Development of a Novel Definitive Scoring System for an Enteral Feed-Only Model of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Piglets

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a complex inflammatory disorder of the human intestine that most often occurs in premature newborns. Animal models of NEC typically use mice or rats; however, pigs have emerged as a viable alternative given their similar size, intestinal development, and physiology compared to humans. While most piglet NEC models initially administer total parenteral nutrition (TPN) prior to enteral feeds, here we describe an enteral-feed only piglet model of NEC that recapitulates the microbiome abnormalities present in neonates that develop NEC and introduce a novel multifactorial definitive NEC (D-NEC) scoring system to assess disease severity. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to confirm intestinal inflammation in the small intestine and colon. 16S rRNA sequencing was performed to evaluate the intestinal microbiome.