State of humoral immunity in lactating sows and suckling piglets

Abstract

The state of humoral immunity in lactating sows and its formation in suckling piglets in the conditions of a pig-breeding complex were studied. In sows after farrow, a high content of total immunoglobulins, the main classes of IgG, IgM and IgA, the concentration of which decreased in a day, followed by an increase in serum as lactation continued was detected in the serum and colostrum. In piglets at birth, the content of total immunoglobulins and the main Ig isotypes was insignificant, and at the age of twenty-four hours, as a result of absorption of colostral immunoglobulins in the small intestine, their amount in the serum was the highest, followed by a decrease in the concentration of IgG and IgA until the end of the suckling period, and IgM - up to day 14 with a further increase in its content, indicating the formation of a primary immune response. It has been detected that the dominant class of immunoglobulins in the serum and colostrum of sows and the serum of piglets is IgG, and in milk - IgA. An increase in the level of medium-dispersed circulating immune complexes (C4%) and their relation to giant (C3%) CICs was revealed, associated with an increase of the antigenic load in sows in the second half of lactation as a result of immunization, in milk - with a decrease in the content of the main classes of immunoglobulins, and in piglets, due to this, with a decrease in passive immunity.