Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) exhibits programming consequences and may induce oxidative stress in growing animals and humans. This study was conducted to investigate the hypothesis that dietary curcumin may protect growing pigs from IUGR-induced oxidative stress via the Nrf2 pathway. Twelve normal birth weight (NBW) and 24 IUGR female piglets were selected and fed control diets supplemented 0 (NBW), 0 (IUGR) and 200 (IUGR + Cur) mg/kg curcumin from 26 to 115 days of age (n = 12). Growth performance, meat quality, redox status and its related Nrf2 pathway were determined. Results showed that IUGR pigs exhibited decreased body weight on 0 d, 26 d and 56 d (p < 0.01) but had no difference on 115 d among NBW, IUGR and IUGR + Cur groups (p > 0.05). Compared with NBW and IUGR groups, a significant decrease in drip loss (24 h and 48 h) was observed in the IUGR + Cur group (p < 0.01). IUGR pigs had higher concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) (p < 0.01) and protein carbonyl (PC) (p = 0.03) and lower activities of glutathione peroxidase (p = 0.02), catalase (p < 0.01) and peroxidase (p = 0.02) in leg muscles than NBW pigs. Dietary-added 200 mg/kg curcumin decreased concentrations of MDA and PC and improved the activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase as compared to the IUGR group (p < 0.05). Additionally, dietary curcumin enhanced protein (NQO1) and mRNA expression of genes (Nrf2, NQO1, gamma-glutamyltransferase 1 (GGT1), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT)) as compared to the IUGR group (p < 0.05). These results suggest that dietary curcumin could serve as a potential additive to enhance redox status and improve meat quality of IUGR growing pigs via the Nrf2 signal pathway.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of curcumin on IUGR jejunum damage. A total of 24 IUGR and 12 normal-birth weight (NBW) female crossbred (Duroc × Landrace × Large White) piglets were randomly assigned into three groups at weaning (26 days): IUGR group, NBW group, and IUGR + CUR group, which were fed diets containing 0 mg/kg (NBW), 0 mg/kg (IUGR) and 200 mg/kg (IUGR + CUR) curcumin from 26 to 115 days of age. Results showed that dietary supplementation with 200 mg/kg curcumin significantly increased the total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity and decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the jejunum of IUGR pigs (p < 0.05). Results of real-time PCR showed that the IUGR + CUR group significantly increased the gene expression of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) (p < 0.05), and increased the glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), glutamate-cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM), and NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) mRNA expression compared with the IUGR group (p < 0.05). Western blot results showed that dietary supplementation with 200 mg/kg curcumin significantly increased the protein levels of Nrf2 and NQO1. Compared with the IUGR group, pigs in IUGR + CUR group showed significantly decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interferon gamma (IFNγ) (p < 0.05), and increased the interleukin-2 (IL-2) level (p < 0.05). Dietary supplementation with 200 mg/kg curcumin significantly reduced cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 3 (caspase3), BCL2-associated X protein (bax), B-cellCLL/lymphoma 2 (bcl2), and heat-shock protein 70 (hsp70) mRNA expression, and increased occludin (ocln) mRNA expression (p < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with 200 mg/kg curcumin can alleviate jejunum damage in IUGR growing pigs, through Nrf2/Keap1 pathway.