Abstract:

The main objective of this experiment was to evaluate the regulatory effect of dietary supplementation of
tributyrin at 0.1% on blood physiological and biochemical indexes, pancreas weight, and pancreatic enzyme secretion in
sucking piglets with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Totally 8 normal-birth-weight piglets and 16 IUGR piglets were
selected. The IUGR piglets were randomly divided into 2 groups (IUGR group was fed basic artificial milk; IUGR+tributyrin
group fed basic artificial milk supplemented with 0.1% tributyrin). The normal-birth-weight piglets fed with basic artificial
milk (NBW group). The experiment started from 7 days and ended at 21 days of age. Then, 6 piglets with nearly equal
body weight were selected from each group and slaughtered. Blood parameters and pancreatic enzyme activities were
detected. The results showed that the levels of blood total bilirubin and urea were significantly decreased (P < 0.05), and
total protein and creatinine were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in IUGR piglets. The pancreas weights of IUGR piglets
were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those of the NBW group. Pancreatic amylase and lipase activities in IUGR piglets
were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Moreover, after being supplemented with 0.1% tributyrin, blood urea, total bilirubin,
total protein and creatinine in IUGR piglets had no significant difference (P > 0.05) from those in the NBW group. Pancreas
weight was increased (P > 0.05), trypsin, amylase and lipase were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in IUGR piglets. The
above findings suggested that blood physiological and biochemical indices of sucking piglets could be influenced by IUGR.
Dietary supplementation of 0.1% tributyrin has a potential therapeutic role in attenuating the damage caused by IUGR.

Key words: intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), pancreas, sucking piglets, blood physiological and biochemical parameters