Features of lipid synthesis from [2-14C] acetate in liver and intestinal mucosa of piglets

Abstract

Requirement of suckling piglets in lipids are supplied in two ways: with sow milk and by de novo synthesis. Despite the high fat content of milk and increased lipogenesis, lipid content in piglets’ body during the first month of life increases very slightly what is associated with extremely rapid growth at this period and, consequently, significant expenditure of energy and structural lipids for tissues formation. Therefore, it is important to study the intensity of lipid synthesis in suckling piglets. The purpose of our studies was to investigate the age-related dynamics of lipogenesis. Twelve sows of large white breed were selected. From each sow, three piglets were taken at 1-, 10- and 30-day-old age. The piglets were intramuscularly injected with an aqueous solution of [2-14C] sodium acetate at a dose of 100 μCi. After 2 hours, the piglets were killed and samples of the liver, small and large intestine mucosa were obtained. The tissues were homogenized; lipids were extracted and divided into classes by thin layer chromatography. The radioactivity of each fraction was determined by a scintillation counter. The results show that the intensity of lipid synthesis from [2-14C] acetate in liver of 1 day-age piglets was 2.5 times higher than at 10 and 30 days. In the mucous membrane of the small and large intestine of piglets at 1- and 10 days of age, lipid synthesis occurs at almost the same intensity. At 30 days of age it increases significantly in the small intestinal mucosa and decreases in the large intestinal mucosa. Significant differences in the degree of use of [2-14C] acetate in the synthesis of individual lipid classes in the small intestinal mucosa of piglets at all stages of the study compared with the liver were revealed. The same features are observed for the synthesis of individual classes of lipids in the mucosa of the large intestine of piglets at 10 and 30 days of age. The obtained results indicate significant differences in lipid synthesis in the mucosa of the small and large intestine and in the liver of suckling piglets. Acetate is very intensively used for lipid synthesis during the first 30 days of piglets’ life. On the first day of life, lipogenesis is most active in the liver, but with age the lipid synthesis gradually activated in the intestinal mucosa.