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The runt miniature pig is a good model to study the early origins of adult diseases
Author(s) -
Myrie Semone B,
McKnight Leslie L,
Van Vliet Bruce N,
Cheema Sukhinder Kaur,
Bertolo Robert F
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.6.a1121-d
Subject(s) - blood pressure , medicine , endocrinology , body weight , animal model , insulin sensitivity , diabetes mellitus , zoology , biology , insulin resistance
Recently, small birth weight and rapid compensatory growth have been linked to chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. We sought to develop a Yucatan miniature pig model to study how neonatal changes in metabolism can lead to the development of chronic disease. Runt piglets (<800g) (N=6) were paired with the largest same sex littermate (>1100g) (N=6) and fed milk replacer ad lib from 3 to 31 d of age; thereafter pigs were fed chow ad lib. At 8 mo, pigs were fitted with venous catheters and an arterial blood pressure (BP) telemeter to measure BP continuously in unrestrained pigs. During formula feeding, runts demonstrated more efficient compensatory growth and by 8 mo, runts (62.6±6.6 kg) caught up in body weight to littermates (67.5±4.7) (P>0.05), but with more back fat (P=0.03). At 8 mo, runts had 2x higher plasma triglycerides (P<0.001), 45% slower clearance of triglycerides after a fat tolerance test (P=0.045), and higher (P<0.05) mean arterial pressure (MAP) (115.6 vs 110.7 mmHg) and systolic pressure (SP) (140.8 vs 134.3 mmHg), averaged over 24 h. Birth weight was negatively correlated to MAP (P=0.02) and SP (P=0.05). Glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity tests were not different. Using the miniature pig, we have successfully established a model for compensatory growth that can be used to investigate the mechanisms of early origins of adult disease. (Supported by CIHR).