Soybean Meal and Soy Protein Concentrate in Early Diet Elicit Different Nutritional Programming Effects on Juvenile Zebrafish

There is now strong evidence that early nutrition plays an important role in shaping later physiology. We assessed here whether soy protein concentrate (SPC) or soybean meal (SBM) in early diet would modify zebrafish responses to these products in later life. We fed zebrafish larvae with SPC-, SBM-, or a control-diet for the first 3 days of feeding and then grew all larvae on the control diet up to juveniles. Finally, we assessed the expression in juveniles of genes involved in inflammation/immunity, the breakdown of extracellular matrix, luminal digestion, and intestinal nutrient absorption/trafficking. First feeding SBM had wider, stronger, and more persistent effects on gene expression with respect to SPC. Juveniles fed with SPC at first feeding were more prone to inflammation after refeeding with SPC than fish that never experienced SPC before. Conversely, zebrafish that faced SBM at first feeding were later less responsive to refeeding with SBM through inflammation and had higher expression of markers of peptide absorption and fatty acid transport. Results indicate that some features of inflammation/remodeling, presumably at the intestine, and nutrient absorption/transport in fish can be programmed by early nutrition. These findings sustain the rationale of using zebrafish for depicting molecular mechanisms involved in nutritional programming.