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High Levels of Inorganic Sulfate Cause Diarrhea in Neonatal Piglets^1,2,3,

Guillermo G. Gomez^*,,4, Robert S. Sandler^,, and Elston Seal, Jr.^**

^* Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 ^** EPA Human Studies Division, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Artificially reared neonatal piglets were used to study the effect of inorganic sulfate on bowel function in human infants. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of high levels of inorganic sulfate on the growth, feed intake and feces consistency of artificially reared piglets, and to determine the dose at which at least 50% of piglets develop nonpathogenic diarrhea. The effect of sulfate level on kidney weight and concentration of inorganic sulfate in urine was also assessed. In each experiment, 40 pigs with an average initial age of 5 d were individually caged and reared with an automatic feeding device. Ten pigs per dietary treatment were fed one of four diets containing the following levels of added inorganic sulfate (mg/L of diet), as anhydrous sodium sulfate (USP): 0, 1200, 1600 and 2000 for Experiment 1 (18-d study), and 0, 1800, 2000 and 2200 for Experiment 2 (16-d study). The levels of added sulfate did not affect (P > 0.05) the growth of piglets, or their feed intake. Whereas 1200 mg added sulfate/L had essentially no effect on feces consistency, levels > 1800 mg/L of diet resulted in a persistent, nonpathogenic diarrhea in neonatal piglets. Added sulfate did not affect (P > 0.05) relative kidney weight. Inorganic sulfate in urine reached maximum concentration (P < 0.05) in pigs fed diets with 1600 and 1800 mg added sulfate/L in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively, but declined at higher levels. The results suggest that the level of added dietary inorganic sulfate at which 50% of piglets develop nonpathogenic diarrhea is between 1600 and 1800 mg/L.

KEY WORDS: • inorganic sulfate • neonatal piglets • gastrointestinal effects • liquid diets • swine

¹ Presented in part at the 1994 Joint Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association and the American Society of Animal Science, July 11–15, 1994, Minneapolis, MN [Gomez, G. (1994) Effects of sulfate in liquid diets for artificially-reared piglets. J. Anim. Sci. 72 (suppl. 1): 164 (abs.)].

² This study was conducted at the NCSU Piglet Core with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease. Although the research described in this article has been supported by the U.S. EPA, it has not been subjected to agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the agency. No official endorsement should be inferred. Mention of trade names or commerical products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

³ The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

⁴ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 17 November 1994. Revision accepted 6 March 1995.