Vet World Vol.12 May-2019 Article-7
Research Article
Veterinary World, 12(5): 671-676
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.671-676
Phosphatidylcholine from krill increases plasma choline and its metabolites in dogs
Background and Aim: Choline and its metabolites have multiple physiological roles in the body, which are important for muscle function, memory, methylation reactions, and hepatic lipid transport. This study aimed to investigate, if inclusion of phosphatidylcholine (PC) from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) can increase the concentration of choline and its metabolites in plasma of sled dogs in comparison to a control group.
Materials and Methods: Ten adult Alaskan Huskies of both genders were supplemented with PC from 8% dietary krill meal inclusion for 6 weeks, while another ten dogs received no krill meal supplementation. Blood measurements of the two groups were taken at baseline and end of the study and compared for choline and its metabolite concentrations.
Results: The choline concentration of the krill meal-supplemented dogs was significantly higher after 6 weeks of krill meal feeding compared to the control group (mean increase = 4.53 μmol/L in the supplemented versus 1.21 μmol/L in the control group, p=0.014). Furthermore, krill meal-supplemented dogs showed significantly more pronounced increases in betaine (p<0.001), dimethylglycine (p<0.01), trimethylamine-N-oxide (p<0.001), and trimethyllysine (p<0.001) compared to the control group. Significant correlations between changes in choline and changes in its metabolites were observed.
Conclusion: The results showed that krill meal supplementation was associated with significantly higher plasma choline concentrations, which correlated with changed concentrations of choline metabolites. Keywords: choline metabolites, choline, dog, krill meal, phosphatidylcholine.
Keywords: choline metabolites, choline, dog, krill meal, phosphatidylcholine.
How to cite this article: Burri L, Heggen K, Storsve AB (2019) Phosphatidylcholine from krill increases plasma choline and its metabolites in dogs, Veterinary World, 12(5): 671-676.
Received: 18-12-2018 Accepted: 20-03-2019 Published online: 16-05-2019
Corresponding author: Lena Burri E-mail: lena.burri@akerbiomarine.com
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.671-676
Copyright: Burri, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.