Table 1.
Effects of iron supplementation on organ indexes, morphology, and gene expression in the small intestine of suckling piglets1
| Treatments2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Items | CON | IMFe | OAFe | P-value |
| Organ indexes | ||||
| Intestine length, m | 7.59 ± 0.62b | 8.99 ± 0.46a | 9.12 ± 0.75a | 0.000 |
| Intestine weight, g | 150.44 ± 16.52c | 254.67 ± 21.37a | 227.78 ± 29.21b | 0.000 |
| Weight:length, g/m | 19.61 ± 1.51c | 28.28 ± 2.34a | 24.84 ± 2.76b | 0.000 |
| Relative length, m/kg | 1.50 ± 0.17 | 1.65 ± 0.16 | 1.75 ± 0.29 | 0.072 |
| Relative weight, g/kg | 29.43 ± 3.11bb | 46.64 ± 5.92a | 42.87 ± 8.84a | 0.000 |
| Intestinal morphology | ||||
| VH, μm | 289.15 ± 37.45b | 389.73 ± 27.48a | 382.96 ± 41.60a | 0.000 |
| CD, μm | 179.23 ± 19.74b | 232.88 ± 18.64a | 234.08 ± 26.10a | 0.000 |
| Villus width, μm | 119.09 ± 8.74b | 135.85 ± 6.96a | 132.93 ± 9.99a | 0.002 |
| VH:CD | 1.67 ± 0.26 | 1.66 ± 0.16 | 1.61 ± 0.16 | 0.839 |
| Surface area, μm2 | 108268.1 ± 17503.8b | 166533.0 ± 17332.9a | 159994.9 ± 22072.4a | 0.000 |
| Expresssion of enterocytes marker genes | ||||
| Treh | 1.24 ± 0.30c | 9.03 ± 0.96a | 4.77 ± 0.71b | 0.002 |
| Arg2 | 1.23 ± 1.07 | 0.70 ± 0.21 | 1.41 ± 1.28 | 0.378 |
| Sis | 1.09 ± 0.43b | 1.65 ± 0.53ab | 2.33 ± 1.49a | 0.043 |
| Ada | 1.06 ± 0.37 | 0.86 ± 0.21 | 0.87 ± 0.37 | 0.391 |
| Ass1 | 1.20 ± 0.84 | 1.39 ± 0.82 | 1.19 ± 0.49 | 0.838 |
| Gleb-β | 1.02 ± 0.21 | 0.94 ± 0.44 | 1.08 ± 0.51 | 0.790 |
| Expression of Wnt/β-catenin target genes | ||||
| Need8 | 1.07 ± 0.37 | 0.76 ± 0.35 | 1.01 ± 0.41 | 0.267 |
| Bmp4 | 1.11 ± 0.52 | 0.78 ± 0.36 | 0.90 ± 0.2 | 0.250 |
| Sgk1 | 1.05 ± 0.37 | 1.01 ± 0.51 | 1.11 ± 0.67 | 0.933 |
| JAG1 | 1.04 ± 0.28 | 0.84 ± 0.32 | 0.87 ± 0.53 | 0.564 |
| JAG2 | 1.08 ± 0.42 | 0.95 ± 0.49 | 1.04 ± 0.69 | 0.889 |
1 n = 9.
2CON, control; OAFe, orally administrated ferrous sulfate; IMFe, intramuscularly injected with iron dextran.
a,bValues in the same row with different superscript letters are significantly different (P < 0.05).