Research Note: Exploratory analysis of temporal changes in ceca and plasma metabolite profiles of broiler chickens...

The gastrointestinal tract and its microbiota are researched for their impact on the health and performance of broiler chickens, which have been selected for rapid growth rate to meet demand. Untargeted metabolomics is one method that can potentially link changes in the gut microbiota to changes in metabolites and assist in revealing mechanisms affecting health outcomes. In this study, untargeted metabolomics via Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS) was performed to characterize changes in ceca and plasma metabolite profiles during early development (d 1, 3, and 10 post-hatch), a time period known for rapid changes in the cecal microbiota. PCA, PLS-DA, OPLS-DA, and fold change analyses revealed shifts in metabolite profiles and individual metabolites over time. The results suggested that shifts in cecal metabolites occurred mostly from d 1 to d 3, while plasma metabolites shifted more gradually from d 1 to d 10. Metabolites linked to KEGG pathway enrichment and potentially influential to growth, such as 5-Glutamyl-taurine and stachyose, greatly increased in concentration in the ceca. These findings show promise in utilization of metabolomics for time-dependent studies on broiler chicken gut health and integration with gut microbiota analysis.