J. Choe

Dietary spray-dried plasma improves intestinal morphology of mated female mice under stress condition

BackgroundStress causes inflammation that impairs intestinal barrier function. Dietary spray-dried plasma (SDP) has recognized anti-inflammatory effects and improvement of gut barrier function. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary SDP on intestinal morphology of mated female mice under stress condition.ResultsVillus height, width, and area of small intestines were low on gestation day (GD) 3 or 4 under stress conditions, and higher later (Time, Pu2009<u20090.05). Crypt depth of colon was low on GD 4 and higher later (Time, Pu2009<u20090.05). Meanwhile, the SDP treatments improved (Pu2009<u20090.05) intestinal morphology, indicated by increased villus height, villusxa0width, villusxa0area, and ratio between villus height and crypt depth of small intestines and crypt depth of colon, andxa0by decreased crypt depth of small intestines, compared with the control diet. The SDP treatments also increased (Pu2009<u20090.05) the number of goblet cells in intestines compared with the control diet. There were no differences between different levels of SDP.ConclusionDietary SDP improves intestinal morphology of mated female mice under stress condition.

Spray-dried plasma attenuates inflammation and lethargic behaviors of pregnant mice caused by lipopolysaccharide

This study evaluated whether dietary spray-dried plasma (SDP) can ameliorate inflammation, lethargic behaviors, and impairment of reproduction caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge during late pregnancy. Two experiments were conducted with 125 mated female mice (C57BL/6 strain) in each experiment. All mice were shipped from a vendor on the gestation day (GD) 1 and arrived at the laboratory on GD 3. Mice were randomly assigned to dietary treatments with or without 8% SDP in the diet. On GD 17, mice determined pregnant by BW and abdomen shape were randomly assigned to intraperitoneal injections with or without 2 μg LPS. In experiment 1, 17 mice (26.7 ± 1.7 g BW) were identified pregnant and euthanized 6 h after the LPS challenge to measure inflammatory responses in uterus and placenta. In experiment 2, 44 mice (26.0 ± 1.6 g BW) were identified pregnant and euthanized 24 h after the LPS challenge to assess behavior and late-term pregnancy loss. Growth performance and reproductive responses, such as loss of pregnancy, percentage of fetal death, and etc., were measured in all pregnant mice. The LPS challenge increased (P < 0.05) uterine and placental tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ, late-term pregnancy loss, and lethargy score, and decreased (P < 0.05) uterine transforming growth factor-β1, moving time and number of rearing, and growth and feed intake. The SDP decreased (P < 0.05) concentrations of both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in one or both tissues, and the lethargy score, and increased (P < 0.05) moving time and number of rearing, growth of pregnant mice, and fetal weight. However, the SDP did not affect late-term pregnancy loss caused by the LPS challenge. Consequently, dietary SDP attenuated acute inflammation and lethargic behaviors of pregnant mice caused by the LPS challenge, but did not affect late-term pregnancy loss after the acute inflammation.

Effects of different gestation housing types on reproductive performance of sows

This study evaluated the effects of different gestation housing types on reproductive performance of sows. A total of 60 sows (218xa0±xa024xa0kg body weight) with mixed parity were used. During gestation, 28 sows were housed in groups with electronic sow feeders (space allowancexa0=xa01.26xa0m2 /sow) and 32 sows were housed in individual stalls (space allowancexa0=xa01.20xa0m2 /sow). Sows from both housing types were moved to farrowing crates on day 109 of gestation and stayed until weaning (18xa0days post-farrowing). Typical corn-soybean meal diets were provided to sows during gestation and lactation. Measurements were reproductive performance of sows at farrowing as well as performance of sows and their litter during lactation. Similar total numbers of piglets born at farrowing were observed for sows gestated in both housing types. However, group-housed gestation sows had more mummies (0.321 vs. 0.064; Pxa0<xa00.05) and stillbirths (0.893 vs. 0.469; Pxa0=xa00.073) at farrowing than individual-housed gestation sows. Consequently, individual-housing type had higher percentage of piglets born alive (95.5 vs. 90.4%; Pxa0<xa00.05) than the group-housing type. Therefore, improved reproductive performance of sows from individual gestating housing was confirmed in this study.

Value of clay as a supplement to swine diets

The use of practical management factors to maximize pig health improvement cannot guarantee freedom from diseases. Moreover, because of health safety concerns, the use of antibiotics has been restricted in livestock, including pigs. Therefore, the swine industry has been looking for various alternatives to antibiotics to improve pig’s health and performance. Clay is a dietary factor generally accepted for improving pig health. It is a naturally occurring material and is primarily composed of fine-grained minerals. It has a specific structure with polar attraction. Because of this structure, clay has the ability to lose or gain water reversibly. In addition, clay has beneficial physiological activities. First, clay has anti-diarrheic and antibacterial effects by penetrating the cell wall of bacteria or inhibiting their metabolism. Second, it can protect the intestinal tract by absorbing toxins, bacteria, or even viruses. When added to the diet, clay has also been known to bind some mycotoxins, which are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi, namely in cereal grains. Those beneficial effects of clay can improve pigs’ health and performance by reducing pathogenic bacteria, especially pathogenic Escherichia coli, in the intestinal tract. Therefore, it is suggested that clay has a remarkable potential as an antibiotics alternative.