| IUGR
(Intrauterine growth restriction) |
| Intrauterine
growth restriction, or IUGR, is a syndrome where the unborn
foetus grows much more slowly in the womb than is considered
normal. IUGR is difficult to define precisely but it is estimated
that about 7% of pregnancies are affected. IUGR is a serious
condition which can lead to several problems in pregnancy,
at birth or in the newborn baby (e.g. foetal death, pre-eclampsia,
complicated delivery, premature birth, respiratory distress
syndrome, and others). It is also associated with an increased
risk of learning delay during infancy and health problems
in later life. The identification of causes of this condition
(which results from foetal under-nutrition) and the development
of strategies for its prevention and treatment are clearly
of prime importance and form a major objective of PERILIP.
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| Poor
growth of pre-term babies on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) |
| The
very-low-birth-weight preterm infant presents particular problems
for clinicians. Infants delivered at a weight of 1.0-1.5 kg
will have been in utero for 32 weeks or less and face
the final approximately 8 weeks of “foetal” development
ex utero. Such infants are born either at an appropriate
weight for their age (AGA) or already IUGR (see above). By
the time they reach the age of a full term baby, they are
nearly all IUGR reflecting, amongst other factors, inadequacies
in their post-natal nutrition. Preterm babies fed intra-venously
(total parenteral nutrition or TPN) receive their fats as
an emulsion which is combined with the intravenous solution.
The fat content must be balanced to provide the correct fatty
acids for brain development but to avoid the dangers of oxidative
damage. We plan to study the lipid nutrition of these preterm
infants as part of PERILIP.
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| High
mortality in piglets |
| An
important welfare issue in the pig industry is the 5-20% mortality
rate that occurs during the neonatal period. Low birth weight,
in conjunction with hypothermia, is responsible for more than
one-third of these deaths. The problem has been exacerbated
by the selection for lean carcass composition, which has resulted
in newborn piglets that are physiologically less mature and
hence are at a greater risk during early neonatal life.
It
is well documented that newborn piglets are extremely sensitive
to the cooler extrauterine environment due to their high
surface area to volume ratio and poor subcutaneous fat reserves.
Maternal nutrition during critical periods of pregnancy
and throughout lactation has important implications for
both sow performance and neonatal outcome. Supplementing
the maternal diet with dietary fats during late pregnancy
to some extent improves piglet survival by increasing their
body weight and glycogen stores at birth, and by altering
the fat composition of the milk. The effect of adding fat
to the sows’ diet, however, remains controversial and
it appears that both the timing and type of dietary fat
supplement are important.
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