Skeletal Muscle Gene Expression in Response to Dietary Nano-Chromium and Fat in Finishing Gilts

摘要

Chromium (Cr) is an essential mineral element with trivalent Cr being the most stable form occurring in nature. Chromium functions as a cofactor for the hormone insulin and enhances the ability of insulin to regulate glucose, protein and fat metabolism. Dietary Cr has been investigated as a metabolic modifier for farm animals, particularly nano-particles of Cr (Hung et al, 2010). Qiao et al. (2009) indicated that Cr improve glucose uptake and insulin signalling pathway gene insulin receptor (IR) andglucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) gene expression. Skeletal muscle is particularly important for the action of insulin because skeletal muscle is normally responsible for over 75% of all insulin-mediated glucose utilisation. Therefore, the aim of this experiment was to investigate the interactive effects of dietary Cr picolinate (CrPic) and dietary fat on genes relative to insulin signalling in skeletal muscle of pigs.