Supplements of vitamins B9 and B12 affect hepatic and mammary gland gene expression profiles in lactating dairy cows

BACKGROUND: A combined supplement of vitamins B9 and B12 was reported to increase milk and milk component yields of dairy cows without effect on feed intake. The present study was undertaken to verify whether this supplementation positively modifies the pathways involved in milk and milk component synthesis. Thus, by studying the transcriptome activity in these tissues, the effect of supplements of both vitamins on the metabolism of both liver and mammary gland, was investigated. For this study, 24 multiparous Holstein dairy cows were assigned to 6 blocks of 4 animals each according to previous 305-day milk production. Within each block, cows were randomly assigned to weekly intramuscular injections of 5 mL of either saline 0.9 % NaCl, 320 mg of vitamin B9, 10 mg of vitamin B12 or a combination of both vitamins (B9 + B12). The experimental period began 3 weeks before the expected calving date and lasted 9 weeks of lactation. Liver and mammary biopsies were performed on lactating dairy cows 64 ± 3 days after calving. Samples from both tissues were analyzed by microarray and qPCR to identify genes differentially expressed in hepatic and mammary tissues. RESULTS: Microarray analysis identified 47 genes in hepatic tissue and 16 genes in the mammary gland whose expression was modified by the vitamin supplements. Gene ontology (GO) categorizes genes in non-overlapping domains of molecular biology. Panther is one of the online GO resources used for gene function classification. It classifies the 63 genes according to Molecular Function, Biological Process and Protein Class. Most of the biological processes modulated by the vitamin supplements were associated to developmental process, protein metabolic process, transport and response to inflammation. In the liver, most of the genes modulated by the vitamin treatments involved protein metabolic process while developmental process appeared to be more affected by the treatments in mammary gland. Out of 25 genes analysed by qPCR, 7 were validated. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that several metabolic processes were modulated by the supplementation of vitamins in early-lactating dairy cows. In addition, the results suggest that the vitamin supplements promoted liver regeneration and reduced catabolism of lipids in early lactation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-2872-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.