Weaning stress and intestinal health of piglets: A review

Abstract

Weaning is considered to be one of the most critical periods in pig production, which is related to the economic benefits of pig farms. However, in actual production, many piglets are often subjected to weaning stress due to the sudden separation from the sow, the changes in diet and living environment, and other social challenges. Weaning stress often causes changes in the morphology and function of the small intestine of piglets, disrupts digestion and absorption capacity, destroys intestinal barrier function, and ultimately leads to reduced feed intake, increased diarrhea rate, and growth retardation. Therefore, correctly understanding the effects of weaning stress on intestinal health have important guiding significance for nutritional regulation of intestinal injury caused by weaning stress. In this review, we mainly reviewed the effects of weaning stress on the intestinal health of piglets, from the aspects of intestinal development, and intestinal barrier function, thereby providing a theoretical basis for nutritional strategies to alleviate weaning stress in mammals in future studies.

Maternal supplementation with glycerol monolaurate improves the intestinal health of suckling piglets by inhibiting the NF-κB/MAPK pathways and improving oxidative stability

“…Inflammation and oxidative stress will directly lead to changes in intestinal morphology, which are defined as important indicators to evaluate intestinal function and health. 34 In the present study, a sow diet supplemented with 0.1% GML significantly improved the ratio of villi height to crypt depth in the jejunum and ileum of the offspring, indicating that GML has positive significance in improving the intestinal development of offspring. 13 GML is a kind of MCFA monoglyceride that has been proven to convey positive benefits in improving animal health, production and feed digestibility as a feed additive.…”

Age Rather Than Supplementation with Oat β-Glucan Influences Development of the Intestinal Microbiota and SCFA Concentrations in Suckling Piglets

“…The weaning period is known to be a very stressful time in the life of piglets, because weaning is associated with abrupt separation from the sow, major dietary changes, and mixing with unfamiliar piglets. Stress can lead to increased incidence of enteric infections and intestinal inflammation [ 3 , 4 ]. Overgrowth of harmful bacteria is a major risk factor in the development of enteric diseases such as post-weaning diarrhoea, which can lead to financial losses due to decreased growth rate, mortality, and the extra cost of medication.…”

Generation of Porcine Angiogenin 4-Expressing Pichia pastoris and Its Protection against Intestinal Inflammatory Injury

“…Furthermore, it is easy to induce intestinal microbiota imbalance and cause intestinal inflammation. 21,22 In the context of prohibiting the use of antibiotics in animal feed, ANG4 may become one of the methods to solve the above U s e r s a f f i l i a t e d concentrated, and transferred into P. pastoris X-33 receptor cells by electroporation at 2000 V, 200 Ω, 25 μF for 10 mS. Then 1 mL of 1 mol/L sorbitol solution precooled at 4 °C was added immediately and yeast cells incubated at 29 °C for 1 h. The 10−20 μL bacterial solution was spread on a yeast extract peptone dextrose sorbitol (YPDS) plate containing 100 μg/mL zeocin and incubated at 29 °C.…”

“…Young animals, especially those in the weaning stage, such as weaned piglets, are prone to insufficient digestion of nutrients and damage to the intestinal mucosa due to changes in feed from liquid to solid, immature development of the digestive tract, and insufficient secretion of digestive enzymes. Furthermore, it is easy to induce intestinal microbiota imbalance and cause intestinal inflammation. , In the context of prohibiting the use of antibiotics in animal feed, ANG4 may become one of the methods to solve the above problem. Interestingly, ANG4 protein has been found high expression in the ileum and colon, followed by the jejunum and the duodenum, with the primary sites being goblet cells and Panth cells in piglets .…”