Table 8.

Mean serum metabolite concentrations analysed by quantitative NMR spectrometry in kittens pre-gonadectomy (week −1) and post-gonadectomy (week 12) following supplementation with additional choline at 300 mg/kg BW0·75 (CHOLINE, n 8) for 12 weeks compared with a control group (CONTROL, n 7) fed only the base diet (3310 mg choline/kg DM)

			CHOLINE (n 8)		CONTROL (n 7)
Metabolites (µM)		Week	LSM	sem	LSM	sem	P Group	P Time	P Group × time
Gluconeogenic amino acids	l-Aspartate	–1	58·91	6·86	65·11	6·41	0·69	0·12	0·31
		12	53·87		43·43
	Glycine	–1	450·85A	25·85	490·04A	24·10	0·82	0·04	0·08
		12	440·63B		388·55B
	l-Alanine	–1	464·17	46·60	466·69	43·49	0·89	0·22	0·83
		12	530·85		514·37
	l-Arginine	–1	174·02	17·38	214·08	16·20	0·42	0·57	0·18
		12	213·70		197·40
	l-Asparagine	–1	50·39	5·41	52·17	5·05	0·51	0·06	0·32
		12	66·66		57·64
	l-Glutamic acid	–1	156·65A	6·61	170·87A	6·17	0·62	<0·001	0·15
		12	112·65B		103·57B
	l-Glutamine	–1	614·68A	51·16	719·51A	47·66	0·16	0·003	0·51
		12	864·00B		891·19B
	l-Proline	–1	130·61	14·51	151·27	13·46	0·76	0·52	0·07
		12	165·00		134·02
	l-Serine	–1	146·61A	12·02	147·17	11·18	0·04	0·21	0·02
		12	190·73Bc		132·70d
	Methionine	–1	49·45A	4·15	50·84	3·87	0·03	0·008	0·01
		12	73·57Bc		51·64d
	Valine	–1	176·71A	14·96	191·08A	13·95	0·53	0·03	0·11
		12	234·51B		200·08B
Ketogenic amino acids	l-Leucine	–1	122·58	40·75	136·19	23·76	0·36	0·08	0·12
		12	224·95		140·75
	l-Lysine	–1	161·31A	15·85	189·85A	14·73	0·92	0·01	0·09
		12	231·87B		206·82B
Gluconeogenic and ketogenic amino acids	Isoleucine	–1	59·53	4·71	63·69	4·35	0·41	0·27	0·09
		12	72·79		60·73
	l-Phenylalanine	–1	70·38	7·44	80·77	6·92	0·56	0·06	0·43
		12	90·00		89·23
	l-Threonine	–1	123·92A	13·43	128·24	12·44	0·14	0·004	0·03
		12	194·72Bc		141·88d
	Tyrosine	1	47·38A	5·71	57·30	5·30	0·47	0·04	0·34
		12	63·82B		63·52
Augmented amino acid degradation products	2-Hydroxybutyrate	–1	13·40	1·54	13·88	1·44	0·47	0·25	0·68
		12	14·58		16·34
	Creatinine	–1	111·38A	10·94	128·48A	10·18	0·54	0·001	0·36
		12	165·86B		163·38B
Glycolysis	Acetic acid	–1	19·58A	1·52	21·55A	1·41	0·50	<0·001	0·06
		12	11·77B		7·55B
	d-Glucose	–1	15 254	1367·62	17 660	1275·86	0·91	0·17	0·58
		12	16 646		14 510
	l-Lactic acid	–1	1477·56	162·35	1616·20	151·78	0·09	0·41	0·68
		12	1238·61		1535·24
Lipolysis	Glycerol	–1	137·72	9·63	129·97	8·99	0·30	0·15	0·07
		12	105·36		133·87
TCA cycle	Citric acid	–1	235·78	19·91	258·46	18·58	0·08	0·10	0·40
		12	253·12		308·85
	Malonate	–1	8·98	0·83	10·08	0·78	0·53	0·80	0·14
		12	10·75		8·82
	Oxoglutarate	–1	3·34A	1·18	3·12A	1·18	0·60	0·04	0·48
		12	5·31B		6·81B
	Pyruvic acid	–1	10·51A	2·88	9·28A	2·69	0·59	0·002	0·34
		12	18·42B		22·77B
	Succinate	–1	1·62	0·26	1·94	0·24	0·87	0·28	0·28
		12	2·17		1·94
Ketogenesis	Acetone	–1	246·64	92·18	197·30	86·22	0·27	0·22	0·97
		12	102·32		42·41
	Acetoacetate	–1	0·53	0·12	0·49	0·11	0·59	0·15	0·97
		12	0·75		0·69
One-carbon metabolism	Betaine	–1	165·19A	44·42	205·74	41·34	0·02	0·002	0·001
		12	499·21Bc		191·14d
	Choline	–1	19·28	1·62	19·55A	1·52	0·61	0·02	0·68
		12	15·08		13·68B
	Creatine	–1	15·24	1·89	15·97	1·53	0·43	0·53	0·22
		12	18·48		14·95
	Formate	–1	26·87A	0·69	26·90A	0·64	0·97	<0·001	0·99
		12	20·10B		20·12B
	Dimethylglycine	–1	7·92A	0·68	8·10	0·64	0·001	0·03	<0·001
		12	12·82Bc		6·35d
	l-Carnitine	–1	9·30	1·43	9·18	1·34	0·44	0·64	0·40
		12	8·74		11·05
Purine degradation	Hypoxanthine	–1	14·74	2·61	14·34	2·44	0·002	0·03	0·59
		12	4·14		7·66
Alcohols	Methanol	–1	470·06A	56·89	474·79A	53·21	0·19	0·001	0·21
		12	175·94		325·98
	Ethanol	–1	52·77	11·57	66·58	10·82	0·18	0·97	0·78
		12	57·37		63·14
	Isopropanol	–1	478·59	122·35	518·92	114·44	0·14	0·05	0·43
		12	271·88		57·01
	Propylene glycol	–1	121·26	15·67	129·84	13·59	0·35	0·07	0·71
		12	85·93		105·65
Other	d-Mannose	–1	62·71A	5·38	65·21A	5·03	0·04	0·09	0·17
		12	60·17c		43·24Bd
	l-Acetyl carnitine	–1	2·59	0·27	2·64	0·25	0·75	0·80	0·61
		12	2·66		2·44
	Urea	–1	2462·08	109·69	2446·86	102·60	0·31	0·94	0·25
		12	2326·76		2566·73
	2-Hydroxyisovalerate	–1	3·37	0·38	3·68	0·35	0·50	0·86	0·11
		12	4·03		3·14
	l-α-Aminobutyric acid	–1	3·43A	1·85	3·62A	1·73	0·56	0·02	0·49
		12	9·42B		7·07B
	3-Methyl-2-oxovaleric acid	–1	2·51	0·20	2·51	0·18	0·43	0·46	0·42
		12	2·81		2·50
	Dimethylsulfone	1	5·81A	0·37	5·99A	0·35	0·27	0·04	0·26
		12	5·33B		4·51B
	Ketoleucine	–1	2·61	0·28	2·48	0·26	0·36	0·17	0·62
		12	3·13		2·73
	3-Hydroxyisovaleric acid	–1	1·42	0·26	1·29	0·24	0·08	0·68	0·58
		12	1·73		1·24
	Dimethylamine	–1	3·30A	0·16	3·27A	0·15	0·77	0·02	0·89
		12	2·90B		2·84B

LSM, least square means.

Rows or columns with no superscript indicates no significant differences for the measured parameter.

Down a column, different upper-case superscript letters (A, B) denote significant differences (P < 0·05) following a Tukey’s post hoc analysis within group (CHOLINE or CONTROL) over time (week −1 to week 12).

Across a row, different lower-case letters (c, d) denote significant differences (P < 0·05) following a Tukey’s post hoc analysis between groups (CHOLINE and CONTROL) at one time point (week −1 or week 12).