Short communication: Effect of difructose anhydride III on serum immunoglobulin G concentration in newborn calves

Difructose anhydride (DFA) III is an indigestible disaccharide that promotes paracellular absorption of calcium, magnesium, and other minerals in the intestine by actin g on epithelial tight junctions. This study aimed to elucidate the effect of DFA III on serum IgG concentration. One hundred and twenty Holstein and Holstein/Japanese Black crossbred calves were randomly divided into 4 groups of 30 to receive untreated colostrum (DFA0) or colostrum containin g 3, 6, or 18  g of DFA III (DFA3, DFA6, or DFA18, respectively). At 24 h after birth, both serum IgG (rangin g from 16.4 to 21.2 mg/mL) and apparent efficiency of absorption (26.0 to 37.2%) showed increases with the amount of DFA III intake. By multiple regression analysis, the standardized partial regression coefficient for DFA III was 0.25, the second highest followin g that for the colostrum IgG concentration (0.80), indicatin g a positive effect of DFA III on serum IgG. A positive linear regression was found between colostrum IgG and serum IgG concentrations at 24 h of age. These results indicate that IgG absorption occurred as a nonsaturable process, which might be characteristic of gradient-dependent paracellular transport. Thus, it was concluded that DFA III improves not only minerals but IgG absorption in calves.