The Yucatan minipig model: A new preclinical model of malnutrition in obese patients with acute or chronic diseases.

Background & Aims: Malnutrition can develop in patients with obesity suffering from acute or chronic illness or after obesity surgery, promoting sarcopenic obesity. A better understanding of this pathophysiology and the development of new therapeutics for chronic diseases, that are often complicated with malnutrition and obesity, justify the development of new animal experimental models close to the human physiology. This study aims to characterize the effects of obesity and underfeeding on Yucatan obese minipigs, assessing its validity as a preclinical model for obesity-related malnutrition.

The Yucatan minipig model: A new preclinical model of malnutrition induced by a low-calorie/low-protein diet.

Background & Aims: Severe malnutrition exposes patients to adverse outcomes and a higher mortality risk. The Yucatan minipig, closer to human physiology than murine models could be a pertinent and innovative experimental model for studying the physiopathology and consequences of severe malnutrition. The present study aimed to determine whether a low calorie/low protein diet (LC/LP) can reproduce marasmus malnutrition in minipigs, and to characterize body composition, gut microbiota, malnutrition-related blood parameters, and histological and molecular skeletal muscle patterns.