Mineral profile and dietary mineral supplements on the concentrations of some minerals in the brain regions of pigs.

Abstract

The nervous system though largely electrical in action is "powered" by its content of minerals which exist in ionic forms in nature and play a major role in neural action, membrane permeability and excitation. 20 grower boars were randomly assigned to two dietary groups of 10 boars each. The first ration was a conventional grower feed without vitamin/mineral premix while the second diet was supplemented with Agricare® premix* and more common salt than the conventional diet. The animals were fed ad libitum and slaughtered at 60kg body weight. The brains were dissected out into six brain parts namely: cerebellum, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, cerebral cortex and medulla oblongata, and immediately analysed for electrolytes. Calcium in the cerebellum and hypothalamus of mineral-supplemented pigs was significantly higher (P<0.05) than concentrations in the pigs on unsupplemented diets. Calcium concentrations in the other brain regions did not show significant differences. Sodium concentrations were relatively stable in all the brain parts irrespective of dietary mineral supplementation although higher concentrations were recorded in the brain parts of pigs on mineral supplemented diets. However, sodium concentrations were higher in the cerebellum and cerebral cortex of the mineral-supplemented pigs with values of 15.0 mg di and 14.8 mg dt- which are significantly (P<0.05) higher than concentrations of 11.8 mg dr and11.3 mg dr respectively recorded for the pigs on the unsupplemented diet. This study has established a direct link between dietary minerals and salt on the mineral content of the pig brain