Jian Huafeng, Xu Qianqian, Wang Xiaoming, Liu Yating, Miao Sasa, Li Yan, Mou Tianming, Dong Xinyang, Zou Xiaoting
Institute of Feed Science, College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
The National Engineering Laboratory for Feed Safety and Pollution Prevention and Controlling, National Development and Reform Commission, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Nutr. 2022 Apr 12;9:849767. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.849767. eCollection 2022.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a chronic and metabolic liver disease and commonly occurs in humans with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); such a condition also exists in animals such as rodents and laying hens. Since the pathogenesis of fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS) of laying hens is similar to human NAFLD, hen's FLHS is commonly selected as a study model of NAFLD. Altered circulating amino acids, particularly elevated branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) and aromatic amino acids (AAAs), are consistently reported in patients with NAFLD and T2DM. How long-term dietary individual BCAA, such as valine, impacts amino acid and fatty acid metabolism remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that when laying hens are fed with dietary valine at different levels (59, 0.64, 0.69, 0.74, and 0.79%) in a feeding trial that lasted for 8 weeks, long-term exposure to excessive valine diets at 0.74 and 0.79% levels could induce amino acid imbalance, impair amino acid metabolism, increase fatty acid synthesis, and inhibit fatty acid utilization. Long-term intake of excessive dietary valine could result in impaired amino acid metabolism inhibiting C/EBP-β/asparagine synthetase (Asns). This process is mediated by downregulating the general control nonderepressible-eukaryotic initiation factor 2α- activating transcription factor (GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4) pathway and elevating corresponding circulating BCAAs and AAAs levels, which could ultimately result in amino acid imbalance. High levels of dietary valine stimulated lipid deposition by suppressing the GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4-fibroblast growth factor-19 (FGF19)-target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) signaling pathway to promote fatty acid synthesis, repress fatty acid utilization, and eventually accelerate the development of NAFLD. The Spearman correlation analysis revealed that circulating amino acid imbalance is significantly associated with fatty acid metabolism disorder and enhanced oxidative stress. The inhibition of the GCN2-TORC1 pathway induced autophagy suppression to trigger liver oxidative stress and inflammatory response. In conclusion, our results revealed the adverse metabolic response to excessive dietary valine mediated by amino acid and fatty acid metabolism disorders. This study also suggested reducing dietary valine as a novel approach to preventing and treating NAFLD in humans and FLHS in laying hens.
非酒精性脂肪性肝病(NAFLD)是一种慢性代谢性肝病,常见于肥胖和2型糖尿病(T2DM)患者;这种情况在啮齿动物和蛋鸡等动物中也存在。由于蛋鸡脂肪肝出血综合征(FLHS)的发病机制与人类NAFLD相似,因此通常选择蛋鸡的FLHS作为NAFLD的研究模型。NAFLD和T2DM患者中一致报道循环氨基酸发生改变,尤其是支链氨基酸(BCAAs)和芳香族氨基酸(AAAs)升高。长期饮食中单独的BCAA(如缬氨酸)如何影响氨基酸和脂肪酸代谢仍不清楚。在本研究中,我们证明,在持续8周的饲养试验中,当给蛋鸡饲喂不同水平(59、0.64、0.69、0.74和0.79%)的膳食缬氨酸时,长期暴露于0.74%和0.79%水平的过量缬氨酸日粮会导致氨基酸失衡、损害氨基酸代谢、增加脂肪酸合成并抑制脂肪酸利用。长期摄入过量的膳食缬氨酸会导致氨基酸代谢受损,抑制C/EBP-β/天冬酰胺合成酶(Asns)。这个过程是通过下调一般控制非抑制性-真核起始因子2α-激活转录因子(GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4)途径并提高相应的循环BCAAs和AAAs水平来介导的,这最终可能导致氨基酸失衡。高水平的膳食缬氨酸通过抑制GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4-成纤维细胞生长因子-19(FGF19)-雷帕霉素复合物1(TORC1)信号通路刺激脂质沉积,以促进脂肪酸合成、抑制脂肪酸利用,并最终加速NAFLD的发展。Spearman相关性分析显示,循环氨基酸失衡与脂肪酸代谢紊乱和氧化应激增强显著相关。GCN2-TORC1途径的抑制诱导自噬抑制,引发肝脏氧化应激和炎症反应。总之,我们的结果揭示了由氨基酸和脂肪酸代谢紊乱介导对过量膳食缬氨酸的不良代谢反应。本研究还表明,减少膳食缬氨酸是预防和治疗人类NAFLD和蛋鸡FLHS的一种新方法。