Maternal oral supplementation with citrulline increases plasma citrulline but not arginine in pregnant Merino ewes and neonatal lambs
Niki McCarthy
A , Billie-Jaye Brougham A , Alyce M. Swinbourne B , Alice C. Weaver B , Jennifer M. Kelly B , Kathryn L. Gatford C D , David O. Kleemann B and William H. E. J. van Wettere A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Davies Research Centre, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia.
B South Australian Research and Development Institute, Turretfield Research Centre, Rosedale, SA 5350, Australia.
C Adelaide Medical School, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
D Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
Animal Production Science 62(6) 521-528 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN21249
Submitted: 9 May 2021 Accepted: 23 December 2021 Published: 17 February 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing
Abstract
Context: Arginine supplementation can counter the negative effects of fetal growth restriction in ewes bearing multiple lambs by increasing birth weight and brown adipose fat stores in lambs; however ruminal degradation limits its bioavailability and necessitates ruminal protection. The arginine precursor citrulline increases circulating arginine after a single oral dose without ruminal protection, and bolus intravenous infusion of citrulline increases maternal and fetal circulating arginine for at least 4 h post infusion. Responses to oral and chronic citrulline have not, however, been evaluated in neonatal lambs.
Aims: This experiment sought to determine whether orally fed citrulline would increase circulating plasma concentrations of citrulline and arginine in pregnant Merino ewes.
Methods: Pregnant Merino ewes were fed citrulline (CIT, 8 g/day, n = 9) or no supplement (CON, n = 9) from Day 125 of gestation (DG 125) until parturition. Ewe (DG 125) and neonatal lamb serum (<2 h old) was analysed for circulating plasma citrulline and arginine concentrations.
Key results: Circulating concentrations of citrulline were higher in CIT than CON ewes 4 h post feeding at DG 125, and in CIT compared to CON neonatal lambs. Despite higher citrulline concentrations, supplementation did not increase maternal or neonatal circulating arginine concentrations.
Conclusions: Maternal supplementation with this dose of citrulline was not effective in increasing circulating levels of arginine.
Implications: Further studies may be merited in pregnant sheep to determine whether higher doses of oral citrulline can increase arginine availability during gestation.
Keywords: amino acids, citrulline, gestation, lamb production, Merino sheep, neonatal, oral supplementation, parturition, ruminant nutrition, sheep nutrition.
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