Metabolic Characterization of Dairy Cows Treated with Gossypol by Blood Biochemistry and Body Fluid Untargeted Metabolome Analyses

To
characterize the metabolic disorders of dairy cows treated with gossypol,
12 dairy cows were assigned to either a control group or a treatment
group that was fed 1000 mg of gossypol per kilogram of dry matter
feed for 28 days. Milk quality was adversely affected, as both milk
protein and lactose levels were significantly decreased in the gossypol-treated
group (3.40% vs 3.16%, P = 0.044; 5.15% vs 4.91%, P = 0.027; respectively). Plasma samples revealed increases
in alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.092), choline
esterase (P = 0.02), and glutathione transferase
(P = 0.0005) and decreases in glucose (P = 0.076) in the gossypol-treated group. Mass spectrometry based
comparative metabolomic analyses showed reduced concentrations of
the gluconeogenesis precursor l-glutamine (P = 0.047), with significant decreases (P < 0.05)
in plasma l-lysine, l-threonine, and homoserine
levels after gossypol treatment. HDL-C and LDL-C levels in the gossypol-treated
group were increased (P = 0.044) and decreased (P = 0.023), respectively. These results demonstrate that
gossypol induced oxidative stress and hepatotoxicity; reduced peripheral
lipid metabolism, and enhanced hepatic lipid accumulation; decreased
amino acid bioavailability and milk protein synthesis; and decreased
gluconeogenesis and milk lactose in dairy cows.