Tributyrin enhances growth and intestinal health in green mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) through butyrate-driven metabolic regulation

作者：Hongyu Peng, Qicun Zhou, Xishuai Cui, Wenhao Zhan, Haiqing Cao, Yao Deng, Shichao Xie, Zheng Tang, Tingting Zhu, Peng Sun, Min Jin · 发表于：Animal nutrition · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.aninu.2025.06.013 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Invertebrate Immune Response Mechanisms、Crustacean biology and ecology、Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

Tributyrin (TB), a derivative of butyric acid, is considered a promising feed supplement to regulate growth and intestinal barrier function in livestock and aquatic animals. However, its application in the green mud crab ( Scylla paramamosain ) has not been extensively investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the regulatory mechanism of TB on growth performance, intestinal barrier function, butyrate metabolism, digestive enzyme activity, and carbohydrate-lipid metabolism in the green mud crab. A total of 144 crabs (10.68 ± 0.03 g) were divided into four groups with three replicates of 12 crabs each and hand-fed either a basal diet (Con) or diets containing 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.20% TB for nine weeks. Results revealed that compared with Con, supplementation with 0.20% TB significantly promoted growth performance in the green mud crab ( P < 0.05), including final body weight and percent weight gain. Additionally, TB supplementation significantly improved intestinal health by upregulating the mRNA relative expression of intestinal physical-barrier genes, including zo-1 ( P = 0.031), pt-1 ( P = 0.010), pt-44 ( P < 0.001), mlck ( P = 0.033), and claudin ( P = 0.006) and reducing diamine oxidase (DAO) activity ( P = 0.001); TB supplementation also enhanced lipase activity in the stomach, lipase, amylase, and protease activities in the hepatopancreas, and lipase and protease activities in the intestine ( P < 0.05); TB supplementation significantly activated butyrate me...