Fat deposition deficiency is critical for the high mortality of pre-weanling newborn piglets

Ting He,Jinshan Zhao,Xi Ma,Enen Gao,Long He,Jianjun Zang,Chunlin Wang,Jinhua Hu

doi:10.1186/s40104-018-0280-y

Abstract

BackgroundThe high mortality of pre-weanling piglets is a dominant challenge which severely restricts the development of pig industry. A number of factors including nutrients imbalance and temperature variation during postnatal period of piglets have been reported to closely associated with the high mortality of postnatal piglets. This study aims to find out the relationship between fat deposition and survival of newborn piglets.ResultsThere were no differences in organ coefficient and bone density between the surviving and dead piglets (P > 0.05). The body weight and the fat deposition in the dead piglets were lower than the live individuals (P < 0.05). Consistently, the average sizes of white adipocytes in back and abdominal adipose tissues of dead piglets were smaller than the survivals (P < 0.05). The protein expression levels of adipocyte differentiation markers PPARγ and C/EBPα in the back and abdominal adipose tissues were lower in dead piglets compared to live piglets. The mRNA expressions of thermogenic markers PGC1α and PRDM16 in adipose tissues were decreased in the dead piglets (P < 0.05). The microarray of back fat samples from the surviving and dead piglets were conducted; two down-regulated genes namely AAMDC and CASTOR1 were identified from the dead piglets. According to quantitative real-time PCR (RT-PCR) analysis, the mRNA expression of AAMDC decreased, whereas CASTOR1 expression elevated in the dead piglets compared to the surviving piglets (P < 0.05).ConclusionsThe fat deposition and adipocyte differentiation in the dead piglets are insufficient compared to the surviving piglets, which may attenuate the thermogenic ability of white adipose tissue (WAT). Our data indicate that fat deposition in newborn piglets is vital to their survival.

Highlights

The high mortality of pre-weanling piglets is a dominant challenge which severely restricts the development of pig industry
Results showed that the body weight of the dead piglets were lower than the surviving piglets (P < 0.05, Table 1)
Deficiency of fat deposition and white adipocyte differentiation in the dead piglets Owing to the lighter body weight and the unchanged organ coefficient and bone density in the dead piglets compared with the living siblings, we speculated that the white adipose tissue (WAT) mass might be less in the dead pigs

Summary

Introduction

The high mortality of pre-weanling piglets is a dominant challenge which severely restricts the development of pig industry. This study aims to find out the relationship between fat deposition and survival of newborn piglets. The postnatal body weight of piglets largely determines the rate of survival. Study has found the piglets with a lower birth weight were more likely to die. Continuous hypothermia due to the low temperature condition and the nutrients competition will restrict the vitality and motility of the low-weight piglets [3]. Previous study found the average rectal temperature of newborn piglets that died in the first week after birth was 1 °C lower than that of the live ones [2]

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