Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (10): 3675-3684.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2022.10.038

• CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Low Calcium Stress on Lipid Metabolism in Fetal Pigs

ZHANG Zhuowei1, AI Qiangyun1, HE Yang2, ZHANG Hui1, LI Ying1, GUO Jianying1, TANG Zhaoxin1*   

  1. 1. South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China;
    2. Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650500, China
  • Received:2022-03-21 Online:2022-10-23 Published:2022-10-26

Abstract: The disorder of calcium and phosphorus metabolism in pigs is one of the long-term problems affecting the economic efficiency of pig farms. Calcium deficiency of pregnant sows leads to a decline in the production performance of the pigs, and the fattening effect of piglets is relatively poor, further resulting in the loss of production profit. The effects of calcium loss in pregnant sows on lipid metabolism in fetal pigs were studied in this paper. In this paper, the effect of calcium loss in pregnant sows on lipid metabolism in fetal pigs was studied. Twenty healthy sows with 7-8 gestational age were randomly divided into control group (CON, n=10) and low-calcium group (LCa, n=10). The sows were continuously fed according to different Ca/P ratio from the 85th day of gestation to the 114th day of delivery. The blood, liver and kidney tissue samples were collected from piglets immediately after birth. Metabolomics was used to analyze the changes of metabolic pathways in piglets. Lipids and lipid metabolism in serum were detected by biochemical apparatus and ELISA, respectively. The expression of lipid metabolism-related genes was detected by qRT-PCR. The results showed that low calcium stress mainly affected glycerol phospholipid metabolism pathway of fetal pigs, and also interfered fatty acid metabolism and palmitic acid synthesis; while, there was no significant change in serum lipid content of piglets (P>0.05). Low calcium stress significantly affected the secretion of FAS, Visfatin and Resistin in fetal pigs (P<0.05). The mRNA expressions of SCD, LDLR, SCD, FABP4, HSD17B12 and ABCC4 in liver and kidney of piglets were significantly decreased (P<0.05) in low calcium group. These results indicated that calcium deficiency in pregnant sows can affect the lipid metabolism of fetal pigs, which may be detrimental to their growth and development.

Key words: calcium, fetal pigs, lipid metabolisim

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