US EPA

7491751 

Journal Article 

Function of N-carbamylglutamate for swine nutrition metabolism 

Wu, X; Ruan, Z; Hou, YQ 

2013 

Yes 

Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
ISSN: 1459-0255 

WFL Publisher Ltd. 

11 

3-4 

1088-1092 

English 

Weaning stress of piglets is often associated with reduced food consumption as well as temporary reductions in weight gain, which can result in postweaning lag, a time of depressed feed intake and of increased diarrhea and disease, intestinal vilus atrophy, and mortality in piglets. In rodents and humans, L-arginine (Arg) is essential when Arg turnover increases, as in growth, inflammation, severe stress, or tissue repair, dietary supply can become rate-limiting for the Arg metabolising pathways. Low Arg levels have been documented in the weaning age of piglet. Therefore, it is important for requiring adequate L-arg supplementation under these pathological situations. N-acetylglutamate (NAG) is an allosteric activator of carbamoylphosphate synthase-I (CPS-I), which synthesises mitochondrial carbamoyl-phosphate necessary for the conversion of ornithine into citrulline. NAG's deficiency is a key factor to mitochondria of the liver and intestinal mucosa. The cytosol of mammalian cells, including enterocytes, contains a high deacylase activity to catabolise NAG, thus limiting the use of extracellular NAG to arginine synthesis. N-carbamylglutamate (NCG), an analogue of NAG, is not a substrate for deacylase and therefore is a metabolically stable activator of CPS-I. NCG may help overcome the practical limitation of arginine delivery to the neonates. Advantages and effects of oral NCG administration in piglets and sows production were reviewed in this paper. 

Arginine; N-carbamylglutamate; Piglet; Sow; amino acid derivative; arginine; carbamate kinase; citrulline; glutamine; heat shock protein 70; interleukin 8; leucine; lysine; methionine; n acetylglutamic acid; n carbamylglutamate; nitric oxide synthase; phenylalanine; proline; unclassified drug; vasculotropin; amino acid metabolism; amino acid synthesis; article; birth weight; cell proliferation; controlled study; diet supplementation; gene expression; hyperammonemia; nonhuman; piglet; weight gain; Mammalia; Rodentia; Suidae