Dietary Supplementation of L-Arginine and N-Carbamylglutamate Attenuated the Hepatic Inflammatory Response and Apoptosis in Suckling Lambs with Intrauterine Growth Retardation

Table 3

Effects of dietary L-arginine and N-carbamylglutamate supplementation on the BW, liver weight, DNA contents, protein : DNA ratio, apoptotic cell numbers, and the proliferation index in the liver of IUGR suckling lambs.

Item	CON	IUGR	IUGR+1%Arg	IUGR+0.1%NCG	value
Initial weight (kg)	^a	^b	^b	^b	0.014
Final weight (kg)	^a	^c	^b	^b	0.008
Liver weight (g)	^a	^c	^b	^b	0.008
Liver weight/BW (%)					0.109
DNA contents (mg)	^a	^c	^b	^b	0.006
Protein : DNA ratio	^a	^c	^b	^b	0.011
Proliferation index (%)	^a	^c	^b	^b	0.008
Apoptotic cell per HPF	^c	^a	^b	^b	0.006

Mean values with their standard errors of the mean (SEM), /group. ^a,b,cWithin a row, means without a common superscript letter differ (). HPF: high-power field (×400); CON: the normal birth weight group given a control diet; IUGR: the IUGR group given a control diet; IUGR+Arg: the IUGR group given a L-arginine-supplemented diet; IUGR+NCG: the IUGR group given a N-carbamylglutamate-supplemented diet.