Influence of porcine parity on colostrum cytokine levels and their passive transfer to piglets

Abstract

The limited ability of newborn piglets to produce cytokines may influence lymphocyte development and response to antigen exposure. As a result, colostrum intake is crucial because it contains nutrients that contribute to immune system development in piglets. Our goal was to investigate the effect of sow parity on the transfer of maternal cytokines to nursing piglets. Sixty piglets from nine sows were divided into six groups: piglets from gilts or sows kept with their dams and allowed to suckle normally; piglets from gilts or sows having their dams exchanged and then allowed to suckle normally; piglets from gilts or sows isolated from their dams and bottle-fed a commercial milk replacer formula for pigs. All piglets remained in the diet groups for 24 hours after birth. Concentrations of cytokines in colostrum and serum of gilt/ sows and serum of piglets were then evaluated. The 13 evaluated cytokines had higher concentrations in colostrum and serum of sows than in gilts. Concentrations of GM-CSF, IFNγ, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-18, and TNFα were higher in piglets suckling sows. Piglets that received commercial formula showed higher concentrations of the cytokines IL1-RA and IL-8 than piglets fed colostrum. This outcome can influence piglets’ development into adulthood. In short, our findings demonstrated that maternal parity influenced colostrum cytokine composition and its maternal transfer patterns.