Effects of Dietary Choline on Endogenous Phospholipid Synthesis in Juvenile Chinese Mitten Crab (Eriocheir sinensis)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of choline on endogenous phospholipid synthesis in Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis). Chinese mitten crabs (0.40 ± 0.03 g) were fed diets supplemented with 0%, 0.2% or 0.4% choline under low phospholipids (low-PL) or normal phospholipids (normal-PL) for eight weeks. The results showed that feeding the Chinese mitten crab with 0.4% choline in low-PL diets up-regulated significantly the relative mRNA expressions of neuropathy target enzyme 1 (nte1), phospholipase A2 (pla2) and phospholipase B (plb). Moreover, the crabs fed the 0.4% diet at low-PL diets enhanced hepatopancreatic fatty acid binding protein 3 (fabp3), fatty acid transporter protein 4 (fatp4), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-2 (cpt-2), carnitine acetyltransferase (caat), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1a (cpt-1a) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1b (cpt-1b). However, feeding the mitten crabs 0.2% choline in the normal-PL diets diets up-regulated significantly the relative mRNA expressions of nte1, pla2 and plb. These results indicate that 0.4% choline up-regulates the expressions of genes involving in phospholipids synthesis of Chinese mitten crab fed with low-PL diets, while 0.2% choline improved the genes involved in phospholipid decomposition under normal-PL conditions.