Data on the evolution of blood metabolites and metabolic markers in neonatal piglets are scarce, although this information is vital to detect physiological aberrations from normal development. We aimed to characterize age- and nutrition-related changes in the plasma metabolome and serum biochemistry of suckling and newly weaned piglets and assess metabolite patterns as physiological markers for the two phases. In two replicate batches (n = 10 litters/group), piglets either received sow milk alone or were additionally offered creep feed from day 10 until weaning (day 28). Blood was collected from one piglet/litter on days 7, 14, 21, 28, 31 and 35 of life, totaling five females and five males/group/day. Signature feature ranking identified plasma triglycerides (TG) as discriminative for age and nutrition during the suckling phase. Influential TG 20:4_36:5, TG 17:0_34:2 and TG 18:2_38:6 were higher in creep-fed piglets on days 14, 21 and 28 of life, respectively, compared to only sow milk-fed piglets. Metabolites belonging to pathways within histidine, D-glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism as well as hippuric acid were distinctive for the postweaning compared to the suckling period. In conclusion, plasma lipid profiles especially corresponded to the type of nutrition in the suckling phase and showed a strong weaning effect.
Keywords: creep feeding; hippuric acid; neonatal piglets; plasma metabolome; triglycerides; weaning.