exquisite integration of these Gln-dependent regulatory networks affects cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, me-tabolism, homeostasis, survival, and function (Flynn et al., 2009; Jobgen et al., 2009).

Increased concentrations of extracellular Gln can influence secretion of insulin and GH by pancreatic

β-cells and the anterior pituitary gland, respectively (Newsholme et al., 2005). Using established RIA (Kim and Wu, 2004), we found that supplementing 1% Gln to the diet of postweaning pigs (Wang et al., 2008a) did not affect concentrations of either insulin (76.3 ± 4.9 vs. 72.1 ± 5.5 pmol/L; means ± SEM, n = 8) or GH (368 ± 27 vs. 352 ± 31 pmol/L; means ± SEM, n = 8) in plasma on d 14 postweaning, compared with an isonitrogenous control group. However, concentra-tions of cortisol [the major glucocorticoid in swine (Wu et al., 2000)] in plasma on d 3 postweaning were 25% less in pigs supplemented with 1% Gln than in pigs supplemented with 1.22% l-Ala [i.e., the isonitrogenous control group (52.2 ± 4.8 vs. 70.4 ± 6.2 μg/L; means ± SEM, n = 8; P < 0.05)]. It is possible that Gln reduces cortisol synthesis in the adrenal cortex because of re-ductions in the activities of key enzymes or possibly the availability of NADPH (Wu et al., 2001).

The interconversion of Gln and the closely related AA, glutamate, constitutes an intracellular, intercel-lular, and interorgan Gln-glutamate cycle in animals (Curi et al., 2005). In turn, glutamate can partially substitute for Gln in several pathways, including ATP production and syntheses of Arg, Ala, Pro, and as-partate (Reeds et al., 1997; Wu, 1998). In addition, glutamate inhibits Gln degradation by mitochondrial phosphate-activated glutaminase in extrahepatic tis-sues and cells (Curthoys and Watford, 1995), which has a sparing effect on the use of Gln as a metabolic fuel (Yin et al., 2010) and increases the availability of cellular Gln (Boutry et al., 2011). However, some key functions of Gln [syntheses of Gln-tRNA, aminosug-ars, carbamoylphosphate, NAD(P), as well as purines and pyrimidines; renal ammoniagenesis; and regulation of ODC expression] cannot be met by glutamate (Wu, 2009). Although both Gln and glutamate provided in the enteral diet are extensively catabolized by the small intestine, this organ takes up Gln, but not glutamate, from the arterial blood (Wu et al., 1994a). Finally, because of the complex compartmentalization of cel-lular metabolism, extracellular glutamate may chan-nel preferentially into the cytoplasm rather than into mitochondria (Wu et al., 1994b) and, therefore, have different effects than the glutamate generated from Gln in mitochondria.

DIGESTION AND ABSORPTION OF PEPTIDE-BOUND

AND SUPPLEMENTAL GLN IN DIETS

Dietary proteins are hydrolyzed by proteases in the luminal fluids of the stomach (i.e., pepsins A, B, and C and rennin; optimal pH 2 to 3) and of the small intestine (i.e., trypsin, chymotrypsin, elastase, carboxy-peptidases A and B, and aminopeptidase; optimal pH 6 to 7.5) to form Gln-containing dipeptides, tripeptides, and free Gln (Figure 3). Our work with cannulated pigs found that free Gln is stable in the stomach and duodenum (Wu et al., 1996b). The alkaline medium in

Figure 2. Regulatory functions of Gln in animals. l-Glutamine can regulate multiple physiological processes in diverse cell types, includ-ing gene expression, cell signaling, and protein turnover. These effects of Gln are cell and tissue specific (Curi et al., 2005; Brasse-Lagnel et al., 2009), indicating that interorgan cooperation is necessary for Gln to exert its beneficial actions on the whole body. mTOR = mammalian target of rapamycin.

2020 Wu et al.

the lumen of the small intestine results from bile salts, pancreatic juice, and duodenal secretions. Mucosa-de-rived peptidases (or prolidases in the case of peptides containing both Gln and Pro) can hydrolyze the lumi-nal small peptides to yield free Gln. Additionally, Gln-containing dipeptides or tripeptides in the lumen of the small intestine can be directly transported into the en-terocytes (i.e., the absorptive epithelial cells) through their apical membrane by H+ gradient-driven peptide transporter 1 (PepT1; Daniel, 2004). Of particular in-terest, the transport of di- and tripeptides from the lumen into the enterocytes is associated with an influx of both Na+ and water. Neither free Gln nor peptides containing 4 or more AA residues are accepted as sub-strates for PepT1. The Gln-containing small peptides are hydrolyzed rapidly by intracellular peptidases to form free Gln (Haynes et al., 2009). It is possible that a small proportion of these peptides exit the enterocytes via their basolateral membrane into the bloodstream. Some published studies support the view that a peptide transporter is expressed in the basolateral membrane

of the enterocytes for the movement of small peptides from inside the cell into the portal circulation (Gilbert et al., 2008). However, the identity of basolateral pep-tide transporters remains elusive.

Free Gln in the lumen of the small intestine is taken up by enterocytes primarily via the Na+-dependent sys-tem N transporters (SN1 and SN2) and, to a lesser ex-tent, Na+-dependent transporters B, B0,+, and A, Na+-independent transporter b0,+ and system L, and system y+L (requiring Na+ to transport neutral AA efficiently; Bode, 2001). The Gln-containing small peptides and free Gln can also be taken up by luminal bacteria via specific transporters (Ling and Armstead, 1995). In bacteria, Gln-containing dipeptides or tripeptides are rapidly hydrolyzed into free Gln, which is utilized via multiple metabolic pathways (Dai et al., 2010). The jejunum is the major site for absorption of dietary Gln, followed by the ileum and duodenum. There is evi-dence that Gln dipeptides and supplemental (i.e., free) Gln are metabolized similarly in porcine enterocytes (Haynes et al., 2009).

Approximately 67% of dietary Gln is utilized by the small intestine (i.e., mucosal cells plus luminal micro-organisms) in swine, with the remaining Gln entering the portal circulation (Figure 2). For comparison, 95 to 97% of dietary glutamate is extracted by the pig small intestine in the first pass (Stoll and Burrin, 2006; Wu et al., 2010a). These findings question the traditional textbook view that almost all AA released from protein and peptide digestion in the lumen of the small intes-tine are absorbed into the portal circulation (Maynard et al., 1979; Bondi, 1987) and represent a paradigm shift in our understanding of swine protein nutrition.

UTILIZATION OF DIETARY AND ARTERIAL BLOOD GLN IN PIGS

All tissues and cells in fetal, neonatal, postweaning, finishing, gestating, and lactating pigs utilize Gln (Wu et al., 2010a). As noted previously, large amounts of dietary Gln are utilized by the small intestine in swine. The total flux of Gln in arterial plasma (i.e., entry of Gln into plasma from the diet, endogenous synthesis, and protein degradation), as determined after the in-fusion of 13C-Gln, is large (e.g., 3.27 g/kg of BW per day in young pigs; Bertolo and Burrin, 2008). Isotopic studies have also revealed that large amounts of Gln in arterial plasma (0.47 g/kg of BW per day) are oxidized to CO2 in young pigs (Stoll et al., 1999). Available evidence shows that the small intestine, nonintestinal portal-drained viscera (e.g., stomach, spleen, and pan-creas), kidneys, skeletal muscle, lymphoid organs, and vascular endothelia are the major users of arterial Gln in healthy young pigs (Figure 4). Of particular inter-est, Gln is the only AA in arterial blood that is taken up by the small intestine of swine (Wu et al., 1994a). Furthermore, the small intestine represents only 3 to 4% of the BW, but utilizes 30% of total arterial Gln in

Figure 3. Digestion of dietary protein-bound Gln in the gastro-intestinal tract of the small intestine in swine. Proteases and pepti-dases in the lumen of the small intestine hydrolyze proteins and large peptides, respectively, eventually to form Gln-containing tripeptides and dipeptides. A proportion of these dipeptides are hydrolyzed by peptidases to yield free Gln. The Gln-containing dipeptides or tripep-tides in the lumen of the small intestine can be directly transported into the enterocytes through their apical membrane by H+ gradient-driven peptide transporter 1 (PepT1). This peptide transporter does not transport free Gln or peptides containing 4 or more AA residues. Glutamine-containing small peptides are rapidly hydrolyzed by intra-cellular peptidases to form free Gln in enterocytes and bacteria. A small proportion of Gln-peptides may exit the enterocytes via their basolateral membrane into the bloodstream, but the identity of baso-lateral peptide transporters remains unknown. Free Gln in the lumen of the small intestine is taken up by enterocytes primarily via Na+-dependent system N transporters 1 and 2 (SN1 and SN2). Approxi-mately 67% of luminal Gln is catabolized by the small intestine, with the responsible cell types including enterocytes, other mucosal cells, and bacteria. SI = small intestine; NEAA = nutritionally essential AA; NM = nitrogenous metabolites; Cit = citrulline.

2021Glutamine and swine growth

pigs (Wu, 1998). Thus, the gut derives Gln from both the diet and blood.

Less than 10% of Gln utilized by the pig gastroin-testinal tract is used for protein synthesis (Stoll et al., 1998). At physiological concentrations of Gln in plas-ma, net oxidation of Gln by the liver is virtually absent because of the intercellular Gln-glutamate cycle (Cur-thoys and Watford, 1995). Therefore, the Gln that is not extracted by the small intestine is effectively avail-able to nonsplanchnic bed organs (e.g., kidneys and skeletal muscle). Based on published results, quantita-tive data on the utilization of dietary and arterial Gln by young pigs are summarized in Figure 5. Note that rates of Gln utilization by the small intestine and ex-traintestinal tissues of the enterally fed young swine are 965 and 970 mg/kg of BW per day, respectively, with a combined rate of 1.94 g/kg of BW per day. Protein deposition, which requires 0.41 g of Gln/kg of BW per day (Figure 4), accounts for approximately 21% of the Gln utilized by the growing pig (Wu et al., 2010a).

ENDOGENOUS SYNTHESIS OF GLN IN PIGS

Because of extensive catabolism of Gln by the small intestine and increased rates of Gln utilization by the whole body, the provision of Gln from the milk of sows and a corn- and soybean meal-based diet is inadequate to meet the needs of suckling pigs and postweaning pigs, respectively (Wu et al., 2010a). Thus, Gln must be synthesized endogenously in swine to meet its needs. It is now known that most of the circulating Gln is derived from de novo synthesis from glutamate and ammonia by Gln synthetase in multiple tissues, with skeletal muscle, the lactating mammary gland, and adipose tissue being the major sites of synthesis of Gln (Li et al., 2009b; Wu, 2009). For example, endogenous synthesis of Gln pro-vides 58% of total Gln utilized daily in milk-fed piglets (Figure 5), and 55% of Gln in porcine milk is supplied by its synthesis from branched-chain AA (BCAA) and α-ketoglutarate in the lactating mammary glands (Li et al., 2009a). Thus, Gln synthesis is an elegant ex-

Figure 4. Utilization of circulating Gln by major organs of young pigs fed a milk-protein diet. Values in the figure are expressed as milligrams of Gln per kilogram of BW per day. The pig (7.92 kg of BW) consumes 789 mg of Gln/kg of BW per day from milk [true ileal digestibility of Gln = 99.7% (Mavromichalis et al., 2001)], with BW gains of 293 g of BW/d. The total content of AA in the milk is 50 g/L (Kim and Wu, 2004). Net flux of arterial plasma Gln into the small intestine is 438 mg/kg of BW per day (Wu et al., 2010a). Rate of extraction of Gln by the non-small-intestine portal-drained viscera is 148 mg/kg of BW per day (Reeds et al., 1996). l-Glutamine utilization by skeletal muscle is calculated on the basis of the following: mass of skeletal muscle (3.17 kg; 40% of BW), protein gain in skeletal muscle (1.63 g/kg of BW per day), Gln content in muscle protein (5.28 g/100 g of protein), concentration of free Gln in skeletal muscle (637 mg/kg of wet tissue), and Gln oxidation [0.125 mmol of Gln/kg of muscle per hour; determined at 0.5 mM Gln (G. Wu, unpublished data)]. Gluta-mine utilization by kidneys is 151 mg/kg of BW per day (Ytrebø et al., 2006). Glutamine utilization by whole-body lymphocytes is calculated on the basis of 1.43 × 1010 cells/kg of BW (Lydyard and Grossi, 1989) and rate of Gln utilization by lymphocytes [4.25 nmol/106 cells per hour; determined at 0.5 mM Gln (Dugan et al., 1994)]. l-Glutamine utilization by vascular endothelia is based on the number of endothe-lial cells [1.5 × 109/kg of BW (Wu and Thiagarajan, 1996)] and rate of Gln utilization in endothelial cells [31 nmol of Gln/106 cells per hour; determined at 0.5 mM Gln (G. Wu, unpublished data)]. SI = small intestine. Figure 5. Utilization of dietary Gln by the small intestine and

whole-body Gln synthesis in young pigs fed a milk-protein diet. Values are expressed as milligrams per kilogram of BW per day. The pig (7.92 kg of BW) consumes 789 mg of Gln/kg of BW per day from milk [true ileal digestibility of Gln = 99.7% (Mavromichalis et al., 2001)] and gains 293 g of BW/d. The total content of AA in the milk is 50 g/L (Kim and Wu, 2004) and milk intake by piglets is 170 mL/kg of BW per day (Wang et al., 2008a). True ileal digestibility of non-Gln AA is 93% (Mavromichalis et al., 2001). Net flux of arterial plasma Gln into the small intestine is 438 mg/kg of BW per day (Wu et al., 2010a). Utilization of dietary (milk) Gln by the small intestine in first pass is 527 mg/kg of BW per day [786 × 67% = 527 (Wu et al., 2010a)] and uptake of arterial plasma Gln by the small intestine is 438 mg/kg of BW per day, with the total use of Gln by the small intestine being 965 mg/kg of BW per day. Entry of dietary (milk) Gln into the portal vein is 259 mg/kg of BW per day (786 × 33% = 259). Utilization of non-Gln AA is calculated on the basis of the following: intake of non-Gln AA from milk [7,720 mg/kg of BW per day (Wu et al., 2010a)], non-Gln AA entering the large intestine (540 mg/kg of BW per day = 7,720 × 7% = 540), amount of non-Gln AA available to the small intestine (7,180 mg/kg of BW per day = 7,720 − 540 = 7,180), rate of degradation of non-Gln AA by the small intestine [10% of non-Gln AA in the lumen of the small intestine; 718 mg/kg of BW per day = 7,180 × 10% = 718 (Wu et al., 2010a)], and need for non-Gln AA for whole-body protein synthesis [5,223 mg/kg of BW per day, and amount of non-Gln AA available for oxidation and Gln synthesis = 1,239 mg/kg of BW per day (7,180 − 718 − 5,223 = 1,239)]. To meet the needs for Gln for utilization by extraintestinal tissues [970 mg/kg of BW per day (Wu et al., 2010a)], endogenous synthesis of Gln = 1,149 mg/kg of BW per day (438 + 711 = 1,149). LI = large intestine.

2022 Wu et al.

ample of interorgan metabolism of AA in animals. The N and C skeleton of glutamate originate primarily from AA (i.e., mainly BCAA via BCAA transaminase and other AA via glutamate dehydrogenase) and glucose (i.e., the major source of α-ketoglutarate), respectively (Wu et al., 2005; Li et al., 2009b). Ammonia used for Gln synthesis is produced primarily from catabolism of nutritionally essential AA, whose intake from the diet greatly exceeds their deposition in tissue proteins of growing pigs (Wu et al., 2010a). Results of Gln balance studies indicate that the rate of Gln synthesis in the whole body of milk-fed young pigs is 1.15 g/kg of BW per day (Figure 5; Wu et al., 2010a).

Despite extensive utilization of Gln by the gut, little synthesis of Gln occurs in the small intestine of neona-tal, growing, and lactating swine because of the negli-gible activity of Gln synthetase in mucosal cells (Chen et al., 2009; Haynes et al., 2009; Li et al., 2009b). Like-wise, Gln synthetase activity (means ± SEM, n = 6) is minimal in the small intestine (0.43 ± 0.04 nmol/mg of protein per minute) and enterocytes (0.51 ± 0.06 nmol/mg of protein per minute) of gestating gilts (d 60 of gestation). Thus, the growth, integrity, and health of the small intestine in swine are critically dependent on enteral provision and endogenous synthesis of Gln.

Most mammalian tissues (e.g., skeletal muscle, ad-ipose tissue, liver, and heart) contain both Gln syn-thetase and phosphate-activated glutaminase (i.e., the enzyme to hydrolyze Gln in cells with mitochondria). However, the lactating porcine mammary gland has in-creased Gln synthetase activity but lacks phosphate-activated glutaminase activity (O’Quinn et al., 2002). The absence of Gln degradation via the glutaminase pathway maximizes the availability of newly synthe-sized Gln for the production of milk proteins. Gluta-mine made in the alveolar cells is secreted into the mammary alveolar lumen and duct system and then re-leased to suckling piglets after an oxytocin surge (Kim and Wu, 2009). The presence of the Gln-synthetic path-way in the absence of Gln degradation by glutaminase is consistent with the greater abundance of Gln in the milk of mammals, including pigs (Table 1).

REQUIREMENTS OF GLN BY PIGS

Little is known about dietary requirements for “nu-tritionally nonessential AA” by livestock species (Wu, 2009). However, like nutritionally essential AA (May-nard et al., 1979), requirements of Gln by a tissue (e.g., the small intestine) or the whole body can be estimated on the basis of factorial analysis, namely, the sum of the needs for Gln for metabolic pathways. The physi-ological needs of Gln by the small intestine can also be determined from the utilization of dietary Gln by the gut in the first-pass metabolism plus the flux of Gln into the small intestine from arterial blood. As for other AA (Baker, 2009), digestibility of protein-bound Gln must be taken into consideration in recommending its dietary requirement for swine. Thus, dietary require-

ments of Gln by swine (the whole body) for growth, reproduction, or lactation can be estimated as follows: dietary requirement = (MNSI + MNEIT − ESEIT)/RE, where MNSI and MNEIT are the metabolic needs for Gln by the small intestine and extraintestinal tissues, respectively, ESEIT is endogenous synthesis of Gln in extraintestinal tissues, and RE is the true digestibility of protein-bound Gln (release of dietary protein-bound Gln into the lumen of the small intestine). As illustrat-ed for young pigs fed a milk-protein diet (Figure 1), the metabolic needs of Gln include 1) oxidation as a meta-bolic fuel; 2) protein synthesis; 3) generation of biologi-cally active substances, and 4) formation of tissue- or sex-specific products (e.g., mucin, embryo or fetus, and milk). Calculated values of dietary Gln requirements, as for other AA (Tan et al., 2009a,b), should be verified by feeding trials, N-balance experiments, or studies of functional outcome (e.g., fertility, health, or survival). At this time, we are unable to estimate dietary Gln requirements by gestating or lactating sows because of the lack of data on whole-body Gln oxidation.

BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF GLN SUPPLEMENTATION ON SWINE GROWTH AND PRODUCTION

PERFORMANCE

l-Gln Supplementation to Healthy and Stressed Piglets Reared by Sows

Although milk contains large amounts of Gln, the provision of supplemental Gln to sow-reared healthy piglets enhances intestinal and whole-body growth. Of note, 32% of the dietary Gln enters the portal vein in 14-d-old pigs nursed by sows (Wu et al., 2010a), and this rate does not change in the piglets receiving oral administration of supplemental Gln (0.5 g/kg of BW twice daily). Haynes et al. (2009) reported that oral administration of Gln (0.5 g/kg of BW twice daily) to 7- to 21-d-old suckling piglets did not affect their milk intake but increased concentrations of Gln in plasma by 42% over the control group (732 ± 64 vs. 516 ± 39 nmol/mL; means ± SEM, n = 8; P < 0.01) when blood samples were obtained at 1 h postadministration. It is important to note that Gln supplementation stimu-lated the growth of sow-reared piglets by 12% (Haynes et al., 2009), indicating that augmenting available Gln beyond that from milk is beneficial for improving ef-ficiency in the utilization of dietary protein and other nutrients by the neonates.

Infection, which results in a stressful condition as-sociated with reduced concentrations of Gln in plasma (Haynes et al., 2009), is a significant cause of death in neonatal pigs (Rhoads et al., 2007). The lipopolysac-charide (LPS)-challenged piglet provides a good animal model to study the response of the intestine to endotox-ins from inflammatory pathogens. The endotoxin binds to Toll-like receptor 4 on the plasma membrane, which triggers myeloid differentiation factor 88-dependent

2023Glutamine and swine growth

and independent pathways, resulting in activation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activator B cells and apoptosis (Gribar et al., 2008). Oral admin-istration of Gln (0.5 g/kg of BW; twice daily) to sow-reared septic piglets ameliorated the Gln deficiency, re-duced fever, prevented intestinal injury, and enhanced intestinal and whole-body growth (Haynes et al., 2009). Three mechanisms may be coordinately responsible for the anti-apoptotic effects of Gln in enterocytes. First, Gln inhibits intestinal expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (Haynes et al., 2009) and myeloid differentiation fac-tor 88 (Kessel et al., 2008), as well as nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activator B cell activa-tion (Haynes et al., 2009) in LPS-challenged mucosal cells. Second, Gln attenuates the production of active caspase-3 through a cytochrome C-dependent mecha-nism and inhibits NO synthesis by inducible NOS (Um-eda et al., 2009), thereby preventing DNA damage as well as protein oxidation and S-nitrosylation. Third, Gln increases intestinal expression of antioxidative pro-teins, including glutathione S-transferase-ω (Wang et al., 2008a), heme oxygenase-1 (i.e., a master regulator of oxidative defense and cell homeostasis), and heat-shock proteins (i.e., cytoprotective proteins) to provide a cytoprotective effect (Madden et al., 2008).

Fetal growth restriction is another stressful condition that constrains swine production. Interestingly, pigs ex-hibit the most severe naturally occurring intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) among livestock species (Wu et al., 2006), which is exacerbated further by the current widespread practice in the swine industry of re-stricted-feeding programs to prevent excessive BW gain by gilts and sows during gestation (Mateo et al., 2007; Kim et al., 2009). Approximately 25% of newborn pig-lets have a birth weight less than 1.1 kg (Wu et al., 2010b), with runt piglets weighing only one-half or even one-third as much as the heaviest littermates at birth (Vallet et al., 2002). Notably, in IUGR neonates, the key organs involved in nutrient digestion and utiliza-tion (e.g., the small intestine and skeletal muscle) suffer oxidative stress and are disproportionately smaller than those of the larger littermates (Wang et al., 2008b).

Low-birth-weight piglets represent 76% of preweaning deaths (Wu et al., 2010b) and they have reduced con-centrations of Gln in plasma (e.g., 0.53 ± 0.04 vs. 0.36 ± 0.03 mM in 1-d-old normal and IUGR pigs, respec-tively; means ± SEM, n = 8; P < 0.01). It is important to note that oral administration of Gln (0.5 g/kg of BW twice daily; 1 g/kg of BW per day) between d 0 and 21 of age enhances the growth of IUGR piglets by 16% while reducing their preweaning mortality by 48% (Table 2). Additionally, concentrations of ammonia in plasma were 19% less (P < 0.05) in the Gln-supple-mented IUGR piglets than in the control group (Table 2), indicating that Gln administration resulted in an overall reduction in whole-body AA oxidation. These findings have important implications for the nutritional management of compromised neonates in the livestock industry.

l-Gln Supplementation to Postweaning Pigs

In the US swine industry, pigs are usually weaned at 3 wk of age to increase the productivity of the sow (NRC, 1998). However, early-weaned pigs naturally ex-perience reduced feed intake and intestinal epithelial damage within 1 wk postweaning, which is associated with inadequate intake of Gln from the diet and re-duced synthesis of Gln from glucose plus BCAA and other AA (Wu et al., 1996b; Wang et al., 2008a). Clear-ly, the diet for weanling pigs must be supplemented with Gln solely based on a consideration of meeting the necessary physiological needs of the small intestine. The Gln requirement of the small intestine (965 mg/kg of BW per day) in the 21- to 35-d-old sow-reared piglet can be used as an ideal reference for that in the age-matched postweaning pigs. However, the provision of Gln from the diet plus arterial blood is only 618 mg/kg of BW per day (Wu et al., 2010a). Thus, the need for supplemental Gln in the diet is 347 mg/kg of BW per day. Based on feed intake (33 g/kg of BW per day) of 21- to 35-d-old postweaning pigs (Wu et al., 1996b), the required percentage of supplemental Gln in diet is 1.05% (0.347/33 × 100 = 1.05%).

Table 2. Beneficial effects of oral Gln supplementation to intrauterine growth-retarded piglets on preweaning growth and survival1

TreatmentMilk intake,2 mL/kg

of BW per dayPlasma Ala,3

μMPlasma Gln,3

μMPlasma

ammonia,3 μMADG

(d 0 to 21), g/dPreweaning mortality, %

Control 247 ± 15 538 ± 36 381 ± 10 78 ± 5 144 ± 3 42.3l-Gln 259 ± 18 420 ± 29* 516 ± 14* 63 ± 4* 167 ± 4* 21.8†

1Data are means ± SEM (n = 10 for plasma variables and milk consumption; n = 40 for ADG and mortality). Piglets, which were offspring of Yorkshire × Landrace dams and Duroc × Hampshire sires, were nursed by sows fed an 18.4% CP diet, as described previously (Mateo et al., 2008), and received oral administration of either Gln (0.50 g/kg of BW twice daily) or l-Ala (isonitrogenous control, 0.61 g/kg of BW twice daily) between d 0 and 21 of lactation. The BW of piglets at birth were 0.92 ± 0.05 and 0.93 ± 0.06 kg, respectively, for the control and Gln groups. All piglets were weaned at 21 d of age.

2On d 14, milk consumption by piglets was determined using the weigh-suckle-weigh technique (Wu et al., 2000).3On d 21, blood samples (approximately 1 mL) were obtained from the jugular vein at 1 h after oral administration of Gln or Ala for analysis

of metabolites in plasma (Wu et al., 1996b).*P < 0.01 vs. the control group, as analyzed by the unpaired t-test.†P < 0.01 vs. the control group, as analyzed by χ2 analysis.

2024 Wu et al.

Although increasing dietary protein intake appears to be a simple way for providing weanling pigs with additional Gln, this approach has 2 major problems. First, increased intake of dietary protein is known to cause diarrhea in weanling pigs because of a reduced ability to digest complex proteins (Lalles et al., 2007) and to histamine-mediated secretion of water into the intestinal lumen (Ou et al., 2007). Second, increased intake of protein results in an additional N load in the diet and, therefore, an excessive amount of N excretion into the environment solely based on the principle of N balance. In contrast, dietary Gln supplementation has 2 important advantages for weanling pigs. First, supplemental Gln directly meets the physiological needs of the piglet small intestine for Gln. Second, Gln supplementation can spare the conversion of nutrition-ally essential AA and other AA for Gln synthesis by extraintestinal tissues, thereby improving efficiency in the utilization of dietary AA for protein synthesis and other physiological needs.

As noted previously, Gln is stable in the lumen of the stomach and small intestine (Wu et al., 1996b). Thus, supplemental Gln is effective in increasing its availability to the small intestine. It is important to note that dietary supplementation with 1% Gln can prevent jejunal atrophy (a major problem in swine pro-duction) during the first week postweaning (Wu et al., 1996b; Wang et al., 2008a) and increase feed efficiency (i.e., G:F) by 25% during the second week postwean-ing (Wu et al., 1996b). Similarly, dietary supplementa-tion with Gln or glycyl-Gln dipeptide improved growth performance, small intestinal morphology, and immune responses in Escherichia coli K88+- or LPS-challenged weanling piglets (Yi et al., 2005; Jiang et al., 2009). These findings indicate that Gln is a nutritionally es-sential AA for postweaning pigs.

l-Gln Supplementation to Gestating Gilts

l-Glutamine is an abundant AA in fetal tissue pro-teins and a major energy substrate for the fetus (Wu et al., 2010b). We previously reported that, among AA, uterine and umbilical uptake of Gln was the greatest in pregnant gilts (Wu et al., 1999), implicating an im-portant role for Gln in fetal growth and development. As noted previously, the current NRC (1998) guideline recommends that gestating swine be fed a restricted diet (e.g., 2 kg/d) throughout the entire period of pregnancy to control maternal energy intake. Such a restricted feeding program limits maternal protein in-take, resulting in protein deficiency, particularly during late gestation when absolute fetal growth is most rapid (Kim et al., 2009). For example, in pigs, 60% of fetal growth occurs in the last 24 d of gestation (i.e., d 90 to 114), which is associated with an accelerated need of Gln by the fetus (Wu et al., 1999). Consequently, con-centrations of Gln in the plasma of gilts were reduced markedly in late gestation compared with early gesta-

tion (e.g., 0.30 ± 0.02 and 0.52 ± 0.04 mM at d 110 and 10 of gestation, respectively; means ± SEM, n = 10; P < 0.01). A deficiency of Gln is likely a major factor contributing to IUGR in pigs. In support of this view, we found that supplementing 1% Gln to the diet of gilts between d 90 and 114 of gestation increased (P < 0.05) average birth weight and litter birth weight of live-born piglets while reducing the number of IUGR piglets, variation in birth weight, and preweaning mortality of live-born piglets by 39, 33, and 46%, respectively, when compared with the isonitrogenous control (Table 3). These results provide an effective, novel strategy to enhance the productivity and performance of pregnant swine.

l-Gln Supplementation to Lactating Sows

Lactating sows have an increased requirement for Gln (Kim and Wu, 2009), a nutrient that is essential for the growth, development, and function of the small intes-tine in neonatal piglets (Rhoads and Wu, 2009). There is evidence that the uptake of Gln by porcine mammary glands is inadequate for the synthesis of milk proteins (Li et al., 2009a). For example, on d 10 of lactation, the lactating porcine mammary gland takes up 16 g of Gln/d from the arterial circulation (Trottier et al., 1997) but secretes 36 g of Gln/d in milk (Haynes et al., 2009). The synthesis of Gln by the lactating mammary gland must take place to support milk production. Af-ter extensive research, Li et al. (2009a) recently demon-strated that catabolism of BCAA played an important role in Gln synthesis by the lactating porcine mammary glands. However, this biochemical event occurs at the expense of BCAA and, therefore, reduced efficiency in the utilization of dietary AA.

Manso et al. (2007) reported that supplementing 1% Gln to the diet of lactating sows increased concentra-tions of Gln in milk. Extending this preliminary work, we found that dietary supplementation with 1% Gln between d 0 and 21 of lactation enhanced concentra-tions of Gln in the plasma, skeletal muscle, and whole milk of sows, as well as piglet growth and survival (Table 4). Several mechanisms may be responsible for the beneficial effects of Gln on lactation. First, Gln supplementation directly provides Gln for tRNA-Gln formation and spares BCAA for metabolic utilization, including the synthesis of milk proteins, by serving as both substrates and activators of the mTOR signaling pathway (Curi et al., 2005). Second, Gln may stimulate expression of ODC in lactating mammary tissue, as re-ported for the small intestine (Rhoads and Wu, 2009), thereby promoting the formation of polyamines that are essential for lactogenesis. Third, Gln modulates cell signaling via extracellular signal-related kinase, Jun ki-nase, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and NO, which in turn regulates milk production (e.g., syntheses of protein, lipids, and lactose) in the lactating mammary gland (Wu et al., 2007).

2025Glutamine and swine growth

SAFETY OF GLN SUPPLEMENTATION TO SWINE

l-Glutamine itself is not toxic to cells because large amounts of Gln (e.g., 4 mM or approximately 8 to 10 times the physiological concentration in plasma) are usually included in the culture medium for all cell types (Curi et al., 2005). Additionally, increased concentra-tions of Gln are present in fetal fluids of livestock spe-cies (e.g., pigs and sheep) during early and mid gesta-tion (Wu et al., 1995a, 1996a; Kwon et al., 2003; Gao et al., 2009). In addition, the half-life of Gln in blood is relatively short (i.e., 0.65 to 0.7 h) in neonatal, gestat-ing, and lactating pigs (Wu et al., 2010a), and orally administered Gln almost completely disappears from the circulation within 4 h. Thus, short- and long-term supplementation of Gln at an appropriate dose (e.g., up to 1% in the diet on an as-fed basis) is safe for neonatal, gestating, and lactating swine, as reported herein. For example, neonatal, gestating, and lactating swine can tolerate large amounts of supplemental Gln (supplied by Ajinomoto Inc., Tokyo, Japan) for at least 3 wk, which are at least 1.0, 0.20, and 0.32 g of Gln/kg of BW per day, respectively, in addition to the Gln in the basal diet (1.2, 0.24, and 0.55 g of Gln/kg of BW per day, re-

spectively), without any adverse effects (Tables 2 to 4). In all our experiments, dietary supplementation with up to 1% Gln (on an as-fed basis) for 3 wk caused no re-duction in feed intake, no sickness, and no death in any pig. As we reported previously (Wu et al., 2010a), no side effects of Gln supplementation up to 1% in the diet (on an as-fed basis) were observed in postweaning pigs within at least 3 mo after termination of a 2-wk, 1-mo, or 3-mo period of supplementation. It should be noted that, as with any other nutrient (e.g., glucose, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals; Baker, 2009; Elango et al., 2009; McKnight et al., 2010), a large dosage of Gln (e.g., 2% Gln in the corn- and soybean meal-based diet for weanling piglets) may yield an undesirable effect (e.g., reduced feed intake) because of an AA imbalance plus increased amounts of ammonia in plasma (Sury-awan et al., 2009; Wu, 2010a) and should be avoided in dietary supplementation and clinical therapy.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Over the past 20 yr, our extensive and systematic research, which originated from a seminal study of AA composition in porcine milk (Wu and Knabe, 1994),

Table 3. Dietary Gln supplementation to gestating gilts reduces the number of intra-uterine growth-retarded (IUGR) piglets and the preweaning mortality of piglets1

Variable Control Gln

Ala concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 464 ± 20 325 ± 14*Arg concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 176 ± 9 194 ± 8*Citrulline concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 69 ± 4 81 ± 5*Gln concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 354 ± 14 486 ± 17*Lys concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 116 ± 7 121 ± 9Ornithine concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 73 ± 3 82 ± 4*Pro concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 240 ± 11 277 ± 13*Ammonia concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 71 ± 5 64 ± 4Urea concentrations in maternal plasma, mM 2.13 ± 0.10 2.02 ± 0.12Total piglets born per litter, n 11.4 ± 0.74 11.6 ± 0.86Total piglets born alive per litter, n 10.2 ± 0.70 10.4 ± 0.65Average birth weight of all piglets born, kg 1.31 ± 0.05 1.36 ± 0.04Average birth weight of all piglets born alive, kg 1.33 ± 0.04 1.41 ± 0.03*Total litter weight at birth for all piglets born, kg 14.9 ± 0.83 15.7 ± 0.71Total litter weight at birth for all live piglets, kg 13.7 ± 0.75 14.7 ± 0.59*Piglets born dead per litter, n 1.20 ± 0.08 1.21 ± 0.09Variation in birth weights among all piglets born,2 % 16.4 ± 0.9 11.0 ± 0.6*Variation in birth weights among all piglets born alive,2 % 14.3 ± 0.7 10.6 ± 0.5*Percent of IUGR piglets at birth (<1.1 kg of BW at birth), % 24.8 15.2**Preweaning mortality for all live-born piglets, % 11.3 6.1**

1Data are means ± SEM (n = 25 gilts/treatment). Supplemental AA were products of Ajinomoto Co. Inc. (Tokyo, Japan). Pregnant gilts (Yorkshire × Landrace dams and Duroc × Hampshire sire) were fed 2 kg daily a corn- and soybean meal-based diet in 2 equal meals at 0700 and 1800 h, as described by Mateo et al. (2007). All the provided feeds were consumed by the gilts. The composition of AA in the basal gestation diet included 0.70% Arg and 1.22% Gln on an as-fed basis. The BW of gilts at breeding was 120 ± 2.4 kg (n = 50). Between d 90 and 114 of gestation, the basal gestation diet was supplemented with 1.0% Gln or 1.22% l-Ala (isonitrogenous control). Blood samples (approximately 0.1 mL) were obtained from the ear vein of gilts at d 110 of gestation at 1 h after feeding for analysis of metabolites in plasma (Wu et al., 1996b). Duration of gestation did not differ (P > 0.05) between control and Gln-supplemented gilts (114 ± 0.3 d, n = 50). Piglets in the control and Gln groups were nursed by their respective sows fed an 18.4% CP lactation diet (Mateo et al., 2008) without AA supplementation. All piglets were weaned at 21 d of age.

2CV = (SD/mean) × 100%.*P < 0.05 vs. the control group, as analyzed by the unpaired t-test.**P < 0.01 vs. the control group, as analyzed by χ2 analysis.

2026 Wu et al.

has transformed Gln from a substance not described in classical animal nutrition textbooks to a major nutri-ent that is now recognized to improve health, survival, growth, development, lactation, and reproduction effec-tively in swine (Wu, 2010b; Wu et al., 2010b). Results of biochemical studies indicate that Gln is a physiologi-cally essential AA for the synthesis of proteins and oth-er nitrogenous substances, with key metabolic functions in the body. Compelling evidence shows that Gln is a nutritionally essential AA for weanling pigs to maintain normal intestinal physiology and enhance efficiency in the utilization of dietary nutrients for gut and whole-body growth. Additionally, our recent findings indicate that adequate amounts of dietary Gln are necessary to support the maximum lactation and reproduction performance of pigs. All this new knowledge should be taken into consideration in revising the current version of NRC (1998)-recommended requirements of AA for swine to formulate balanced diets for all ages of swine.

In the early 1990s, a conceivable limitation of our research on Gln biochemistry and nutrition was the exceedingly high cost of Gln, which may prohibit its practical use in swine production. Although we were justifiably challenged by our colleagues, we were con-stantly encouraged by the historic development of cost-effective Lys manufacturing through microbial fermen-tation (Hirose and Shibai, 1980) and were optimistic

that inexpensive Gln could become commercially avail-able in the future. Fortunately, this dream came true in 2005 when Ajinomoto Co. Inc. successfully produced low-cost feed-grade Gln (i.e., AminoGut) for swine and poultry diets (Ajinomoto, 2005). This significant ad-vance in animal nutrition exemplifies the power of basic research in discovering new knowledge and solving ma-jor practical problems in livestock production.

With development of high-output approaches (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) over the past decade (He et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2009a,b), pioneering research has been conducted to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the beneficial actions of Gln in the small intestine and skeletal muscle of animals. However, it remains unknown how Gln supplementa-tion can improve lactational performance and fetal growth in pigs (Bazer et al., 2008, 2009b). The under-lying mechanisms are likely complex but may include multiple and interacting signal transduction pathways in mammary tissue and the conceptus. Future work in this exciting area of investigation can be greatly fa-cilitated by using not only traditional approaches (e.g., analysis of metabolites, reverse-transcription PCR, and Western blot analysis; Bergen and Wu, 2009; Chen et al., 2009), but also powerful “omic” tools and bioinfor-matics (Fu et al., 2010).

Table 4. Dietary Gln supplementation to first-parity lactating sows enhances piglet growth and preweaning survival1

Variable Control Glutamine

Feed intake of lactating sows, g/kg of BW per day 31.9 ± 2.1 31.2 ± 2.4Ala concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 573 ± 26 426 ± 19*Arg concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 238 ± 11 270 ± 13*Citrulline concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 72 ± 3 84 ± 5*Gln concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 571 ± 38 743 ± 46*Lys concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 184 ± 10 192 ± 12Ornithine concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 79 ± 5 85 ± 7Pro concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 288 ± 14 310 ± 15*Ammonia concentrations in maternal plasma, μM 65 ± 4 69 ± 5Urea concentrations in maternal plasma, mM 3.02 ± 0.19 3.27 ± 0.23Glutamine concentrations in maternal skeletal muscle, mmol/kg of wet tissue

2.71 ± 0.07 3.19 ± 0.09*

Gln (free plus protein-bound) concentrations in whole milk,2 g/L 4.76 ± 0.21 5.36 ± 0.23*Milk intake of sow-reared piglets,2 mL/kg of BW per day 188 ± 10 186 ± 12BW of piglets at d 0, kg 1.34 ± 0.03 1.35 ± 0.03BW of piglets at d 21, kg 5.40 ± 0.09 5.77 ± 0.12*Preweaning mortality for all live-born piglets, % 11.6 6.5**

1Data are means ± SEM, n = 10 sows/treatment. Supplemental AA were products of Ajinomoto Co. Inc. (Tokyo, Japan). First-parity lactating sows (Yorkshire × Landrace dams and Duroc × Hampshire sire) had free access to a corn- and soybean meal-based diet containing 18.4% CP during the entire gestation (Mateo et al., 2008) in 2 equal meals at 0700 and 1800 h. The basal diet contained 1.72% Gln on an as-fed basis. The BW of sows was 174 ± 5.2 kg, n = 20. Between d 0 and 21 of lactation, the basal diet was supplemented with 1.0% Gln or 1.22% l-Ala (isonitrogenous control). At d 14 of lactation, semitendinosus muscle biopsies (approximately 100 mg) were taken from sows at 1 h after feeding for analysis of AA. Blood samples (approximately 0.1 mL) were obtained from the ear vein of sows at d 20 of lactation at 1 h after feeding for analysis of metabolites in plasma (Wu et al., 1996b). All piglets were weaned at 21 d of age after determination of milk consumption.

2On d 21, milk samples were obtained from sows at 1 h after feeding for analysis of Gln (Haynes et al., 2009), and milk consumption by piglets (1 piglet/sow) was determined using the weigh-suckle-weigh technique (Wu et al., 2000).

*P < 0.05 vs. the control group, as analyzed by the unpaired t-test.**P < 0.01 vs. the control group, as analyzed by χ2 analysis.

2027Glutamine and swine growth

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