Short communication: Glutamine increases autophagy of liver cells in weaned calves

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of an increased jugular supply of l-Gln on the autophagy of weaned calves. At 35. d of age, 24 Holstein calves (initial body weight of 50. ±. 0.5. kg; 35. ±. 2. d of age) were randomly allocated to 4 treatments, with each treatment including 5 male calves and 1 female calf. Holstein calves were assigned to treatments of (1) intravenous infusion of 2. d of 0.85% NaCl (control group) (2) intravenous infusion of 8. g/d of l-Gln mixed with 2. d of 0.85% NaCl solution, (3) intravenous infusion of 16. g/d of l-Gln mixed with 2. d of 0.85% NaCl solution, and (4) intravenous infusion of 32. g/d of l-Gln mixed with 2. d of 0.85% NaCl. The infusion was administered 2. h/d for 7 consecutive days starting on d 1 after weaning. Feed and water were freely available to all calves. All calves were killed on d 7 postweaning to measure the autophagy of liver cells. The level of autophagy in liver cells was improved when the Gln infusion dose increased. © 2012 American Dairy Science Association.