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Vitamin E Status in Newborn Lambs with Special Reference to the Effect of dl-α-Tocopheryl Acetate Supplementation in Late Gestation
E-vitaminstatus hos nyfödda lamm. Effekten av tillskott av dl-α-tocopherylacetat till tackor under hogdräktighet
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica volume 31, pages 359–367 (1990)
Abstract
Pregnant ewes were supplemented with dl-α-tocopheryl acetate, either as a single intramuscular dose (500 mg two weeks before lambing) or perorally (150 mg daily during 3–4 weeks before lambing). Ewes without such a supplementation were controls.
The vitamin E supplemented ewes had nearly twice as high vitamin E (α-tocopherol) concentrations as the unsupplemented control ewes at lambing both in serum and in colostrum. The vitamin E concentration in colostrum was 5–11 higher than in milk 1 week after lambing.
Both supplementations somewhat increased the vitamin E serum concentration of the newborn lambs, but the increase was negligible in comparison with the effect produced by the consumption of colostrum. All lambs had very low serum concentrations at birth. The lambs from the supplemented ewes had significantly higher serum values than the control lambs 24 h after birth.
The ewes had somewhat higher selenium status at birth than their offsprings when evaluated by glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the erythrocytes.
It seems reasonable that nutritional muscular degeneration may arise in newborn lambs with a normal selenium status if their vitamin E status is critical, either because of an inadequate consumption of colostrum or because of a vitamin E deficient diet during pregnancy with a low vitamin concentration of colostrum as a consequense.
Sammenfattning
I en fårbesättning med välordnad utfodring och mycket god djurhälsa gavs 2 grupper av högdräktiga tackor dl-a-tocopherylacetat- tillskott, antingen som intramuskulär engångsdos (500 mg) 2 veckor före lamningen eller som dagligt peroralt tillskott (150 mg) under 3–4 veckor före lamningen. Som kontrollgrupper användes tackor som inte erhöll något tillskott. Blodprov togs på tackor och lamm vid lamning innan råmjolk hade konsumerets samt 1 dygn och 1 vecka senare. Mjölkprov togs från tackorna vid samma tillfällen. Tackorna som fick E-vitamintillskott hade vid lamningen 2 gånger högre E-vitaminhalt såval i serum som i colostrum än kontrolltackorna. E-vitamininnehållet i kolostrum var avsevärt högre än i mjölk som uttogs 1 dygn och 1 vecka efter lamningen.
E-vitamintillskotten resulterade visserligen i en ökning av vitaminhalten i serum hos de nyfödda lammen, men denna var obetydlig i jämförelse med den som orsakades av kolostrumtillförseln. Samtliga lamm hade mycket låg E-vitaminhalt i serum omedelbart efter födseln. Ett dygn senare hade halterna minst fyrdubblats.
Samtliga djur hade vid lamningen ett normalt selenstatus värderat genom bestämning av glutationperoxidas (GSH-Px) i erythrocyterna. Tackorna hade signifikant högre GSH-Px aktivitet än sina nyfödda lamm.
Det anses sannolikt att nutritionell muskeldegeneration kan uppstå hos nyfödda lamm med normalt selenstatus om deras E-vitaminstatus är otillräckligt till följd antingen av en otillräcklig konsumtion av råmjolk eller av en E-vitaminbrist i tackornas foderstat under dräktighet med åtföljande låg E-vitaminhalt i kolostrum.
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The investigation was supported by the Swedish Council for Forestry and Agricultural Research.
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Pehrson, B., Hakkarainen, J. & Blomgren, L. Vitamin E Status in Newborn Lambs with Special Reference to the Effect of dl-α-Tocopheryl Acetate Supplementation in Late Gestation. Acta Vet Scand 31, 359–367 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03547548
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03547548