Gastrointestinal tract health influenced by weaning, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), amino acids and Chinese herb in the pre-or post-weaning period

摘要

Weaning stress presents a major obstacle in piglet production, and cause a great loss for pig industry. Due to the immature digestive and immune function at weaning, piglets suffering stress often exhibit depressed feed intake and growth, increased diarrhea and mortality. Overall it appears that to maintain gastrointestinal tract health may be the most promising way to alleviate the stress in this time. However, these stress response can be provoked by abrupt social, nutritional, and environmental changes associated with weaning or disease, and the underlying effect on gut physiological and biochemical change remain unclear. Fortunately, with application of novel technic in piglet nutrition research, many important findings come out and fulfill our knowledge about gut health. The aim of this paper is to review the most relevant findings obtained over the last three years on gene expression, protein expression of the gastrointestinal tract of pigs as influenced by weaning, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), amino acids and Chinese herb in the pre- or post-weaning period based on the application of gene chip, proteomics and metabolomics analysis. In contrast, traditional measurement of dietary factors on intestinal physiology and mucosal immunology have been limited or difficult to interpret in many cases. Undoubtedly, these finds will be very helpful for us to develop the new strategy for future piglets nutrition research.