Van Barneveld

1 Introduction Farrowing crates are a housing system used in the pork industry to accommodate sows and piglets during parturition and lactation. Farrowing crates were adopted to facilitate efficient sow and litter management and care, improve piglet survival, and make efficient use of building space, which is a significant cost when establishing an indoor pork production unit.

Adult male C57BL/6J mice (Janvier Labs, Le Genest-St-Isle, France), TLR4 knockout (TLR4−/−) mice (TAAM-UPS44; CNRS, Orleans, France), and miR-155-5ploxP/loxP 8-week-old male and female mice were housed under specific pathogen-free conditions in a temperature-controlled environment(21–22 °C) with a 12-h light/dark cycle and had free access to water and food.

Twenty-four newly weaned (24 days of age) pigs (Landrace × Large White; body weight (mean ± SEM) = 6.81 ± 0.12 kg) were assigned to 4 dietary experimental groups with homogeneous body weight and balanced gender, and individually housed in slatted floor pens (1.7 m × 1.2 m) at the Herston Medical Research Centre at The University of Queensland (Herston Campus, Brisbane, Australia).