Serum metabolomics analysis reveals a novel association between maternal metabolism and fetal survival in sows fed diets containing differing methionine levels and sources

Methionine (Met) metabolism is vital for one carbon metabolism, redox status and fetal development. Hence, this study investigated the effects of different levels and sources of Met on maternal metabolism, anti-oxidative capacity and fetal survival in pregnant sows. Forty primiparous sows were assigned to the following four groups: control group (basal diet, CON), 1.5S-OHMet group (supplemented methionine hydroxy analogue [OHMet] at 1.5 g/kg diet), 3.0S-OHMet group (supplemented OHMet at 3.0 g/kg diet), and 3.0S-Met group (supplemented L-Met at 3.0 g/kg diet) (<i>n</i> = 10). The trial lasted from day 60 of gestation to the farrowing day. Maternal 1.5S-OHMet consumption had the lowest stillborn ratio and the highest serum glucose levels during farrowing. Further analysis revealed that dietary 1.5S-OHMet consumption elevated the serum contents of glucose-6-phosphate, citric acid, butyric acid, malic acid, 3-methyladenine, 1-methyladenosine, ferulic acid and salicylic acid, but reduced the serum contents of succinic acid, oxoglutaric acid, 9(S)-hydroperoxylinoleic acid, 13(S)-hydroperoxy-octadecatrienoic acid, uric acid and urea nitrogen when compared to contents observed in the 3.0S-OHMet and 3.0S-Met groups (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Serum metabolomics analysis was conducted to determine the enriched differential metabolites and an enrichment analysis was performed using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis. The results showed that the enriched metabolites were mainly associated with central carbon metabolism, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and nucleotide metabolism. Moreover, maternal 3.0S-OHMet or 3.0S-Met consumption upregulated the trans-methylation pathway by elevating the S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) level and the ratio of SAM to S-adenosyl-homocysteine (<i>P</i> < 0.05) at day 114 of gestation, while increasing homocysteine concentration (<i>P</i> < 0.001). However, compared to the 3.0S-Met group, maternal 3.0S-OHMet consumption elevated fetal survival and glutathione peroxidase (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Thus, this study provided new insights into the mechanisms through which sows fed with a 1.5S-OHMet diet during mid-to late-gestation period had high fetal survival, such as improvements in maternal amino acid, nucleotide and glycolipid metabolism.