Metabolomics characterization of colostrum in three sow breeds and its influences on piglets’ survival and litter growth rates

Abstract

BackgroundColostrum is the first secretion produced by mammary glands during the hours immediately preceding and succeeding parturition. This secretion differs from milk and represents an essential vehicle of passive immunity, prebiotic compounds and growth factors involved in intestinal development. Most of the literature concerning colostrum composition refers mainly to human and cow; and little is known about pig colostrum metabolome and how it varies between pig breeds and different farrowing parity. Thus, the aim of the present research is to provide new information about pig colostrum composition and the associations between metabolites, the sows’ breed and the survival and growth rates of their litters.ResultsColostrum samples were gathered from 58 parturitions of sows belonging to three different breeds chosen for their importance in Italian heavy pig production: 31 Large White, 15 Landrace and 12 Duroc respectively. The defatted and ultrafiltered colostrum samples were analysed using 1H–NMR spectroscopy. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was assessed on the obtained spectra. In addition, using a Stepwise Regression and a Linear Regression analyses the metabolites named after the signals assignment were tested for their associations with piglets’ performances. Twenty-five metabolites were identified, comprehending monosaccharides, disaccharides (such as lactose), organic acids (lactate, citrate, acetate and formate), nitrogenous organic acids (such as creatine) and other compounds, including nucleotides. PCA results evidence a clustering due to breed and season effects. Lactose was the main compound determining the assignment of the samples into different clusters according to the sow breed. Furthermore, some metabolites showed to be associated with piglets’ performance and survival traits: acetate and taurine were positively related to litter weight gain and piglets’ survival rate, respectively, while dimethylamine and cis-aconitate were linked to new-borns’ impaired ability to survive.ConclusionsThe results obtained suggest that colostrum composition is affected by breed, which, together with environmental conditions, may cause changes in colostrum metabolites content with possible consequences on piglets’ performances. Among the identified metabolites, acetate, taurine, dimethylamine and cis-aconitate showed consistent associations with piglets’ survival rate and litter weight gain, implying that these compounds may affect new-borns’ ability to survive.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40104-018-0237-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Investigation of the Defatted Colostrum 1H-NMR Metabolomics Profile of Gilts and Multiparous Sows and Its Relationship with Litter Performance

“…In the present study, the 1 H-NMR technique allowed the identification of a total of 33 compounds, some of which were previously identified in swine colostrum using the same technique [17]. In addition to the compounds identified by Picone et al [17], in the present study, 12 new compounds were identified, including several amino acids (glycine, leucine, threonine, tyrosine, valine, and phenylalanine), nucleotides (uracil), nucleoside (inosine), organic acid (trans-aconitate), and additional functional compounds such as betaine, O-phosphocholine, and O-acetylcarnitine, while glycolate, N-acetylglutamate, succinate, and uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose were not identified. Differences in the detected compounds may be due to the difference in the animals' health status, in the animals' diet and management, and in animal genetics among studies.…”

“…Colostrum was prepared as reported by Picone et al [17]. Briefly, colostrum was thawed and mixed by inversion; then, 15 mL of each sample was diluted 1:1 with pure water and 0.02% of sodium azide added to inhibit bacterial growth.…”

“…Each 1 H-NMR spectrum was processed by means of scripts in R (version 3.6) (REF) language developed in-house as follows [17]: spectrum baseline was adjusted by employing the signal identification algorithm named "baseline.peakDetection" from R package "Baseline" [19]. Chemical shift referencing was performed by setting the TMSP signal to 0.00 ppm.…”

“…A total of 33 compounds listed in Table 2 were identified through a combination of literature assignments [17,21] and using a multimedia library included in Chenomx NMR Suite 8.2 professional software (Chenomx, Edmonton, AB, Canada). The assignments were obtained at pH 7.24.…”

“…Recently, the development of new technological tools allowed the description of the colostrum and milk metabolomics profile, defined as the comprehensive characterization and quantification of metabolites, which may have a bioactive and beneficial effect on the neonates [13,14]. Few studies investigated the swine colostrum metabolome composition [15][16][17] and the relationship between colostrum metabolites and sows' productive traits [17,18]. Recently, it was observed that sows' parity number may influence the colostrum's lipid composition in terms of free fatty acid (FFA) and de novo fatty acids (FA) related to the energy metabolism (mainly the C18 FA series) [16].…”