3 research outputs found
Excretion of purine derivatives in cows: endogenous contribution and recovery of exogenous purine bases
Two dry cows fitted with simple cannula in the rumen and duodenum, and fed with a mixed diet (straw:barley, 50:50), were used to determine endogenous losses and response of urinary purine derivatives (PDs) to duodenally infused yeast-RNA. Duodenal flow of purine bases (PBs) was determined by a dual marker system, and 15N was infused continuously into the rumen to label microbial PBs. The isotope dilution of urinary PDs in relation to duodenal PBs confirmed the presence of an endogenous fraction (236 μmol/kg LW0.75) bigger than in sheep and lower than values estimated in cows with impaired rumen fermentation. Excretion of PDs increased linearly in response to incremental supply of PBs with an equimolar recovery of 0.84 mol/mol. However, net recovery of duodenal PBs was 0.67 for the basal diet and 0.65, 0.90, 0.79 and 0.82 for the four levels of PB infusion. It is suggested that differences in digestibility between yeast-RNA and duodenal PBs might explain differences in recovery estimations
Blood parameters as biomarkers in a Salmonella spp. disease model of weaning piglets
peer-reviewedBackground
The weaning pig is used as an experimental model to assess the impact of diet on intestinal
health. Blood parameters (BP) are considered a useful tool in humans, but there is very
scarce information of such indicators in the weaning pig. The objective of the present
study is to evaluate the use of different BP as indicators in an experimental model of
salmonellosis.
Methodology
Seventy-two 28-day-old piglets were divided into four groups in a 2x2 factorial arrangement,
with animals receiving or not a probiotic combination based on B. infantis IM1® and B. lactis
BPL6 (109 colony forming units (cfu)/d) and orally challenged or not a week later with Salmonella
Typhimurium (5x108 cfu). Blood samples of one animal per pen (N = 24) were taken
four days post-inoculation for the evaluation of different BP using an I-stat® System and of
plasmatic concentrations of zinc, iron and copper.
Principal findings
Results reported marginal deficiencies of zinc in piglets at weaning. Moreover, plasmatic
zinc, copper and iron presented good correlations with weight gain (r 0.57, r -0.67, r 0.54
respectively; P < 0.01). Blood electrolytes (Na+, Cl- and K+) decreased (P < 0.01) only when
the performance of the animals was seriously compromised and clinical symptoms were
more apparent. Acid-base balance parameters such as HCO3-, TCO2 and BEecf significantly
correlated with weight gain, but only in the challenged animals (r -0.54, r -0.55, and r
-0.51, respectively; P < 0.05), suggesting metabolic acidosis depending on Salmonella infection. Glucose was affected by the challenge (P = 0.040), while Htc and Hgb increased
with the challenge and decreased with the probiotic (P < 0.05). Furthermore, correlations of
Glu, Htc and Hgb with weight gain were observed (P < 0.05). Overall, BP could be regarded
as simple, useful indexes to assess performance and health of weaning piglets