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Carnitine Status and Lipid Utilization in Neonatal Piglets Fed Diets Low in Carnitine^1,2,3,

Department of Animal Science and Interdepartmental Nutrition Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695

Forty-eight newborn piglets were assigned to dietary regimens to examine carnitine status and lipid utilization by piglets nursing sows (Diet 1), fed a high-carnitine (1507 µmol camitine/kg dry matter) caseinwhey formula (Diet 2) or fed a low-carnitine (35 µmol carnitine/kg dry matter) egg white protein formula (Diet 3). Four piglets were killed at birth, and four per dietary group were killed at 3, 7, 14 and 21 d of age. Piglets fed Diet 3 had lower (P < 0.01) carnitine in plasma and liver by d 7 and carnitine remained lower to d 21. Heart carnitine tended to be lower in piglets fed Diet 3, but the differences were not significant. Longissimus muscle carnitine was not affected. In vitro palmitate oxidation was lower (P < 0.05) on d 7 in the liver from piglets fed Diet 3 but not on d 3, 14 and 21. Low dietary carnitine did not affect in vitro liver ß-hydroxybutyrate production or oxidation of palmitate by longissimus muscle. Plasma glucose and nonesterified fatty acids were higher (P < 0.05) in piglets nursing sows than those fed Diets 2 or 3. Piglets receiving Diet 3 had reduced carnitine in plasma and certain tissues, and liver lipid oxidation was depressed on d 7 of age, compared with those receiving the other two diets. Feeding the low carnitine diet did not alter glucose status or plasma lipids and ketones.

KEY WORDS: • carnitine • porcine • neonate • lipid utilization • pigs

¹ The use of trade names in this article does not imply endorsement by the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service of the products named, nor criticism of similar ones not mentioned.

² This work was presented in part at the 1988 Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, May 1–6, Las Vegas, NV [Coffey, M. T., Shireman, R. B. & Jones, E. E. 1988 Effect of low dietary carnitine on lipid utilization by neonatal pigs. FASEB J. 2: A1212 (abs.)].

³ This research was supported in part from a grant by the National Pork Producers Council and the Florida Affiliate of the American Heart Association.

⁴ Present address: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

Manuscript received 23 April 1990. Revision accepted 6 November 1990.