Histidine Promotes the Glucose Synthesis through Activation of the Gluconeogenic Pathway in Bovine Hepatocytes

Abstract

Histidine (His) is considered to be the first-limiting amino acid (AA) on grass silage-based diets in lactation cows, which correlate positively with lactose yield. The higher glucose requirements of lactating cows can be met through a combination of increased capacity for gluconeogenesis and increased supply of gluconeogenic precursors. However, the effect of His on the expression of gluconeogenic genes in the bovine hepatocytes is less known. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the regulatory effect of His on the key gluconeogenic genes and glucose output in bovine hepatocytes. The addition of 0.15, 0.6, and 1.2 mM His in a medium significantly enhanced (p p p p < 0.05) linearly with increasing His concentration. These findings indicate that the addition of His may be efficiently converted into glucose via the upregulation of genes related to the gluconeogenic pathway.

Keywords

• histidine
• bovine hepatocytes
• gluconeogenesis