Effects of dietary intervention on inflammation and intrauterine growth restriction in neonatal piglets
type: CreativeWork
description: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), a form of fetal malnutrition that leads to small for gestational age (SGA) infants, is a condition that affects 7.5 million children born worldwide. Infants affected by IUGR are more prone to lengthy hospital stays, repeated infections, and neurodevelopmental delays. These children also have an increased risk for chronic inflammation and psychiatric diseases later in life. Inflammation during early development is associated with psychiatric disease risk by disrupting normal neurodevelopmental processes. Due to the potentially devastating effects of IUGR, it is important to both characterize the physiological effects of IUGR and work to develop nutritional interventions that will combat the effects of fetal malnutrition and inflammation. Domestic piglets (Sus scrofa) were used as models to conduct the following studies, as they offer advantages in their anatomical and physiological similarity to human infants. The first study sought to determine if a pre-digested fat (PDF) system developed by Abbott Nutrition would lead to increased white matter development and improved learning ability in the SGA piglet. Sex-matched, littermate pairs of SGA and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) piglets were randomly assigned to standard formula (CON) or PDF formula diets on postnatal day (PD) 2. On PD14, half were used for hippocampal RNA-sequencing; the other half began a spatial learning task. At approximately 4 weeks old, brain structure was assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and brain tissues were submitted for fatty acid analysis. PDF diet did not increase growth rates in SGA piglets. Hippocampal gene expression changes and whole brain white matter microstructural deficits due to SGA status were not corrected by PDF. Hippocampal and cerebellar DHA levels were not affected by PDF. PDF diet did, however, increase relative white matter and several white matter associated structure volumes in both SGA and AGA piglets, as well as…
abstract: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), a form of fetal malnutrition that leads to small for gestational age (SGA) infants, is a condition that affects 7.5 million children born worldwide. Infants affected by IUGR are more prone to lengthy hospital stays, repeated infections, and neurodevelopmental delays. These children also have an increased risk for chronic inflammation and psychiatric diseases later in life. Inflammation during early development is associated with psychiatric disease risk by disrupting normal neurodevelopmental processes. Due to the potentially devastating effects of IUGR, it is important to both characterize the physiological effects of IUGR and work to develop nutritional interventions that will combat the effects of fetal malnutrition and inflammation. Domestic piglets (Sus scrofa) were used as models to conduct the following studies, as they offer advantages in their anatomical and physiological similarity to human infants. The first study sought to determine if a pre-digested fat (PDF) system developed by Abbott Nutrition would lead to increased white matter development and improved learning ability in the SGA piglet. Sex-matched, littermate pairs of SGA and appropriate for gestational age (AGA) piglets were randomly assigned to standard formula (CON) or PDF formula diets on postnatal day (PD) 2. On PD14, half were used for hippocampal RNA-sequencing; the other half began a spatial learning task. At approximately 4 weeks old, brain structure was assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and brain tissues were submitted for fatty acid analysis. PDF diet did not increase growth rates in SGA piglets. Hippocampal gene expression changes and whole brain white matter microstructural deficits due to SGA status were not corrected by PDF. Hippocampal and cerebellar DHA levels were not affected by PDF. PDF diet did, however, increase relative white matter and several white matter associated structure volumes in both SGA and AGA piglets, as well as…
author: Corbett, Megan P
language: en
keywords: intrauterine growth restriction small for gestational age neuroinflammation docosahexaenoic acid omega-3 fatty acid piglet neonate
date published: 2021-03-05T21:45:01Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:50Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109546