Ferrous-sucrose complex supplementation regulates maternal plasma metabolism and the fecal microbiota composition and improves neonatal immunity and placental glucose transportation by activating the EGF/PI3K/AKT signaling pathways in sows.

Pregnancy is a dynamic state involving rapid physiological changes in metabolism, affecting the health and development of the offspring. During pregnancy, the placenta constitutes a physical and immunological barrier to provide fetal nutrition through the maternal blood and prevent the exposure of the fetus to dangerous signals. Metabolic changes in the plasma, the fecal microbiota profile, and functional regulation in the placenta were studied in sows supplied with a ferrous-sucrose complex (FeSuc) from late gestation to parturition. The results revealed that maternal FeSuc supplementation enhanced arginine and proline metabolism, glutathione metabolism, with increased glutamic acid, beta-D-glucosamine, L-proline, 1-butylamine, and succinic acid and reduced sphingosine and chenodeoxycholic acid sulfate levels in the plasma. Moreover, significantly increased abundances of Christensenellaceae_R-7_group , Prevotellaceae_NK3B31_group , and Lachnospiraceae_NK4B4_group were detected in the feces of sows from the FeSuc group ( P < 0.05). Spearman's correlation analysis indicated that Prevotellaceae_NK3B31_group abundances were positively correlated with glutamic acid, indoxyl sulfate, acetyl-DL-leucine, and beta-D-glucosamine, while Christensenellaceae_R-7_group was positively correlated with beta-D-glucosamine. Furthermore, maternal FeSuc supplementation significantly increased neonatal glucose ( P < 0.01) and iron ( P < 0.01) in the neonatal serum, significantly increased IL-10 and TGF-β1 levels in the neonatal liver ( P < 0.01) and jejunum ( P < 0.05), promoted the transcription of immune molecules in the placenta, and significantly increased the protein expressions of EGF ( P < 0.05), PI3K ( P < 0.01), p-PI3K ( P < 0.001), p-AKT ( P < 0.01), and glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) ( P < 0.001) in the placenta. The current study demonstrated that FeSuc supplementation regulated maternal metabolism processes by altering the fecal microbial composition and improved neonatal immunity and placental glucose transportation by activating the EGF/PI3K/AKT signaling pathways in sows.