The serum levels of insulin and IGF-I in newborn piglets treated with clinoptilolite

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the natural mineral adsorber clinoptilolite on the serum levels of insulin and insulin-like growth factor-I in newborn piglets in the first 30 hours postnatally. A total number of 40 crossbred Landrace x Duroc newborn piglets from 4 litters was used. Five piglets from each litter were randomly assigned to the treated group and another five piglets to the control group. The treated animals received 10 ml of 15% clinoptilolite suspension three times: immediately after birth and subsequently at 12 and 24 hours after birth. Mean serum insulin level in the treated newborn piglets was almost 20% higher at both time intervals after treatment but the increases were not statistically significant, due to the high individual variation (44.40 +/- 6.33:36.40 +/- 5.14 and 17.54 +/- 2.61:14.02 +/- 1.14 mlU/L, treated vs. control at 10 and 30 hours postpartum). Serum levels of IGF-I were also increased in the treated newborn piglets, and the differences between means were statistically significant (18.20 +/- 0.63: 13.70+/-1.02 and 17.61 +/- 0.173:12.48 +/- 0.64 nmol/L, p < 0.001, treated vs. control at 10 and 30 hours postpartum). Our results indicate that clinoptilolite treatment could effectively increase serum IGF-I and possibly also insulin levels in newborn piglets.