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Objective: The current study was conducted to characterize metabolomic plasma profiles among sows differing in their lifetime born alive and lifetime weaned after four parities.
Methods: Plasma samples were collected at harvest between 12 and 15 d (luteal phase) following their fourth parity post-weaning estrus from 120 dams with consistent born alive and weaned at every farrowing event. Categories were derived as follows for average lifetime born alive (ba): High (H; 61ba), Mid (M; 50ba), and Low (L; 39ba) and raised (wn): High (H; 50wn) and Low (L; 34wn) generating 6 categories with 20 dams in each: HH, HL, MH, ML, LH, and LL, respective to born alive: raised. Plasma samples were submitted for ultra-performance liquid chromatography (positive and negative ionization modes)—mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) to isolate putative compounds. Analysis of variance with a false discovery correction was performed to determine categorical differences of putative compounds.
Results: Negative mode ionization UPLC-MS yielded 92 compounds different by category, while positive ionization mode provided 644 compounds different by category. Twenty-five putative compounds were different for the LL and ML categories vs. the HH and MH categories. A putative unique secondary bacterial compound structurally similar to saponins, MK-800-62F1, and an annotated fatty acid, lignoceroylsphingosine, were increased in HH dams. Several possible fatty acid, eicosanoid, and steroid compounds had greater intensities in LL and LH dams. Several annotated eicosanoid compounds, leukotriene B4, 5(S)-HETE, 15(S)-Hpete, and a PGF1α product, can be biosynthesized in blood in response to an inflammatory stimulus. Probable steroid compounds had increased signal intensity in plasma from LL and LH dams, including neuroactive steroids such as corticosteroids and allopregnanolone and suggested derivatives of testosterone and progesterone steroid compounds.
Conclusion: Characterization of plasma profiles among post fourth parity dams with differing lifetime born-alive and weaned production traits suggested unique features that may be related to various physiological systems, including immunological, metabolic, and hormonal. Future work verifying compounds and validating them in adolescent females may provide suitable predictors of lifetime production traits.
Rempel LA, Nonneman DJ. Nontargeted plasma metabolomics associated with sow lifetime productivity traits. Journal of Animal Science, Volume 104, 2026, skag003. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skag003