DIETARY-CHOLESTEROL SUPPLEMENTATION IMPROVES GROWTH AND BEHAVIORAL-RESPONSE OF PIGS SELECTED FOR GENETICALLY HIGH AND LOW SERUM-CHOLESTEROL

We hypothesized that, in pigs selected for low (L) or high (H) serum c holesterol for four generations, neonatal endogenous cholesterol synth esis would be sufficient to meet requirements for brain and body growt h. In Experiment 1, eight 16-wk-old L pigs received a diet with or wit hout 200 mg cholesterol/100 g diet for 35 d. Supplemented pigs grew si milar to 25% faster and had a significantly greater concentration of f ree cholesterol in the cerebrum. In Experiment 2, 16 H and 16 L newbor n pigs were fed a milk replacer with or without 200 mg cholesterol/100 g diet for 28 d. Pigs fed cholesterol had greater average daily gain (P less than or equal to 0.09), significantly reduced liver 3-hydroxy- 3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase activity, and significantly incr eased cerebral cholesterol content than pigs not fed cholesterol. One of three indices of exploratory behavior was significantly greater in the L pigs that received cholesterol compared with L pigs that did not receive cholesterol. These data suggest that these neonatal pigs are unable to produce sufficient cholesterol to meet requirements for norm al growth and brain development and are dependent on dietary cholester ol in milk.