Effect of Maternal Catalase Supplementation on Reproductive Performance, Antioxidant Activity and Mineral Transport in Sows and Piglets

Simple Summary Oxidative stress negatively affects maternal health and fetal development. Catalase (CAT) is an oxidoreductase enzyme that catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into molecular oxygen and water, thereby protecting the cell from oxidative damage. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of maternal CAT supplementation on reproductive performance, antioxidant enzyme activities, mineral transport, and the mRNA expression of related genes in sows and offspring. It was observed that giving dietary CAT supplementation to pregnant sows may decrease the intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) rate and contribute to improving the maternal and fetal antioxidant status, potentially by modulating the activities of selected antioxidant enzymes and mRNA expression of related genes, as well as the transport of some mineral elements in the pregnant sows and their piglets. This finding provides a reasonable foundation for focused intervention studies in the future and may also provide insight into important aspects of mother-infant nutrition in both animals and humans. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of maternal catalase (CAT) supplementation on reproductive performance, antioxidant enzyme activities, mineral transport, and mRNA expression of related genes in sows and offspring. A total of 40 pregnant sows at 95 days of gestation with similar parity (3-5 parities) and back-fat thickness were assigned randomly and equally into the control (CON) group (fed a basal diet) and CAT group (fed a basal diet supplemented with 660 mg/kg CAT; CAT activity, 280 U/g). The reproductive performance was recorded, and the placenta and blood samples of sows and neonatal piglets, as well as the jejunum and ileum samples from neonatal boars (eight replicates per group), were collected. Results showed that dietary supplementation with CAT significantly decreased the intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) rate and increased the activity of serum CAT in neonatal piglets and umbilical cords (p < 0.05). In addition, CAT supplementation tended to improve total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) levels in the maternal serum (p = 0.089) and umbilical cords of piglets (p = 0.051). The serum calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) of farrowing sows and Mn concentration in the umbilical cord, and serum Ca, magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), and Mn of neonatal piglets were significantly increased (p < 0.05) in the CAT group. CAT supplementation downregulated mRNA expression of TRPV6 and CTR1 (p < 0.05), Cu/Zn SOD (p = 0.086) in the placenta and tended to increase the mRNA expression of the glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) (p = 0.084), glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) (p = 0.063), and CAT (p = 0.052) genes in the ileum of piglets. These results showed that the maternal CAT supplementation improved fetal growth by decreasing the IUGR rate, and modulated antioxidant activity, as well as mineral elements in the pregnant sows and their piglets.