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Creatine ameliorates the adverse effects of high-fat diet on hepatic lipid metabolism, intestinal health, muscle growth and flesh quality in juvenile largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2025

Yu-Feng Song Open the ORCID record for Yu-Feng Song [Opens in a new window] ,
Guang-Li Feng ,
Xiao-Hong Lai ,
Nan-Jun Hu  and
Jun-Neng Liang
Yu-Feng Song*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery College, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People’s Republic of China
Guang-Li Feng
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery College, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People’s Republic of China
Xiao-Hong Lai
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery College, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People’s Republic of China
Nan-Jun Hu
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Freshwater Animal Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery College, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, People’s Republic of China
Jun-Neng Liang*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Aquaculture Genetic and Breeding and Healthy Aquaculture of Guangxi Academy of Fishery Sciences, Nanning 530021, People’s Republic of China
*
Corresponding authors: Yu-feng Song; Email: syf880310@mail.hzau.edu.cn, Jun-Neng Liang; Email: lngkkk@163.com
Corresponding authors: Yu-feng Song; Email: syf880310@mail.hzau.edu.cn, Jun-Neng Liang; Email: lngkkk@163.com
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Abstract

With the widespread use of high-fat diets (HFD) in aquaculture, the adverse effects of HFD on farmed fish are becoming increasingly apparent. Creatine has shown potential as a green feed additive in farmed fish; however, the potential of dietary creatine to attenuate adverse effects caused by high-fat diets remains poorly understood. To address such gaps, this study was conducted to investigate the mitigating effect of dietary creatine on HFD-induced disturbance on growth performance, hepatic lipid metabolism, intestinal health and muscle quality of juvenile largemouth bass. Three diets were formulated: a control diet (10·20 % lipid), a high-fat diet (HFD, 18·31 % lipid) and HFD with 2 % creatine (HFD + creatine). Juvenile largemouth bass (3·73 (sem 0·01) g) were randomly assigned to three diets for 10 weeks. The key findings were as follows: (1) the expression of muscle growth-related genes and proteins was stimulated by dietary creatine, which contributes to ameliorate the adverse effects of HFD on growth performance; (2) dietary creatine alleviates HFD-induced adverse effects on intestinal health by improving intestinal health, which also enhances feed utilisation efficiency; (3) dietary creatine causes excessive lipid deposition, mainly via lipolysis and β-oxidation. Notably, this study also reveals a previously undisclosed effect of creatine supplementation on improving muscle quality. Together, for the first time from a comprehensive multiorgan or tissue perspective, our study provides a feasible approach for developing appropriate nutritional strategies to alleviate the adverse effects of HFD on farmed fish, based on creatine supplementation.

Keywords

CreatineIntestinal healthMuscle growth and flesh qualityHepatic lipid metabolismLargemouth bass

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Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 133 , Issue 10 , 28 May 2025 , pp. 1297 - 1308
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society

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Footnotes

*

These authors contributed equally.

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