Establishing a model for childhood obesity in adolescent pigs

Abstract

SummaryObjectiveRising worldwide prevalence of obesity and metabolic diseases in children has accentuated the importance of developing prevention and management strategies. The objective of this study was to establish a model for childhood obesity using high‐fat feeding of adolescent pigs, as pigs have a longer developmental period and are physiologically more similar to humans than rodents.MethodsCrossbred pigs were fed a high‐fat diet (HFD) or low‐fat diet (n = 6/treatment) from postnatal day 49 to 84. On postnatal day 84, an oral glucose tolerance test was performed, jugular blood sampled to determine lipopolysaccharide levels and plasma lipids, intestinal digesta collected to characterize microbial and metabolite composition and back fat and intestinal tissue assayed for gene expression.ResultsFive‐week HFD increased weight gain and back fat thickness, caused dyslipidaemia and impaired glucose tolerance and increased expression of genes in back fat suggesting inflammation. HFD pigs had distinct proximal colon microbiota with 48% reduction (P < 0.05) in Bacteroidetes and increased expression of pro‐inflammatory genes interleukin‐18 and tumour necrosis factor in ileum (P < 0.05).ConclusionsThese findings indicate that adolescent pigs should be considered a suitable model for childhood obesity, because short‐term HFD feeding is sufficient to induce obesity and glucose intolerance, recapitulating disease characteristics in adolescent pigs.

Dietary intake of bioactive ingredients impacts liver and adipose tissue transcriptomes in a porcine model of prepubertal early obesity

“…In contrast, pigs are excellent models for human obesity and its comorbidities, given their similarity in terms of anatomy, physiology, metabolism, and genetics 9-11 .To date, a limited number of pig models for childhood obesity have been developed by short term (≤ 12 wk.) dietary interventions of high-fat-regimes in young pigs 9,12,13 . These models seem to develop early features of childhood obesity without developing insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome.…”