Serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations are increased in pigs fed antimicrobials.

The effect of antimicrobial supplementation on the sera concentrations of IGF-I was determined in crossbred weanling pigs. Pigs were allotted by weight, litter, and sex to either a control diet or a diet supplemented with ASP-250 (22.7 ppm of chlortetracycline, 22.7 ppm of sulfamethazine, and 11.4 ppm of penicillin) for 5 wk. The diets contained 21.8% crude protein and 1.15% lysine. Growth performance data were collected weekly. Insulin-like growth factor I and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP) analyses were performed on blood samples that were drawn during the final week of the trial. Feeding ASP-250 to young pigs increased their sera IGF-I concentrations by 24.8% (P < .001). A 59% increase in sera IGFBP-3 levels also was observed. The pigs fed ASP-250 had a 26% increase in average daily gain (P < .01), a 6.7% improvement in gain:feed ratio (P < .05), and a 18.5% increase in feed consumption (P < .01) compared with pigs fed the control diet. Increased serum IGF-I concentrations with antimicrobial feeding may be involved in the enhanced growth performance observed.