Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T01:52:41.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Patterns of substrate utilization from birth to weaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

J. M. Fletcher*
Affiliation:
Unilever Research, Colworth Laboratory, Sharnbrook, Bedford MK44 1LQ
Get access

Abstract

Strategies to reduce the relatively high incidence of death and disease in young animals must be based on an understanding of the particular metabolic requirements in the period from birth to weaning. In this period, substrate availability and the pathways of substrate utilization differ from those of the foetus and of the adult. Metabolic requirements must be met from the energy stores laid down before birth and from the nutrients present in colostrum and milk. The young animal has a large glucose demand and after exhaustion of hepatic glycogen reserves this must be met by gluconeogenesis. Initiation of gluconeogenesis requires concomitant oxidation of fatty acids, either derived from adipose tissue or from the diet. The young animal is particularly susceptible to hypothermia. Non-shivering thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue uses fatty acids to uncouple oxidation from phosphorylation and also as the major oxidative substrate. In addition, non-shivering thermogenesis is dependent on a minimum concentration of circulating glucose. Shivering thermogenesis is initially fuelled by oxidation of intra-muscular glycogen and then primarily by dietary fat. Growth of white adipose tissue by deposition of dietary fatty acids is an important feature of the metabolism of many species before weaning and this may have several survival advantages.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Production 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, G. 1970. Thermogenesis in young lambs. In Physiology of digestion and metabolism in the ruminant (ed. Phillipson, A. T.), pp. 199210. Oriel Press.Google Scholar
Bassett, J. M. 1989. Hormones and metabolic adaptation in the newborn. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 48: 263269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Battaglia, F. C. and Meschia, G. 1978. Principal substrates of fetal metabolism. Physiological Reviews 58: 499527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bier, D. M., Leake, R. D., Haymond, M. W., Arnold, K. J., Gruenke, L. D., Sperling, M. A. and Kipnis, D. M. 1977. Measurement of true glucose production rates in infancy and childhood with 6, 6 dideuteroglucose. Diabetes 26: 10161023.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bougnéres, P. F. 1987. Stable isotope tracers and the determination of fuel fluxes in newborn infants. Biology of the Neonate 52: suppl. 1, pp. 8796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruck, K. 1978. Heat production and temperature regulation. In Perinatal physiology (ed. Stave, U.), pp. 455498. Plenum Medical, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon, B. and Nedergaard, J. 1979. European Journal of Biochemistry 94: 419426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cawthorne, M. 1989. Does brown adipose tissue have a role to play in glucose homeostasis? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 48: 207214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cornblath, M. and Schwartz, R. 1976. Hypoglycaemia in the neonate. In Disorders of carbohydrate metabolism in infancy (ed. Schaffer, A. J. and Markowitz, M.), pp. 72111. Saunders, Philadelphia.Google ScholarPubMed
Cryer, A. and Jones, H. M. 1978. Developmental changes in the activity of lipoprotein lipase (clearing factor lipase) in rat lung, cardiac muscle, skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue. Biochemical Journal 174: 447451.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ezekwe, M. O. and Martin, R. J. 1978. Influence of maternal alloxan diabetes on body composition, liver enzymes and metabolism and serum metabolites and hormones of fetal pigs. Hormone and Metabolic Research 12: 136139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferre, P., Pegorier, J. P., Marliss, E. B. and Girard, J. R. 1978. Influence of exogenous fat and gluconeogenic substrates on glucose homeostasis in the newborn rat. American Journal of Physiology 234: E129E136.Google ScholarPubMed
Flecknell, P. A., Wootton, R. and John, M. 1980. Total body glucose metabolism in the conscious unrestrained piglet and its relation to body and organ weight. British Journal of Nutrition 44: 193203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fomon, S. J., Haschke, F., Ziegler, E. E. and Nelson, S. E. 1982. Body composition of reference children from birth to age 10 years. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 35: 11691175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gentz, J., Bengtsson, G., Hakkarainen, J., Hellstrom, R. and Persson, B. 1970. Metabolic effects of starvation during the neonatal period in the piglet. American Journal of Physiology 218: 662668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Girard, J. and Ferre, P. 1982. Metabolic and hormonal changes around birth. In The biochemical development of fetus and neonate (ed. Jones, C. T.), pp. 517552. Elsevier Biomedical Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Haggarty, P., Reeds, P. J., Fletcher, J. M. and Wahle, K. W. J. 1986. The fate of 14C derived from radioactively labelled dietary precursors in young rats of the Zucker strain (Fa/- and fa/fa). Biochemical Journal 235: 323327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haggarty, P., Wahle, K. W. J., Reeds, P. J. and Fletcher, J. M. 1987. Whole body fatty acid synthesis and fatty acid intake in young rats of the Zucker strain (fa/fa and Fa/L). International Journal of Obesity 11: 4150.Google Scholar
Hakkarainen, J. 1975. Developmental changes of protein, RNA, DNA, lipid and glycogen in the liver, skeletal muscle and brain of the piglet. Acta Veterinaria Scandanavica, suppl. no. 59, pp. 1198.Google Scholar
Hardman, M. J. and Hull, D. 1970. Fat metabolism in brown adipose tissue in vivo. Journal of Physiology, London 206: 263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heim, T. 1971. Thermogenesis in the newborn infant. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology 14: 790820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodgson, J. C. and Mellor, D. J. 1985. Kinetics of glucose metabolism in newborn lambs. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 44: 90A.Google Scholar
Jones, C. T. and Rolph, T. P. 1985. Metabolism during fetal life: a functional assessment of metabolic development. Physiological Review 65: 357430.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahang, M. W., Seudalian, D. A. and Tildon, J. T. 1974. Substrate oxidation and enzymic activities of ketone body metabolism in the developing pig. Biology of the Neonate 24: 187196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knip, M., Lautala, P., Leppaluoto, J., Akerblom, H. K. and Kouvalainen, K. 1983. Relation of enteroinsular hormones at birth to macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycaemia in infants of diabetic mothers. Journal of Paediatrics 103: 603611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lafeber, H. N., Jones, C. T. and Rolph, T. P. 1979. Some of the consequences of intrauterine growth retardation in nutrition and metabolism of the fetus and neonate (ed. Visser, H. K.), pp. 4362. Nijhoff, The Hague.Google Scholar
Le Dividich, J. and Noblet, J. 1981. Colostrum intake and thermoregulation in the neonatal pig in relation to environmental temperature. Biology of the Neonate 40: 167174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ma, S. W. Y. and Foster, D. O. 1986. Uptake of glucose and release of fatty acids and glycerol by rat brain adipose tissue in vivo . Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 64: 609614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, D. J. and Cockburn, , 1986. A comparison of energy metabolism in the new-born infant, piglet and lamb. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology 71: 361379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meschia, G. 1982. The function of the placenta as it relates to the transport of metabolic substrates to the fetus. In The biochemical development of the fetus and neonate (ed. Jones, C. T.), pp. 495513. Elsevier Biomedical Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Morgan, L. M., Oben, J., Fletcher, J. M. and Marks, V. 1991. Metabolic effects of gut peptides. Proceedings of the 51st Easter School of the University of Nottingham. In press.Google Scholar
Nicholls, D. G. and Locke, R. M. 1984. Brown adipose tissue. Physiological Reviews 64: 164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noblet, J. and Le Dividich, J. 1981. Energy metabolism of the newborn pig during the first 24 hours of life. Biology of the Neonate 40: 175182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oben, J., Morgan, L., Fletcher, J. M. and Marks, V. 1991. The effect of gut hormones on fatty acid synthesis in explants of rat adipose tissue. Journal of Endocrinology 130: 267272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oben, J., Morgan, L., Fletcher, J. M. and Marks, V. 1992. The control of porcine adipose tissue metabolism by gut hormones before weaning. In Neonatal survival and growth (ed. Varley, M. A., Williams, P. E. V. and Lawrence, T. L. S.), Occasional Publication, British Society of Animal Production, No. 25, pp. 189191.Google Scholar
Oftedal, O. T. 1984. Milk composition, milk yield and energy output at peak lactation: a comparative review. Symposia of the Zoological Society, London 171: 3385.Google Scholar
Page, M. A., Krebs, H. A. and Williamson, D. H. 1971. Activities of enzymes of ketone-body utilisation in brain and other tissues of suckling rats. Biochemical Journal 121: 4953.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patel, M. S., Van Lelyand, P. and Hanson, R. W. 1982. The development of the pathways of glucose homoeostasis in the newborn. In The biomedical development of the fetus and neonate (ed. Jones, C. T.), pp. 553571. Elsevier Biomedical Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Pegorier, J. P., Duee, P. H., Girard, J. R. and Peret, J. 1982. Development of gluconeogenesis in isolated hepatocytes from fasting or suckling newborn pigs. Journal of Nutrition 112: 10381046.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pegorier, J. P., Simoes-Nunes, C., Duee, P.-H. Peret, J. and Girard, J. 1985. Effect of intragastric triglyceride administration on glucose homeostasis in newborn pigs. American Journal of Physiology 249: E268E275.Google ScholarPubMed
Pettigrew, J. E. 1981. Supplementary dietary fat for peripartal sows: a review. Journal of Animal Science 53: 107117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raison, J. J., Edwards, S. A., English, P. R., MacPherson, O. and Thompson, K. 1991. The effect of dietary energy source during lactation on sow milk production and piglet performance. Animal Production 52: 598 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Robinson, A. and Williamson, D. H. 1980. Physiological roles of ketone bodies as substrates and signals in mammalian tissues. Physiological Reviews 60: 143187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romsos, D. R., Belo, P. S., Miller, E. R. and Leveille, G. A. 1975. Influence of dietary 1, 3 butanediol on weight gain, blood and liver metabolites and lipogenesis in the pig and chick. Journal of Nutrition 105: 161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosebrough, R. W., Steele, N. C. and Frobish, L. T. 1981. Effect of ketogenic diets in gestation on some characteristics of carbohydrate metabolism in fetal pig brain and liver. Growth 45: 4257.Google ScholarPubMed
Seerly, R. W. 1989. Survival and post-weaning performance of pigs from sows fed fat during late gestation and lactation. Journal of Animal Science 67: 11891894.Google Scholar
Smith, S. A., Young, P. and Cawthorne, M. A. 1986. Quantification in vivo of the effects of insulin on glucose utilization in individual tissues of warm and cold acclimated rats. Biochemical Journal 237: 789795.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stahly, T. S., Cromwell, G. L. and Monegue, H. J. 1986. Effects of dietary additions of 1, 3 butanediol or lard for sows on survival of neonatal pigs. Journal of Animal Science 63: 11561162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stahly, T. S., Cromwell, G. L. and Monegue, H. J. 1985. Effects of prepartum administration of 1, 3 butanediol to sows on growth and survival of neonatal pigs. Journal of Animal Science 61: 14851491.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swiatek, K. R., Kipnis, D. M., Mason, G., Chao, K-L and Cornblath, M. 1968. Starvation hypoglycaemia in newborn pigs. American Journal of Physiology 214: 400405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thulin, A. J., Allee, G. L, Harmon, D. L. and Davis, D. L. 1989. Utero-placental transfer of octanoic, palmitic and linoleic acids during late gestation in gilts. Journal of Animal Science 67: 738745.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trayhurn, P. 1989. Brown adipose tissue and nutritional energetics — where are we now? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 48: 165175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whittemore, C. T., Aumaitre, A. and Williams, I. H. 1978. Growth of body components in young weaned pigs. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 91: 681692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittemore, C. T., Taylor, H. M., Henderson, R., Wood, J. D. and Brock, D. C. 1981. Chemical and dissected composition changes in weaned pigs. Animal Production 32: 203210.Google Scholar
Widdowson, E. M. and McCance, R. A. 1961. Some effects of accelerating growth. I. General somatic development. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 152: 188206.Google Scholar
Williamson, D. H. 1982. The production and utilisation of ketone bodies in the neonate. In The biochemical development of the fetus and neonate (ed. Jones, C. T.), pp. 621650. Elsevier Biomedical Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Williamson, D. H. 1987. Brain substrates and the effects of nutrition. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 46: 8187.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wood, A. J. and Groves, T. D. 1965. Body composition studies on the suckling pig. 1. Moisture, chemical fat, total protein and total ash in relation to age and body weight. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 45: 813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar