XII - 12th International Symposium - Digestive Physiology of Pigs

Digestive
Physiology
of Pigs
2029 The effect of potential immunomodulating milk
components on mucosal immune responses and
metabolomic plasma profile of ETEC-infected weaned
piglets. S. Sugiharto, M. S. Hedemann, B. B. Jensen, and
C. Lauridsen,* Department of Animal Science, Faculty of
Science and Technology, Aarhus University AU-Foulum,
Tjele, Denmark., AU-Foulum, Tjele, Denmark.
For the identification of immunomodulating milk components
that could potentially diminish diarrhea in infants caused by
pathogenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), a study using newly
weaned pigs (n = 24; 28 d of age) was performed. A 2*2
factorial study was carried out to investigate the effect of
inoculation with E. coli K88 (F4) or not, and the effect of an
experimental diet containing potential immunomodulating
milk components or a control. The experimental diet was
characterized by a lower crude protein content (2.5%), and
a higher proportion of SFA (approximately 2%) than the
control diet. Besides daily clinical evaluation of the pigs,
blood was sampled (before and after challenge, and at
the time of killing). Each of 4 pigs (1 per treatment) was
killed at 6, 7, 8 and 9 d after challenge (being 12–15 d of
XII INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON
DIGESTIVE PHYSIOLOGY OF PIGS
103
Session III
age, respectively). The length of small intestine (SI) was
measured and divided into 3 regions of equal length. From
the middle of each region, a 10-cm section was removed for
measurement of intestinal dimensions and mucosal immune
responses. The challenge with E. coli reduced the wet
weight (P < 0.001) as well as the dry weight (P < 0.05) of all
measured segments of the intestinal tissue, and the ADG of
the pigs tended to be decreased (P = 0.06), whereas fecal
score and fecal DM were not affected. Piglets provided the
experimental diet had a reduced nominal SI surface area
(P < 0.05), and the total wet weight of the SI tended to
be reduced (P = 0.11). Concentration of immunoglobulins
in plasma and bile was not affected by the treatments.
Metabolomic profile of the blood plasma showed impact
of E. coli challenge, but no influence of dietary treatments.
Although the present study showed that the experimental
diet had some impacts on intestinal dimensions, the overall
conclusion of the present study is that E. coli challenge
rather than diet influenced the measured responses of the
pigs.
Key words: immunomodulating, mucosa, metabolomic