Effect of colostrum or medium-chain triglyceride supplementation on the pattern of plasma glucose, non-esterified fatty acids and survival of neonatal pigs.

A total of 48 neonatal pigs were used to determine whether intubation with colostrum or medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) would enhance glucose homeostasis and survival. Pigs were removed from the sow prior to nursing and alloted to three treatment groups. Fasted pigs received only water for 30 h, whereas those allotted to supplemented groups received either 30 ml of colostrum or 15 ml of MCT at 6 and 16 h after birth (t6 and t16). Supplementation with MCT (t6) resulted in a 2.4-fold elevation in plasma non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentration compared with fasted pigs (260 vs 109 microEq/liter at t8; P less than .05). This difference increased following the second MCT dose (436 vs 117 microEq/liter at t18; P less than .05). Colostrum supplementation also elevated plasma NEFA (201 and 259 microEq/liter at t8 and t18, respectively); however, less triglyceride fatty acid was presented via colostrum compared with MCT. Supplementation with MCT resulted in a greater increase in plasma glucose concentration, relative to fasting levels (75 vs 56 mg/ml at t8; 76 vs 62 mg/ml at t18), than was obtained with colostrum (68 and 65 mg/ml at t8 and t18, respectively). Residual effects of supplementation to t30 were evident for both MCT and colostrum pigs in NEFA levels, but only the MCT group had a greater (P less than .05) concentration of plasma glucose at t30 compared with the fasted group (63 vs 49; P less than .05). This regimen of MCT supplementation was employed in an experiment with nursing pigs to determine whether MCT would improve glucose status and survival of less-competitive pigs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)