Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) is a disease of diverse aetiology-e.g., majority of patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) show PEI congenitally. Malnutrition and malabsorption of nutrients impair growth and nutritional status. As reduced fat digestion leads to a deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins the supplementation is standard, but absorption is a critical point in PEI-patients. The pancreatic duct ligated (PL) pig is an established model for PEI in humans and has been proven to be a suitable model to compare different vitamin additives for supplementation. In a former study, PEI caused distinct growth retardation in young piglets, but did not affect growth in older ones. Our study hypothesised that this age-dependent effect is caused by exhausted body reserves of fat-soluble vitamins and, therefore, extra supply reduces growth retardation. PEI was induced by PL at the age of seven (PL-7) or 16 weeks (PL-16). Controls (C) underwent a sham surgery. Some PL-7 pigs (PL-7 + Vit) were fed a special vitamin additive. PEI reduced the mean final body weight (kg) at 26 weeks of age significantly with lower effect in PL-16-pigs (C:117; PL-7:49.5; PL-7 + Vit:77.1; PL-16:96.4). Extra vitamin supply resulted in an increased growth and normalised serum concentration of alpha-tocopherol, underlining the importance of special supplementation in PEI-patients.
Keywords: alpha-tocopherol; animal model; cystic fibrosis; fat-soluble vitamins; growth; leptin; pancreatic exocrine insufficiency; pigs; retinyl palmitate.