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Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality
In polytocous species, such as pigs, the growth of an individual fetus is affected by competition from its littermates and the sow. This intrauterine competition greatly influences postnatal traits such as birth weight and vitality (physical strength). A lowered vitality is most often observed among...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5915318/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29689084 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195961 |
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author | Vanden Hole, Charlotte Aerts, Peter Prims, Sara Ayuso, Miriam Van Cruchten, Steven Van Ginneken, Chris |
author_facet | Vanden Hole, Charlotte Aerts, Peter Prims, Sara Ayuso, Miriam Van Cruchten, Steven Van Ginneken, Chris |
author_sort | Vanden Hole, Charlotte |
collection | PubMed |
description | In polytocous species, such as pigs, the growth of an individual fetus is affected by competition from its littermates and the sow. This intrauterine competition greatly influences postnatal traits such as birth weight and vitality (physical strength). A lowered vitality is most often observed among low birth weight piglets. Since it has been argued that locomotion might be key to unraveling vitality-related differences, we compared gait development in piglets with a low birth weight and low vitality (L piglets) with piglets with a normal birth weight and normal vitality (N piglets) by means of spatio-temporal gait analysis during locomotion at self-selected speed. Video recordings of L and N piglets walking along a corridor at ten time points (between birth and 96 h after birth) were made and the footfalls were digitized. Hence, self-selected speed, spatio-temporal characteristics and gait symmetry were analyzed to compare motor performance, neuromotor maturation (motor task, interlimb and intralimb coordination) and gait variability for L and N piglets. The analysis included both absolute and normalized data (according to the dynamic similarity concept), to distinguish neuromotor maturation from effects caused by growth. Results indicate that intrauterine crowding affects locomotion, mainly by impairing growth in utero, with a lowered motor performance during the first 96 h of age as a consequence. A difference in neuromotor skills was also visible, though only for swing and stance duration, implying a difference in neuromotor development in utero. However, further maturation during the first days after birth does not seem to be affected by intrauterine crowding. We can therefore conclude that L piglets might be considered a smaller and fictitious younger version of N piglets. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5915318 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-59153182018-05-11 Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality Vanden Hole, Charlotte Aerts, Peter Prims, Sara Ayuso, Miriam Van Cruchten, Steven Van Ginneken, Chris PLoS One Research Article In polytocous species, such as pigs, the growth of an individual fetus is affected by competition from its littermates and the sow. This intrauterine competition greatly influences postnatal traits such as birth weight and vitality (physical strength). A lowered vitality is most often observed among low birth weight piglets. Since it has been argued that locomotion might be key to unraveling vitality-related differences, we compared gait development in piglets with a low birth weight and low vitality (L piglets) with piglets with a normal birth weight and normal vitality (N piglets) by means of spatio-temporal gait analysis during locomotion at self-selected speed. Video recordings of L and N piglets walking along a corridor at ten time points (between birth and 96 h after birth) were made and the footfalls were digitized. Hence, self-selected speed, spatio-temporal characteristics and gait symmetry were analyzed to compare motor performance, neuromotor maturation (motor task, interlimb and intralimb coordination) and gait variability for L and N piglets. The analysis included both absolute and normalized data (according to the dynamic similarity concept), to distinguish neuromotor maturation from effects caused by growth. Results indicate that intrauterine crowding affects locomotion, mainly by impairing growth in utero, with a lowered motor performance during the first 96 h of age as a consequence. A difference in neuromotor skills was also visible, though only for swing and stance duration, implying a difference in neuromotor development in utero. However, further maturation during the first days after birth does not seem to be affected by intrauterine crowding. We can therefore conclude that L piglets might be considered a smaller and fictitious younger version of N piglets. Public Library of Science 2018-04-24 /pmc/articles/PMC5915318/ /pubmed/29689084 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195961 Text en © 2018 Vanden Hole et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Vanden Hole, Charlotte Aerts, Peter Prims, Sara Ayuso, Miriam Van Cruchten, Steven Van Ginneken, Chris Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
title | Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
title_full | Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
title_fullStr | Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
title_full_unstemmed | Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
title_short | Does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? A comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
title_sort | does intrauterine crowding affect locomotor development? a comparative study of motor performance, neuromotor maturation and gait variability among piglets that differ in birth weight and vitality |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5915318/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29689084 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195961 |
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