Dietary phospholipids rich in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids improve the repair of small intestine in previously malnourished piglets.
Malnourished piglets were studied to establish how a diet containing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) of the (n-6) and (n-3) series, esterified in the form of phospholipids, affects intestinal recovery after severe malnutrition. Piglets (7-d-old) were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was fed a piglet milk formula and the other was malnourished by protein-energy restriction for 30 d. Healthy and malnourished piglets were then divided into two subgroups fed for 10 d either an adapted milk formula (C and M) or the same diet supplemented with LC-PUFA phospholipids (C-P and M-P). The M-P group had greater protein, DNA, cholesterol and phospholipid levels and a lower triglyceride level in the jejunal segment than did the M group. The fatty acid composition of the jejunal mucosa and microsomes of the M-P piglets did not differ from that of healthy piglets (C). However, in jejunal mucosa, microsomes and phospholipids from malnourished piglets that did not receive LC-PUFA (group M) had significantly lower percentages of (n-6) LC-PUFA than those in healthy piglets (C). The (n-3) LC-PUFA percentages of jejunal mucosa were also lower in the M group than in the C group. The small intestine of piglets fed the LC-PUFA-supplemented formula recovered more completely from histologic lesions and biochemical alterations caused by the malnutrition process than the small intestine of piglets fed the control formula without LC-PUFA.
López-Pedrosa
J M
JM
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Cell Biology, University of Granada and R&D Department, Abbott Laboratories S.A., Granada, Spain.
Ramírez
M
M
Torres
M I
MI
Gil
A
A
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000032:analysis*; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013552:Swine; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects*
D004041:Dietary Fats; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D010743:Phospholipids