Plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate after octanoate challenge: attenuated ketogenic capacity in neonatal swine.

Suckling neonatal pigs (NP, 24 h old) do not exhibit elevated blood ketone bodies (KB). Mature swine have relatively high KB under certain conditions, suggesting an ontogeny of ketogenesis. Thus we evaluated the hypothesis that NP possess a relatively attenuated ketogenic capacity vs. weaned pigs (WP) and mature pigs (MP). Fasted animals were given an intraperitoneal dose of octanoate (C8), and plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-OHB) and C8 were monitored over 180 min. Newborn (NR, 24 h old) and mature rabbits (MR, > 1 yr old) were also compared. Linear regressions of plasma beta-OHB (microM) vs. plasma C8 (microM) were calculated for C8 0.05, NS). The data are consistent with the hypothesis that NP have a poor capacity for ketogenesis.