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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #91958
Title: NEONATAL DIETARY CHOLESTEROL INCREASES CEREBRUM CHOLESTEROL IN YOUNG ADULT PIGS

Author
item BOLEMAN, SCOTT - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item GRAF, TANYA - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item Mersmann, Harry
item SU, DAI-RONG - USDA/ARS CNRC
item KROOK, LENNART - CORNELL UNIVERSITY
item SAVELL, JEFFREY - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item PARK, YOUNG - FORT VALLEY STATE UNIV.
item POND, WILSON - CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/11/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: We wanted to test our theory that the higher level of cholesterol observed in the cerebrum of 8-week-old pigs which have been fed cholesterol would persist into young adulthood. Human babies fed breast milk receive a good deal of cholesterol, higher than that found in formula. Some studies indicate that adults who were breast-fed babies score higher on intelligence tests than adults who were fed formula. The pig is a model fo the human infant, so a study exploring cholesterol as a possible factor in brain development would have important implications for the best diet to feed a baby. We gave groups of piglets different diets to test our hypothesis. We found that depriving piglets of cholesterol in the first 4-8 weeks of life is associated with lower cholesterol levels in the brain of young adult pigs than if they had been cholesterol-supplemented in early life. This suggests that newborns have a metabolic need for dietary cholesterol in normal brain development.

Technical Abstract: Sixty-eight female neonatal pigs selected for seven (Experiment 1) or eight (Experiment 2) generations for high (HG) or low (LG) plasma cholesterol were used to test the hypothesis that neonatal dietary cholesterol fed during the first 4 or 8 wks of postnatal life increases the cholesterol content of the cerebrum in young adulthood following free access to a high- -fat (15%), high-cholesterol (0.5%) diet from 8 wks of age to 20 or 24 wks of age. Pigs were moved from their dam at 1 d of age and given free access to a sow-milk replacer diet containing 11% coconut fat and 0% or 0.5% cholesterol. All pigs (except four HG and four LG pigs in Experiment 2 which were deprived of cholesterol throughout the study) were fed the high- fat, high-cholesterol diet from 8 wks to termination at 20 or 24 wks of age. Cerebrum weight and cholesterol concentration were higher in pigs fed cholesterol neonatally than in those deprived of cholesterol neonatally in both experiments, but weight and cholesterol concentration were unaffected by genetic line. Cholesterol concentrations in longissimus and semitendinosus muscles and in subcutaneous fat were unaffected by diet or genetic line. We conclude that during the first 4 to 8 weeks of life in piglets, dietary cholesterol deprivation is associated with lower cholesterol concentration and total content in the young adult cerebrum than cholesterol supplementation in early life. These data suggest a metabolic need for neonatal dietary cholesterol in normal brain development.