Efficacy of creatine nitrate supplementation on redox status and mitochondrial function in pectoralis major muscle of preslaughter transported broilers.

This study was purposed to investigate the efficacy of dietary creatine nitrate (CrN) supplementation on redox status and mitochondrial function in pectoralis major (PM) muscle of broilers that experienced preslaughter transport. A total of 288 Arbor Acres broilers (28-day-old) were randomly assigned into five dietary treatments, including a basal diet or the basal diet supplemented with 600 mg/kg guanidinoacetic acid (GAA), 300, 600, or 900 mg/kg CrN for 14 days, respectively. On the transportation day, the basal diet group was divided into two groups on average, resulting in six groups. The control group was transported for 0.5 h and the other groups for 3 h (identified as Control, T 3h , GAA 600 , CrN 300 , CrN 600 , and CrN 900 group, respectively), and all crates were randomly placed on the truck travelling at an average speed of 80 km/h. Our results showed that GAA 600 and CrN treatments decreased the muscle ROS level and MDA content ( P  < 0.05) and increased the mitochondrial membrane potential ( P  < 0.001), as well as a higher mRNA expression of avUCP ( P  < 0.001) and lower mRNA expressions of Nrf2 ( P  < 0.001), Nrf2 and PGC-1α ( P  < 0.05) compared with T 3h group. Meanwhile, the mRNA and protein expressions of Nrf1, TFAM, and PGC-1α in CrN 600 and CrN 900 groups were lower than those in the T 3h group ( P  < 0.05). Conclusively, dietary supplementation with GAA and CrN decreased muscle oxidative products and enhanced mitochondrial uncoupling mechanism and mtDNA copy number, which relieved muscle oxidative damage and maintained mitochondrial function.