Table 5.

Effects of dietary L-arginine and N-carbamylglutamate supplementation on plasma proinflammatory cytokine concentrations from the peripheral blood in the IUGR suckling lambs.

Item	CON	IUGR	IUGR+1%Arg	IUGR+0.1% NCG	P value
IL-1β (pg/mL)	189.21 ± 17.67c	256.38 ± 19.45a	218.81 ± 16.33b	216.52 ± 17.09b	0.008
TNF-α (pg/mL)	135.34 ± 9.34c	193.23 ± 11.56a	159.21 ± 10.11b	163.82 ± 12.58b	0.015
IL-6 (pg/mL)	151.23 ± 12.35c	227.28 ± 16.36a	193.55 ± 13.23b	190.98 ± 14.16b	0.007

Mean values with their SEM, n = 12/group. ^a,b,cWithin a row, means without a common superscript letter differ (P < 0.05). IL-1β: interlukin-1β; TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor α; IL-6: interlukin-6; CON: the normal birth weight group given a control diet; IUGR: the IUGR group given a control diet; IUGR+Arg: the IUGR group given a L-arginine-supplemented diet; IUGR+NCG: the IUGR group given a N-carbamylglutamate-supplemented diet.