Intestine morphology and activity of intestinal peptidases in piglets around weaning

¶ … experimentation, a study done on young piglets' intestinal activity attempted to understand the changes developed from weaning these animals within a period of 9 days after weaning and 3 days before weaning. In M.S. Hedemann, S. Hojsgaard, and B.B. Jensen's article, "Small Intestinal Morphology and Activity of Intestinal Peptidases in Piglets around Weaning," the hypothesis was that small intestines' shortening of the villous as the reduction in mature enterocytes occurs by the quick renewal of cells, which causes the immature enterocytes to lack proper expression with enzyme activity. Giving extreme specifications on the study of the piglets' intestines, the article exemplifies the day by day results of the experiment with concurrence of previous experiments.

The predictions of the experiment were unclear since the research was based on the findings of a handful of previous experiments. Gathering from the information provided, the experiment intended to provide more consistent results to prove that the original outcome of past experiments were true.

Results from this recent experiment showed that there was an increase in crypt depth after several days of weaning, which continued to increase during the entire duration of the experiment. The villous height was also at its maximum on the day of weaning, which inevitably showed the drop in the intestinal ability to absorb food after weaning began. In short, the process of weaning the piglets caused some dramatic changes in the morphology of the intestines and the actions of the peptidases. However, no illnesses or other physical signs of a struggle of any sort occurred with the piglets, despite these changes in their intestines. These results confirmed the previous studies done on small intestines, which also confirmed the initial hypothesis of this experiment.

The intention of this study was to help understand the maturity of the enterocytes lining the villous, including the digestive ability and capacity of absorption of the small intestine. However, some of the reasoning behind the results still seems like guesswork. Although much of the research is backed up by previous experiments, many of the results are merely guessed at being the reason for a reaction. Speculating that starvation could be a probable cause for the lower peptidase activity is just one of the many results that are finalized with a guess as a probable cause. Although the information appears to be valid, the authors of the research present their work with assumptions, which gives some doubt to the end results of the experiment.

This sense of doubt, along with the repetition of results from previous studies, leaves the experiment with a sense of waste. Perhaps the importance of this information could help farmers understand the development of their piglets; however, since the changes in the intestines did not affect the piglets in any way of becoming ill, there seemed little purpose in the study of the intestinal morphology.