QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Zeng, X. Articles by Wang, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zeng, X. Articles by Wang, J.

---

Nutrient Physiology, Metabolism, and Nutrient-Nutrient Interactions

Dietary Arginine Supplementation during Early Pregnancy Enhances Embryonic Survival in Rats^1,2

³ State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China 100094; ⁴ Institute of Quality and Standards for Agri-product, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China 100081; ⁵ Dr. Bob Zhou Intech Bio-Chem., Co. Ltd, Shenzhen, China 518020; ⁶ Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan, China 410128; and ⁷ Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wangfl{at}cau.edu.cn or jkywjj{at}hotmail.com.

Four experiments were conducted with 120 pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats to determine effects of dietary arginine supplementation on embryonic survival. Rats were fed a nonpurified diet supplemented with 1.3% (wt:wt) L-arginine-HCl or 2.2% (wt:wt) L-alanine (isonitrogenous control) throughout pregnancy (Expt. 1), between d 1 and 7 of gestation and then the nonpurified diet until parturition (Expt. 2), between d 1 and 7 of gestation for determining the number of surviving embryos on d 7 (Expt. 3), or between d 1 and 4 of pregnancy for blood sampling on d 5 after overnight food deprivation (Expt. 4). Litter size increased (P < 0.01) in response to arginine supplementation throughout pregnancy (14.5 ± 0.62 vs. 11.3 ± 0.61) or during the first 7 d of pregnancy (14.7 ± 0.33 vs. 11.3 ± 0.37). The number of surviving embryos was greater (P < 0.01) when arginine was supplemented between d 1 and 7 of pregnancy (14.7 ± 0.39 vs. 11.4 ± 0.66). Concentrations of nitric-oxide metabolites, arginine, proline, glutamine, and ornithine were higher (P < 0.05), but urea levels were lower (P < 0.05) in the serum of arginine-supplemented rats compared with the control group. The arginine treatment increased (P < 0.05) protein levels for inducible and constitutive nitric-oxide synthase at implantation sites by 35–37%. These results indicate that dietary arginine supplementation enhances embryonic survival, therefore increasing litter size by 30% at term birth. This novel finding has important implications for preventing early pregnancy loss and enhancing reproductive performance in mammals.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Lassala, F. W. Bazer, T. A. Cudd, P. Li, X. Li, M. C. Satterfield, T. E. Spencer, and G. Wu Intravenous Administration of L-Citrulline to Pregnant Ewes Is More Effective Than L-Arginine for Increasing Arginine Availability in the Fetus J. Nutr., April 1, 2009; 139(4): 660 - 665. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Gao, G. Wu, T. E. Spencer, G. A. Johnson, and F. W. Bazer Select Nutrients in the Ovine Uterine Lumen. III. Cationic Amino Acid Transporters in the Ovine Uterus and Peri-Implantation Conceptuses Biol Reprod, March 1, 2009; 80(3): 602 - 609. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]