Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), defined as impaired growth and development of the mammalian fetus or its organs during pregnancy because of inadequate food intake, disease, environmental stress, or the dysfunction of the placenta, endometrium, or uterus is a major problem in human medicine and animal production. In order to test the hypothesis that expression levels of insulin-like growth factor system is altered in piglets with IUGR, the present study was conducted to compare the expression levels of IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFR1, IGFR2 and IGFBP5 in m. longissimus, liver and kidney in 21-day-old IUGR piglets with normal birth weight (NBW) piglets. Our results showed that the expression level of insulin-like growth factor 1 was significantly lower in m. longissimus, liver and kidney of the IUGR piglets compared with the NBW piglets. However, there were no differences in the expression levels of IGF2, IGF1R, IGF2R and IGFBP5 in all tissues tested between NBW and IUGR piglets.In the previous studies, higher levels of liver or serum IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP2 and IGFBP3 were observed in spontaneously arising IUGR fetal piglets. This demonstrates that the expression level is different in insulin-like growth factor system genes between IUGR fetal pigs and piglets of 21 days. Our results suggested that it is possible to cure or prevent IUGR in piglets through injection of IGF1.

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