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The pregnancy on nulliparous sows increases the nutritional requirements for the maintenance of maternal growth together with fetal growth and can lead to maternal-fat competition for nutrients. High and low protein diets fed to pregnant nulliparous sows led to intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Therefore, the objectives of this study were to monitor diet-dependent changes of maternal plasma metabolite and hormone concentrations during early, mid and late stages of pregnancy in adolescent sows, and to test the hypothesis that diet-dependent changes in maternal body weight, body fat, or plasma metabolites and hormones relate to IUGR and provide clues on the underlying metabolic reasons. A total of 95 (Average age= 241±4 d and BW=150±10 kg) nulliparous German Landrace were randomly allocated to three dietary groups which differed in the protein content: low (6.5%, LP), adequate (12.1%, AP), and high (30%, HP). Corn-barley and soybean meal based diets were formulated to be isoenergetic by carbohydrate content adjusted. At 25, 24, 66, and 108 days post matting (dpm) fasted blood was collected. At 92 dpm, diurnal metabolic profiles were determined.
Fasted serum urea and plasma glucagon were higher due to the HP diet. High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), %HDLC and cortisol were reduced in HP compared with AP sows. Lowest concentrations were observed for serum urea and protein, plasma insulin-like growth factor-I, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and progesterone in LP compared with AP and HP sows. Fasted plasma glucose, insulin and leptin concentrations were not different. Diurnal metabolic profiles showed lower glucose in HP sows whereas non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) concentrations were higher in HP compared with AP and LP sows. In HP sows, urea concentrations reached approximately 300% of the values observed in AP sows (P < 0.001), whereas in LP sows urea levels were approximately at 60% of the control values (P < 0.001). Plasma total cholesterol was higher in LP than in AP and HP sows. In AP sows, litter weight (LW) correlated positively with insulin and insulin/glucose and negatively with glucagon/insulin at 66 dpm, whereas in HP sows LW associated positively with NEFA.
In conclusion, IUGR in sows fed high protein:low carbohydrate diet was probably due to glucose and energy deficit whereas in sows with low protein:high carbohydrate diet there was a response to a deficit of indispensable amino acids which impaired lipoprotein metabolism and promoted maternal lipid disposal.
CC Metges, IS Lang, U Hennig, KP Brüssow, E Kanitz, M Tuchscherer, F Schneider, JM Weitzel, A Steinhoff-Ooster, H Sauerwein, O Bellmann, G Nürnberg, C Rehfeldt, W Otten. Intrauterine growth retarded progeny of pregnant sows fed high protein:low carbohydrate diet is related to metabolic energy deficit . 2012. Plos One, 7(2):e31390. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031390.