ENHANCING MATERNAL/ FETAL ENERGY METABOLISM TO IMPROVE PIGLET VITALITY

Major goals of this projectThe major goal of this project is to increase fat utilization and intestinal development of fetal and suckling pigs by increasing carnitine placental transfer, mammary release and intestinal uptake via up-regulation of organic cation transporters specific for carnitine (OCTNs) and optimization of dietary carnitine thereby promoting piglet growth and survival.The specific objectives include:To evaluate the effect of increasing OCTNs expression by activation of PPARα on maternal carnitine status, placental carnitine transfers and FA oxidation.To evaluate the effect of increasing OCTNs expression by activation of PPARα on piglet intestinal carnitine uptake, carnitine status and FA oxidation.To investigate the mediatory role of OCTNs in increasing maternal carnitine transfer in placenta, mammary gland and intestine of offspring.To determine the carnitine requirement for sows by evaluating carnitine values in commercial gestation and lactation diets, and to evaluate the effect of increasing dietary carnitine level and OCTNs expression on energy utilization of fetal and suckling pigs.