Effects of pregnancy status, individual animal and age of pigs on plasma metabolome (643.4)

Abstract

The objective was to assess the metabolome of reproducing pigs. The effect of age and individual pigs was studied in non‐pregnant vs. pregnant pigs, and in early (EG) vs. late pregnancy (LG). The effect of stage of pregnancy was studied in adolescent (parity 2) vs. adult pigs (parity 4). The metabolome of 331 plasma samples from 19 sows was analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography‐mass spectroscopy (MS) and direct injection MS. Data were evaluated using partial least square‐discriminant analysis in www.metaboanalyst.ca. Parity affected (P=0.001) the metabolome in EG and LG but not at maintenance. There were no common features for EG and LG within parity, i.e. no metabolites changed with age of pig in both EG and LG. In EG, phospholipids were important features, in LG amino acids, urea and fatty acids. The metabolome differed among individual pigs in EG and LG (P<0.001) but not at maintenance. Aspartate was the only common feature in maintenance and at both stages of pregnancy, and was greater (P=0.039) in LG than EG. Among pigs, the majority of important features in EG were (glycero‐) phospholipids and fatty acids in LG. The stage of pregnancy affected the metabolome in parity 2 and 4 (P<0.01) with palmitic and linoleic acid and galactose common important features. The increase of palmitic and linoleic acid in LG may indicate lipid mobilization due to the energy deficit of pigs in LG. The greatest impact on the metabolome was the stage of pregnancy, individual animals and the maturity of pigs. These physical characteristics need consideration when assessing the metabolome of reproducing pigs.Grant Funding Source: Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency