Dietary Quercetin Supplementation Attenuates Diarrhea and Intestinal Damage by Regulating Gut Microbiota in Weanling Piglets

Abstract

Antioxidant polyphenols from plants are potential dietary supplementation to alleviate early weaning-induced intestinal disorders in piglets. Recent evidences showed polyphenol quercetin could reshape gut microbiota when it functioned as anti-inflammation or antioxidation agents in rodent models. However, the effect of dietary quercetin supplementation on intestinal disorders and gut microbiota of weanling piglets, along with the role of gut microbiota in this effect, both remain unclear. Here, we determined the quercetin’s effect on attenuating diarrhea, intestinal damage, and redox imbalance, as well as the role of gut microbiota by transferring the quercetin-treated fecal microbiota to the recipient piglets. The results showed that dietary quercetin supplementation decreased piglets’ fecal scores improved intestinal damage by increasing tight junction protein occludin, villus height, and villus height/crypt depth ratio but decreased crypt depth and intestinal epithelial apoptosis (TUNEL staining). Quercetin also increased antioxidant capacity indices, including total antioxidant capacity, catalase, and glutathione/oxidized glutathione disulfide but decreased oxidative metabolite malondialdehyde in the jejunum tissue. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from quercetin-treated piglets had comparable effects on improving intestinal damage and antioxidative capacity than dietary quercetin supplementation. Further analysis of gut microbiota using 16S rDNA sequencing showed that dietary quercetin supplementation or FMT shifted the structure and increased the diversity of gut microbiota. Especially, anaerobic trait and carbohydrate metabolism functions of gut microbiota were enriched after dietary quercetin supplementation and FMT, which may owe to the increased antioxidative capacity of intestine. Quercetin increased the relative abundances of Fibrobacteres, Akkermansia muciniphila, Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium celatum, and Prevotella copri but decreased the relative abundances of Proteobacteria, Lactobacillus coleohominis, and Ruminococcus bromii. Besides, quercetin-shifted bacteria and carbohydrate metabolites short chain fatty acids were significantly related to the indices of antioxidant capacity and intestinal integrity. Overall, dietary quercetin supplementation attenuated diarrhea and intestinal damage by enhancing the antioxidant capacity and regulating gut microbial structure and metabolism in piglets.

Effects of dietary supplement with a Chinese herbal mixture on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and gut microbiota in weaned pigs

“…For example, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria was lower in the HM2 group than in the control group on day 28. Studies had revealed that plant-derived polyphenols reduce the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in pigs, attenuating diarrhea and intestinal damage ( 87 ). Our study also found that the diarrhea rate of HM2 group was significantly lower than that of the control group.…”

Hedysarum multijugum Maxim treats ulcerative colitis through the PI3K-AKT and TNF signaling pathway according to network pharmacology and molecular docking

“…Apart from the PI3K signaling pathway, studies have shown that other pro-inflammation signaling pathways, MAPK, and JAK/STAT3, were also inhibited by kaempferol ( 53 , 54 ). According to recent research, quercetin attenuates intestinal damage and senescence by regulating increasing antioxidant capacity ( 55 , 56 ). Another important function of kaempferol is improving intestinal barrier function and integrity.…”

Plant-Derived Polyphenols as Nrf2 Activators to Counteract Oxidative Stress and Intestinal Toxicity Induced by Deoxynivalenol in Swine: An Emerging Research Direction

“…Meanwhile, the antioxidant status and meat quality of finishing pigs were markedly improved when pigs were fed a 25 mg/kg quercetin diet for 28 days, followed by a 5 h transport stress challenge [ 57 ]. Consistently, Xu et al (2021) noted that dietary addition of 0.1% quercetin for 14 days improved intestinal antioxidant ability and alleviated diarrhea and weaning-associated intestinal injury in weanling piglets [ 58 ]. Specifically, supplementation of quercetin elevated the T-AOC, CAT level, and GSH/oxidized glutathione (GSSG) ratio, but reduced the MDA level in the jejunum of weanling piglets [ 58 ].…”