Early-life supplementation of osteopontin supports neurodevelopment and influences exploratory behavior

Human milk is the considered a gold standard source of nutrition for infants for its superior outcomes compared to that of infant formula. However, significant differences between the composition of human milk and infant formula exist. As such, continuous efforts are being made to narrow the gap between these two nutritional sources for infants, and bioactive compounds in human milk have been gaining attention as potential supplementation to infant formulas. This research specifically focuses on the benefits of osteopontin (OPN), a multi-functional bioactive protein found at high concentration in human milk. Milk OPN has been associated with various benefits during development, such as improved immune responses and promoting gut health. However, the influence of bovine milk OPN supplementation on neurodevelopment has not been extensively researched. This research was conducted to investigate whether dietary supplementation of bovine milk OPN supports brain and cognitive development using young pigs as a translational biomedical model. Twenty-one intact male pigs were artificially reared from postnatal day (PND) 2 to 34, having ad libitum access to one of two dietary treatments: a control diet (n = 10) and bovine milk OPN supplemented diet (n = 11). Various aspects of development were assessed, especially brain structural and functional development via novel object recognition (NOR) test and magnetic resonance imaging. Overall growth performance did not differ between two treatment groups. OPN-supplemented pigs exhibited shorter (P < 0.05) latency to the first object visited compared to the control pigs. No dietary effects were observed for the recognition index, although the control group exhibited novelty preference. Neuroimaging results demonstrated increased (P < 0.05) relative brain volumes in some subregions including the corpus callosum, lateral ventricle, left and right internal capsule, left and right putamen-globus pallidus, right hippocampus, and right cortex in the OPN group. Diffusion tensor imaging showed higher (P < 0.05) radial diffusivity in the corpus callosum and lower (P < 0.05) fractional anisotropy in the OPN supplemented group. Having larger relative brain volumes in several subregions may indicate bovine milk OPN promoting more synaptogenesis in these regions. Also, bovine milk OPN supplementation had minimal effects on recognition memory but influenced exploratory behavior, which may provide insights to the emotional state of the animals rather than recognition memory. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of bovine milk OPN influencing neurodevelopment and behavior warrant further research.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Animal Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Thom, Sangyun J

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dilger, Ryan N
• Donovan, Sharon M
• Dilger, Anna C

• Osteopontin
• Pig
• Neurodevelopment

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Sangyun Thom

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120151

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F120151