Effect of abomasal butyrate infusion on gene expression in the duodenum of lambs

A previous study infusing butyrate into the abomasum of sheep produced increased oxygen, glucose, glutamate, and glutamine uptake by the portal-drained viscera. These changes were thought to be partially due to increases in glycolysis and cell proliferation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the duodenum transcriptome of control and butyrate-treated lambs to determine whether genes involved in these pathways were altered. Polled Dorset lambs ( = 9) received a pulse dose of either butyrate (10 mg/kg BW) or an equal volume of a buffered saline solution (1 mL/kg BW) daily at the time of feeding. Lambs were euthanized approximately 4 h after treatment/feeding on d 21, and a sample of duodenal mucosa was obtained from which total RNA was isolated for microarray analysis. A total of 230 genes were differentially expressed ( < 0.05). Pathway analyses performed with the differentially expressed genes revealed glycolysis, fatty acid activation/biosynthesis, UDP-N-acetyl-ᴅ-galactosamine biosynthesis, γ-Linolenate biosynthesis, and mitochondrial ʟ-carnitine shuttle pathways up-regulated by the butyrate treatment. Additionally, expression of functional gene clusters related to mitochondrial function was found to be enriched ( < 0.05) with the butyrate treatment. These data could partially explain the metabolite flux changes that were observed with the butyrate treatment; specifically the increase in glucose uptake and glycolysis pathway upregulation and the increased oxygen uptake and upregulation of mitochondria function-related genes.