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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #116349
Title: BODY COMPOSITION ANALYSIS OF THE PIG BY MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

Author
item Mitchell, Alva
item SCHOLZ, A. - LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS UNIV
item WANG, P. - HOWARD UNIVERSITY
item SONG, H. - HOWARD UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/7/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the volumes of several organs and tissues in pigs. It was demonstrated that these measurements, which can be made in the live pig, can be used to evaluate the growth of the pig and can be used to predict total body fat, lean and protein content. This method could be particularly useful for studying the growth of internal organs, specific muscles, or fat distribution in pigs derived breeding programs or transgenic manipulation.

Technical Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure, in vivo, the volume of several organs and tissues of a total of 111 pigs ranging in body weight from 6.1 to 97.2 kg. In one experiment the in vivo MRI volumes were compared to tissue or organ weights obtained by dissection. For internal organs, the correlation (Rý) between MRI volume and dissected weight ranged dfrom 0.64 (heart) to 0.90 (liver). For fat and muscle tissues, the correlation between MRI volume and dissected weight ranged from 0.82 (psoas muscle) to 0.97 (right ham muscle). The MRI volume of the backfat and shoulder muscles exceeded the dissected weights by approximately 2%, whereas the MRI volume of the ham muscles, jowl fat, longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle, and psoas muscle were 2, 8, 18 and 20% less than their respective weights. In another series of experiments, MRI volume measurements of fat and muscle regions were evaluated by stepwise regression for the prediction nof total body fat, lean, and protein. The best prediction of percentage total body fat was obtained using the fat volume from the 10 cm section of LD muscle and the fat-muscle ratio from the 15 cm section of the ham (Rý = 0.9, SEE = 1.5). The best prediction of percentage total body protein was obtained using a combination of the volumes (as a percent of body weight) of jowl fat, backfat, shoulder muscle and ham muscle (Rý = 0.62, SEE = 0.46). The combination fat volume from the 10 cm section of LD muscle, the fat-muscle ratio from the 15 cm section of the ham, and the lean volume percent from the 15 cm section of ham provided the best prediction of the percentage of total body lean (Rý = 0.88, SEE = 1.54).