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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #381698
Research Project: Metabolic and Epigenetic Regulation of Nutritional Metabolism

Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center

Title: Advancements in research on necrotizing enterocolitis pathogenesis and prevention using pigs

Author
item Burrin, Douglas - Doug
item MARINI, JUAN - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item PREMKUMAR, MURALIDHAR - Baylor College Of Medicine
item STOLL, BARBARA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item SANGILD, PER TORP - Copenhagen University

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/1/2021
Publication Date: 3/15/2021
Citation: Burrin, D.G., Marini, J., Premkumar, M., Stoll, B., Sangild, P. 2021. Advancements in research on necrotizing enterocolitis pathogenesis and prevention using pigs. In: Hackam, D.J. editor. Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment. 1st edition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p.220-232. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429288302.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429288302

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Over the past few decades, strategies in the prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), including the avoidance of infant formula, standardized feeding regimens, and infection control, have significantly reduced its incidence. However, due to the improved survival of extremely preterm infants, NEC is still fairly frequent and potentially deadly in the most premature infants. The need to prevent and treat this devastating disease requires models to re-create and study NEC in artificial conditions. In vivo animal models address this limitation by re-creating this disease in a form that is closest to the real disease in preterm infants. Animal models, particularly rodent and piglet models, have been instrumental in discovery and translating our understanding of the disease pathogenesis and prevention of NEC. The piglet has emerged as a major vehicle for NEC research. In part because of the physiological and anatomic similarity to the human premature infant, the premature piglet model of NEC has contributed to our understanding of the disease by revealing, for example, important roles for prebiotics, the intestinal microbiome, intestinal inflammatory signaling, and nutritional aspects of the infant diet, as well as the importance of intestinal perfusion and endothelial signaling. Future studies are expected to extend these findings while also harnessing the advantages of the piglet model as a platform for testing NEC-specific therapies.