Abstract
Chronic heat stress (CHS) induces metabolic changes in skeletal muscle from growth to maintenance that jeopardizes growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality of pigs. We investigated the protective effect of dietary organic selenium (hydroxy-4-methylselenobutanoic acid, OH-SeMet) on CHS-induced skeletal muscle damages of growing pigs, and the corresponding responses of selenoproteins. A total of 40 ((Landrace ×Yorkshire) × Duroc) pigs with an average live weight of 49.64 ± 2.48 kg were used in this 4-week trial. Pigs were randomly allotted to 5 groups: The control group was raised on a basal diet in a thermoneutral environment (22 ± 2 °C); and four CHS groups were raised on a basal diet and supplemented with Se 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mg/kg as OH-SeMet, respectively, in hyperthermal condition (33 ± 2 °C). CHS resulted in significant decrease of growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality, which were associated with reduced (p < 0.05) serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and increased (p < 0.05) serum creatine (CK), sarcous heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), glucokinase (GCK), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. Meanwhile, four metabolism-related genes and seven selenoprotein encoding genes were abnormally expressed in skeletal muscle. Dietary OH-SeMet addition partially alleviated the negative impact of CHS on carcass traits and improved meat quality. These improvements were accompanied by the increase in Se deposition, the anti-oxidative capacity of serum and muscle, and protein abundance of GPX1, GPX3, GPX4, and SELENOP. Supplementation with 0.6 mg Se/kg (OH-SeMet) restored the sarcous PEPCK, and 0.4 and 0.6 mg Se/kg (OH-SeMet) restored all abnormally expressed metabolism-related and selenoprotein encoding genes. In summary, dietary supplementation with OH-SeMet beyond Se requirement mitigated CHS-induced depression of carcass traits and meat quality of pigs associated with optimal skeletal metabolism, enhanced antioxidant capacity, and regulation of selenoproteins in skeletal muscle of pigs.