Identification of microRNA transcriptome reveals that miR-100 is involved in the renewal of porcine intestinal epithelial cells

MicroRNAs play important roles in various cellular processes, including differentiation, proliferation and survival. Using a pig model, this study sought to identify the miRNAs responsible for crypt-villus axis renewal of the small intestinal epithelium.Compared to the villus upper cells, there were 15 up-regulated and 41 down-regulated miRNAs in the crypt cells of the jejunum.Notably, we found that miR-100 was expressed more in the villus upper cells than in the crypt cells, suggesting an effect on intestinal epithelium differentiation. Overexpression of miR-100 increased the activity of alkaline phosphatase, confirming that miR-100 promoted IPEC-J2 cell differentiation. MiR-100 can inhibit cell proliferation as evidenced by CCK-8 and cell cycle assay results. We also showed that miR-100 significantly inhibited the migration of IPEC-J2 cells and promoted cell apoptosis through caspase-3-dependent cleavage of Bcl-2. Furthermore, FGFR3 was identified as a potential target of miR-100 by bioinformatics analysis. We confirmed that overexpression of miR-100 suppressed FGFR3 expression in IPEC-J2 cells by directly targeting the FGFR3 3′-UTR. This is the first report of miRNAs acting on the renewal of the intestinal crypt-villus axis.Our results also showed that miR-100 promotes the differentiation and apoptosis, and inhibits the proliferation and migration of enterocytes of pigs.

Effect of dietary soy oil, glucose, and glutamine on growth performance, amino acid profile, blood profile, immunity, and antioxidant capacity in weaned piglets

Weaning stress results in gastrointestinal dysfunction and depressed performance in pigs. This study aimed to investigate the effect of soy oil, glucose, and glutamine on the growth and health of weaned piglets. Compared with those in the glutamine group, piglets in the glucose and soy oil groups had greater average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and gain: feed ratio from day 0 to 14, and gain: feed ratio for the overall period. There were no differences with regard to serum amino acids among the three groups on day 14, except glycine and threonine. The serum concentration of histidine, serine, threonine, proline, and cysteine was the highest in the glutamine group, while the content of glycine and lysine in the soy oil group on day 28 was the highest among all groups. Piglets fed with glutamine had greater serum glucose and creatinine on day 14, high-density lipoprotein on day 28, and serum IgG and IgM on day 28. Piglets in the glutamine group demonstrated lower serum total superoxide dismutase on day 14 and 28; however, they demonstrated higher total superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity in the duodenum and ileum on day 14. Weaned pigs supplemented with glucose or soy oil demonstrate better growth performance possibly due to their enhanced feed intake, whereas those supplemented with glutamine may have improved immunity and intestinal oxidative capacity.