Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) decrease the body fat content of rodents; the aim of this study was to determine whether dietary CLA altered carcass composition of pigs. Female Large White x Landrace pigs (n = 66) were used in this study. To obtain initial body composition, six pigs were slaughtered at 57 kg live weight, whereas the remaining pigs were allocated to one of six dietary treatments (0, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 g/kg CLA, containing 55% of CLA isomers). The diets, containing 14.3 MJ digestible energy (DE) and 9. 3 g available lysine per kg, were fed ad libitum for 8 wk. Dietary CLA had no significant effect on average daily gain (861 vs. 911 g/d for pigs fed diets with and without CLA, P = 0.15) or feed intake (2. 83 vs. 2.80 kg/d, P = 0.74). The gain to feed ratio was increased by dietary CLA by 6.3% (0.328 vs. 0.348, P = 0.009). Fat deposition decreased linearly (-8.2 +/- 2.09 g/d for each gram per kilogram increase in CLA concentration; P < 0.001) with increasing inclusion of CLA. At the highest level of CLA inclusion, fat deposition was decreased by 88 g/d (-31%). Similarly, the ratio of fat to lean tissue deposition decreased linearly (-0.093 +/- 0.0216 for each gram per kilogram increase in CLA concentration; P < 0.001) with increasing dietary CLA. The carcass lean tissue deposition response to dietary CLA was quadratic in nature and was maximized (+25%) at 5. 0 g/kg dietary CLA. Overall, dietary CLA increased the gain to feed ratio and lean tissue deposition and decreased fat deposition in finisher pigs.

Thirty female Large White £ Landrace pigs (average weight 57·2 (SD 1·9) kg) were allocated to one of six dietary treatments containing 0, 1·25, 2·5, 5·0, 7·5 or 10·0 g 55 % conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) isomers (CLA-55)/kg diet and fed for 8 weeks. Each pig was scanned at 0, 28 and 56 d and again at post slaughter using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to determine the temporal pattern of body composition responses. Values determined by DXA were adjusted using regression equations generated from validation experiments between chemically and DXA-predicted values. Overall, there was a significant linear reduction in fat content with the increasing levels of CLA in the diet (P¼0·007, P¼0·011, P¼ 0·008 at week 4, week 8 and for the carcass, respectively). The greatest improvement was recorded at the early stages of CLA supplementation and for the highest dose of CLA (week 4, 219·2 % compared with week 8, 2 13·7 %). In the first 4 weeks of feeding CLA, pigs receiving 10 g CLA-55/kg diet deposited 93 g less fat/d than pigs fed basal diets (P¼0·002) compared with only 6 g less fat than control animals in the final 4 weeks. Lean content and lean deposition rate were maximised at 5 and 2·5 g CLA-55/kg diet for the first 4 weeks (P¼ 0·016) and the final 4 weeks of treatment ðP ¼ 0·17Þ; respectively. DXA estimates of bone mineral content and bone mineral density were not affected by CLA supplementation throughout the experiment. These data demonstrate that dietary CLA decreases body fat in a dose-dependent manner and that the response is greatest over the initial 4 weeks of treatment.Conjugated linoleic acid: Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry: Body composition: Pig Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) represents a mixture of positional and geometric isomers (18 : 2n-6) of linoleic acid with conjugated double bonds located at positions 7,9-, 8,10-, 9,11-, 10,12-or 11,13-on the C chain. CLA exerts many positive health effects in experimental models including anticarcinogenic and anti-tumorogenic as well as anti-atherogenic and antidiabetogenic properties (for reviews, see Whigham et al. 2000;Pariza et al. 2001). Another biological effect of CLA relates to fat accretion and nutrient partitioning. Dietary CLA supplementation reduces body fat mass in rodents (Chin et al. 1994;Park et al. 1995;DeLany et al. 1999) and pigs (Ostrowska et al. 1999). These findings were based on experiments involving slaughter and subsequent chemical analysis in which the ultimate rates of change in body composition were determined at the conclusion of CLA supplementation. However, little is known about the longitudinal effects of CLA supplementation on body composition and generation of such data requires killing large numbers of animals at various stages of development. Alternatively, body composition can be measured in live animals and carcasses using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) (Mitchell et al. 1998;Lukaski et al. 1999;Suster et al. 2000), which is non-invasive and allows longitudinal studies in the same animal. The DXA apparatus can...

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) have been shown to decrease body fat content in pigs. It is possible that feeding pigs diets rich in CLA may increase carcass lipid CLA to levels that could provide health benefits when included as a part of a healthy diet. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine whether dietary CLA supplementation has any effect on the fatty acid composition of subcutaneous and intramuscular adipose tissue in pigs. Thirty-five female cross bred (Large White x Landrace) pigs (initial weight 57.2 kg and initial P2 back fat 11.5 mm) were used in the present study. Pigs were housed individually and randomly allocated to one of six dietary treatments (0.00, 1.25, 2.50, 5.00, 7.50 and 10.00 g CLA55 (55 g CLA isomers/100 g total fatty acids; Natural Lipids Ltd, Hovdebygda, Norway)/kg) and fed their respective diets for 8 weeks. Twelve CLA isomers in the diet and in pig tissue lipids were separated by Ag+-HPLC. CLA was incorporated at fivefold higher levels in subcutaneous fat as compared with intramuscular fat and in a dose-dependant manner. Overall, the transfer efficiency of CLA was maximized at 5.00 g CLA55/kg. However, there was clear selectivity in the uptake or incorporation of cis,trans-9,11 isomer over the trans,cis-10,12 isomer. In general, CLA supplementation produced significant changes in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue fatty acid composition, indicating that dietary CLA had a potent affect on lipid transport and metabolism in vivo. Significant increases in myristic, palmitic and palmitoleic acids and a reduction in arachidonic acid were observed, suggesting an alteration in activity of delta5-, delta6- and delta9-desaturases in pig adipose tissue. In conclusion, feeding pigs diets supplemented with CLA increases carcass lipid CLA, but also results in changes in the fatty acid profile in pig fat that could potentially outweigh the benefits of CLA.

Silver-ion high-performance liquid chromatography was used to fractionate a mixture of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers (as the free fatty acids, CLAFFA) in commercial CLA mixtures and biological samples. Due to the unchanged retention mechanism, it was assumed that the elution order of the isomers remained the same as that of methyl esters separated on the same column. The most abundant isomers, cis/trans 10, 12-18:2 and cis/trans 9,11-18:2, were separated better as free acids on a single column than in the methyl ester form. Quantification of the CLA standard was used as the reference profile to evaluate different methylation methods commonly used to prepare CLA methyl esters for quantitation. Acid-and base-catalyzed derivatization methods resulted in CLA intraisomerization and losses in total conjugated dienes content. Acid (HCl and BF3) methylations significantly elevated the level of trans,trans isomers and significantly reduced the cis/trans isomers. Base methylation, tetramethylguanidine/methanol, resulted in loss of trans,trans isomers, and a substantial loss of total underivatized conjugated dienes. Other catalysts such as the trimethylsilyldiazomethane produced additional peaks of unidentified artifacts. The analysis of CLAFFA appears to provide more accurate quantification of CLA isomers in commercial and biological samples.

RNA interference (RNAi) mediated by DNA-based expression of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) is a powerful method of sequence-specific gene knockdown. A number of vectors for expression of shRNA have been developed that feature promoters from RNA polymerase III (pol III)-transcribed genes of mouse or human origin. To advance the use of RNAi as a tool for functional genomic research and for future development of specific therapeutics in the bovine species, we have developed shRNA expression vectors that feature novel bovine RNA pol III promoters. We characterized two bovine U6 small nuclear RNA (snRNA) promoters (bU6-2 and bU6-3) and a bovine 7SK snRNA promoter (b7SK). We compared the efficiency of each of these promoters to express shRNA molecules. Promoter activity was measured in the context of RNAi by targeting and suppressing the reporter gene encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein. Results show that the b7SK promoter induced the greatest level of suppression in a range of cell lines. The comparison of these bovine promoters in shRNA expression is an important component for the future development of bovine-specific RNAi-based research.