After pretreatment with FO, the expressions of caspase-12 at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h of NEC modeling were greater than those in the control group by 6.61%–40.28%, but were lower than those in the NEC group by 12.63%, 17.57%, and 20.80%, respectively (P < 0.05 at all 3 time-points). Here, CASP12 is linked to necrotizing enterocolitis.