| The report about effects of maternal nutrition during gestation on offspring’s intestinal development is limited, even thoughearly intestinal development of mammalian has an important influence on growth performance and health after birth. The object of this study was to evaluate the effects of maternal over/under nutrition on intestinal digestive and absorptive function of offspring at both birth and weaning.Thirty-three primiparous LY (Landrace×Yorkshire) gilts (aged 254 ± 10 d, initial body weight 149.2 ± 7.9 kg) were used in this study. After insemination, gilts were randomly allocated to one of three nutritional groups with 11 repeats for each group:control (CON), under-nutrition (UN) and over-nutrition (ON). During early pregnancy (d 1 to 30 of gestation),1.0 M (Maintenance requirements of nutrient) diet was provided to CON-gilts. Additionally, taking into account the linear increasing requirement of maternal weight gain and conceptus growth during mid (d 31 to 90 of gestation) and late (d 91 of gestation to parturition) pregnancy,1.2 M and 1.5 M diets were provided, respectively. In particular, UN-gilts fed 75% of the control intake and ON-gilts fed 150% of the control intake in all stage of gestation. All the gilts were fed the same diets ad libitum during lactation.Six piglets with weight close the average level were selected from each group for slaughter at birth as well as at weaning (28d). Before necropsy, each piglet was weighed and a sample of blood (～10mL) was collected via jugular venipuncture. After the piglet was killed by jugular puncture, SI was dissected and measured for weight and length quickly. The other visceral organs such as heart, liver, spleen and so on, were also dissected and recorded the weight. The small intestine was divided into duodenum, jejunum and ileum. All the samples were obtained rapidly and placed in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 ℃ for subsequent analyses.The main results were as follows:1) The maternal under-nutrition affected birth weight (-22%, P<0.01) and weaned weight of piglets (-11%, P<0.05). The small intestine weight (-28%, P< 0.01), length and the ratio of weight to length (-11 and-19%, P<0.05, respectively) were decreased but the relative small intestine length was increased (+14%, P<0.05) at birth in UN group. In contrast, the maternal over-nutrition significantly increased birth weight (+19%, P<0.01) and weaned weight of piglets (+12%, P<0.05). The small intestine weight (+33%, P<0.01) and the ratio of weight to length (weight per unit of length) (+25%, P<0.05) were increased but the relative small intestine length was decreased (-10%, P<0.05) at birth in ON group. In addition, the maternal over-nutrition significantly increased the weight of heart and kidney and the ratio of renal weight to body weight (P<0.05) at weaning.2) Maternal under-nutrition rendered jejunal and ileal villi height of newborn piglet shorter by 29% and 22%(respectively) relative to that in the control (P<0.05). Moreover, the villus height, crypt depth and the ratio of jejunal villus height to crypt depth of the three intestinal segments at weaning exhibited no significant differences among these groups (P>0.05).3) Both the maternal under-nutrition and the over-nutrition during gestation improved(+102% and +125%, P<0.05, respectively)the activity of brush border lactase in the jejunum compared with the control group at birth, but not at weaning. In addition, the maternal over-nutrition had a tendencyto decreased the activity of alkaline phosphatase in duodenum (P=0.051) and ileum (P=0.064) at birth.4) No effects of maternal nutrition level during gestation on serum GLP-2 and IGF-1 concentration in newborn piglets and weaning piglets were found (P>0.05).5) Maternal over-nutrition during gestation had markedly increased (+1.7～9.6 fold, P<0.05) the expression of mRNA for SGLT1, GLUT2, Peptl, and GLP2R in jejunum of weaning piglets. Notably, SGLT1 mRNA expression of maternal over-nutrition group in the neonatal piglet was increased (+2.2 fold, P<0.05) compared with that in the control. However, maternal under-nutrition during gestation did not significantly affect the expression of mRNA for SGLT1, GLUT2, Peptl, and GLP2R in jejunum of newborn and weaning piglets (P>0.05).Base on the above results, it could be concluded that:1) Maternal over-nutrition of 150% maintenance requirements of nutrient fed to giltsenhanced offspring’s intestinal capacity of digestion and absorption.2) Maternal under-nutrition of 75% maintenance requirements of nutrient fed to gilts led to impaired fetal intestinal development that could be partially compensated if provided adequate nourishment during neonatal period. |
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