Effects of Chinese herbal medicine on plasma glucose, protein and energy metabolism in sheep

Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology

Hiroaki Sano¹  Arvinda Panthee¹  Xue Bi¹  Mohammad Kamruzzaman¹  Kyota Yamazaki¹  Xi Liang¹ 

[1] Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, 3-18-8 Ueda, Morioka 020-8550, Iwate, Japan

关键词: Sheep;    Ruminal fermentation characteristics;    Protein metabolism;    Heat production;    Glucose metabolism;    Chinese herbal medicine;   

Others  :  804859
DOI  :  10.1186/2049-1891-4-51

 received in 2013-10-25, accepted in 2013-12-16,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

The use of antibiotics in animal diets is facing negative feedback due to the hidden danger of drug residues to human health. Traditional Chinese herbal medicine has been used to replace antibiotics in the past two decades and played an increasingly important role in livestock production. The present study was carried out to assess the feeding effects of a traditional nourishing Chinese herbal medicine mixture on kinetics of plasma glucose, protein and energy metabolism in sheep. Ruminal fermentation characteristics were also determined.

Methods

Four sheep were fed on either mixed hay (MH-diet) or MH-diet supplemented with 2% of Chinese herbal medicine (mixture of Astragalus root, Angelica root and Atractylodes rhizome; CHM-diet) over two 35-day periods using a crossover design. The turnover rate of plasma glucose was measured with an isotope dilution method using [U-¹³C]glucose. The rates of plasma leucine turnover and leucine oxidation, whole body protein synthesis (WBPS) and metabolic heat production were measured using the [1-¹³C]leucine dilution and open circuit calorimetry.

Results

Body weight gain of sheep was higher (P = 0.03) for CHM-diet than for MH-diet. Rumen pH was lower (P = 0.02), concentration of rumen total volatile fatty acid tended to be higher (P = 0.05) and acetate was higher (P = 0.04) for CHM-diet than for MH-diet. Turnover rates of plasma glucose and leucine did not differ between diets. Oxidation rate of leucine tended to be higher (P = 0.06) for CHM-diet than for MH-diet, but the WBPS did not differ between diets. Metabolic heat production tended to be greater (P = 0.05) for CHM-diet than for MH-diet.

Conclusions

The sheep fed on CHM-diet had a higher body weight gain and showed positive impacts on rumen fermentation and energy metabolism without resulting in any adverse response. Therefore, these results suggested that the Chinese herbal medicine mixture should be considered as a potential feed additive for sheep.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Liang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Dibner JJ, Richards JD: Antibiotics growth promoter in agriculture: history and mode of action. Poult Sci 2005, 84:634-643.
• [2]Barton MD: Antibiotic use in animal feed and its impact on human health. Nutri Res Rev 2000, 13:279-299.
• [3]Huang KC: The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. 2nd edition. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1998.
• [4]Kong X, Hu Y, Rui R, Wang D, Li X: Effects of Chinese herbal medicinal ingredients on peripheral lymphocyte proliferation and serum antibody titer after vaccination in chicken. Int Immunopharmacolo 2004, 4:975-982.
• [5]Lien TF, Horng YM, Wu CP: Feasibility of replacing antibiotic feed promoters with the Chinese traditional herbal medicine Bazhen in weaned piglets. Livest Prod Sci 2007, 107:97-102.
• [6]Wang J, Zhou H: Comparison of the effects of Chinese herbs, probiotics and prebiotics with those of antibiotics in diets on the performance of meat ducks. J Anim Feed Sci 2007, 16:96-103.
• [7]National Research Council (NRC): Nutrient requirement of sheep. 6th edition. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1985.
• [8]AOAC: Official Methods of Analysis. 16th edition. Arlington, VA: Association of Official Analytical Chemists; 1995.
• [9]Van Soest PJ, Robertson JB, Lewis BA: Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and non-starch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. J Dairy Sci 1991, 74:3583-3597.
• [10]Weatherburn MW: Phenol-hypochlorite reaction for determination of ammonia. Anal Chem 1967, 39:971-974.
• [11]Tserng KY, Kalhan SC: Estimation of glucose carbon recycling and glucose turnover with [U-13C]glucose. Am J Physiol 1983, 245:E476-E482.
• [12]Fujita T, Majima H, Itoh T, Sano H: Combined effect of salinomycin and feeding on whole body glucose kinetics in sheep fed a high-concentrate diet. Reprod Nutr Dev 2006, 46:503-514.
• [13]Huggett AG, Nixon DA: Enzymatic determination of blood glucose. Biochem J 1957, 66:12.
• [14]Rocchiccioli F, Leroux JP, Cartier P: Quantitation of 2-ketoacids in biological fluids by gas chromatography chemical ionization mass spectrometry of o-trimethylsilyl-quinoxalinol derivatives. Biomed Mass Spectrom 1981, 8:160-164.
• [15]Calder AG, Smith A: Stable isotope ratio analysis of leucine and ketoisocaproic acid in blood plasma by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Use of tertiary butyldimenthylsilyl derivatives. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 1988, 2:14-16.
• [16]Wolfe RR: Tracers in metabolic research: radioisotope and stable isotope/mass spectrometry methods. New York: Alan R. Liss; 1984.
• [17]Magni F, Arnoldi L, Galati G, Kienle MG: Simultaneous determination of plasma levels of α-ketoisocaproic acid and leucine and evaluation of α-[1-13C]ketoisocaproic acid and [1-13C]leucine enrichment by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Anal Biochem 1994, 220:308-314.
• [18]Allsop JR, Wolfe RR, Burke JF: Tracer priming the bicarbonate pool. J Appl Physiol 1978, 45:137-139.
• [19]Wolfe RR, Goodenough RD, Wolfe MH, Royle GT, Nadel ER: Isotopic analysis of leucine and urea metabolism in exercising humans. J Appl Physiol 1982, 52:458-466.
• [20]Harris PM, Skene PA, Buchan V, Milne E, Calder AG, Anderson SE, Connell A, Lobley GE: Effect of food intake on hind-limb and whole-body protein metabolism in young growing sheep: chronic studies based on arterio-venous techniques. Brit J Nutr 1992, 68:389-407.
• [21]Brouwer E: Energy Metabolism. Edited by Blaxter KL. London: Academic Press; 1965:302-304.
• [22]Young BA, Kerrigan B, Christopherson RJ: A versatile respiratory pattern analyzer for studies of energy metabolism of livestock. Can J Anim Sci 1975, 55:17-22.
• [23]SAS (Statistical Analysis System): SAS/STAT® Software: Changes and enhancements through release. Version 6–11. Cary, NC: SAS Institute; 1996.
• [24]Wu MJ, Sun XJ, Dai YH, Guo FQ, Huang LF, Liang YZ: Determination of constituents of essential oil from Angelica sinensis by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. J Cent South Univ 2005, 12:430-436.
• [25]Zhou J, Fang L, Wang X, Zhang J, Guo LP, Huang LQ: Comparison of the volatile compounds of crude and processed Atractylodis rhizome analyzed by GC-MS. Afr J Pharm Pharmacol 2012, 6:2155-2160.
• [26]Castillejos L, Calsamiglia S, Ferret A, Losa R: Effects of a specific blend of essential oil compounds and the type of diet of on rumen microbial fermentation and nutrient flow from continuous culture systems. Anim Feed Sci Tech 2005, 119:29-41.
• [27]Castillejos L, Calsamiglia S, Ferret A, Losa R: Effects of dose and adaptation time of a specific blend of essential oil compounds on rumen fermentation. Anim Feed Sci Tech 2007, 132:186-201.
• [28]Chaves AV, Stanford K, Gibson LL, McAllister TA, Benchaar C: Effects of carvacrol and cinnamaldehyde on intake, rumen fermentation, growth performance, and carcass characteristics of growing lambs. Anim Feed Sci Tech 2008, 145:396-408.
• [29]Soltan MAE, Shewita RS, Al-Sultan SI: Influence of essential oils supplementation on digestion, rumen fermentation, rumen microbial populations and productive performance of dairy cows. Asian J Anim Sci 2009, 3:1-12.
• [30]Castillejos L, Calsamiglia S, Ferret A: Effect of essential oil active compounds on rumen microbial fermentation and nutrient flow in in vitro systems. J Dairy Sci 2006, 89:2649-2658.
• [31]Yang WZ, Benchaar C, Ametaj BN, Chaves AV, He ML, McAllister TA: Effects of garlic and juniper berry essential oils on ruminal fermentation and on the site and extent of digestion in lactating cows. J Dairy Sci 2007, 90:5671-5681.
• [32]Freeman AS, Galyean ML, Caton JS: Effects of supplemental protein percentage and feeding level on intake, ruminal fermentation, and digesta passage in beef steers fed prairie hay. J Anim Sci 1992, 70:1562-1572.
• [33]Alam MK, Ogata Y, Sako Y, Al-Mamun M, Sano H: Intermediary metabolism of plasma acetic acid, glucose and protein in sheep fed a rice straw-based diet. Asian-Aust J Anim Sci 2010, 23:1333-1339.
• [34]Salman FM, EI-Kadi RI, Abdel-Rahman H, Ahmed SM, Mohammad MI, Shoukry MM: Biologically treated sugar beet pulp as a supplement in goat rations. Int J Agric Biol 2008, 10:412-416.
• [35]Sticker LS, Thompson DLJ, Bunting LD, Fernandez JM, DePew CL: Dietary protein and (or) energy restriction in mares: plasma glucose, insulin, nonesterified fatty acid, and urea nitrogen responses to feeding, glucose, and epinephrine. J Anim Sci 1995, 73:136-144.
• [36]Chelikani PK, Ambrose JD, Keisler DH, Kennelly JJ: Effect of short-term fasting on plasma concentrations of leptin and other hormones and metabolites in dairy cattle. Domest Anim Endocrin 2004, 26:33-48.
• [37]Hristov S, Maksimovic N, Stankovic B, Zujovic M, Pantelic V, Stanisic N, Zlatanovic Z: The most significant stressors in intensive sheep production. Biotechnology in Animal Husbandry 2012, 28:649-658.
• [38]El-Shafei AA, Al-Gamal MA, Abdelrahman AS, Arafa MM: Influence of different levels of Astragalus root powder in broiler chick diets on the physiological and biochemical changes. J Appl Sci Res 2013, 9:2104-2118.
• [39]Li X, Wei W: Chinese Materia Medica: Combinations and Applications. Potters Bar: Donica Publishing; 2002.
• [40]Ortigues-Marty I, Vernet J, Majdoub L: Whole body glucose turnover in growing and non-productive adult ruminants: meta-analysis and review. Reprod Nutr Dev 2003, 43:371-383.
• [41]Al-Mamun M, Tanaka C, Hanai Y, Tamura Y, Sano H: Effects of plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) herb and heat exposure on plasma glucose metabolism in sheep. Asian-Aust J Anim Sci 2007, 20:894-899.
• [42]Sano H, Kajita M, Fujita T: Effect of dietary protein intake on plasma leucine flux, protein synthesis, and degradation in sheep. Comp Biochem Physiol 2004, 139:163-168.
• [43]Al-Mamun M, Hanai Y, Tanaka C, Tamura Y, Sano H: Responses of whole body protein synthesis and degradation to plantain herb in sheep exposed to heat. Arch Anim Nutr 2008, 62:219-229.
• [44]Li L, Yu H, Pan J: A study on protein metabolism in nephrotic patients treated with Chinese herbs. Zhonghua Nei Ke Za Zhi 1995, 34:670-672.