Received October 18, 2007
Revised November 14, 2007
Accepted after revision February 7, 2008

¹ The Agricultural University of Lublin

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: matatar99{at}gazeta.pl.

	Abstract

Nutritional and metabolic exposure during critical periods of prenatal and neonatal development in animals and humans may induce long-term effects on health status in later life. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of neonatal treatment with -hydroxy--methylbutyrate (HMB) during the first three weeks of life on programming of skeletal development in sheep. The study was performed on 12 male sheep divided into two groups. While the control group was treated with placebo, the lambs from HMB group received calcium salt of -hydroxy--methylbutyrate at the daily dose of 0.1 g/kg of body weight. The assessment of growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and biochemical bone turnover markers in serum was performed in 21 and 130 day old animals. After the slaughter, volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), morphological and mechanical properties were determined in femur and lumbar vertebrae. Neonatal treatment with HMB increased serum concentrations of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, GH and IGF-1 in 21 day old lambs by 125.2%, 93.8%, 71.8% and 70.9%, respectively (P 0.05). C-terminal telopeptide of type-I collagen (CTX) concentration was increased in 130 day old animals from HMB group by 33.1% (P = 0.03). Furthermore, HMB administration improved bone weight, vBMD and bone morphological and mechanical properties of femur and lumbar spine. In conclusion, this study showed long-term beneficial effects of neonatal treatment with HMB on programming of the peripheral and axial skeleton properties that were mediated by transient improvement of the somatotrophic axis function and bone metabolism acceleration.

Key Words: Bone, Growth hormone, Nutrition