Early-Life Intervention Using Fecal Microbiota Combined with Probiotics Promotes Gut Microbiota Maturation, Regulates Immune System Development, and Alleviates Weaning Stress in Piglets

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that immune system development and weaning stress are closely related to the maturation of gut microbiota. The early-life period is a "window of opportunity" for microbial colonization, which potentially has a critical impact on the development of the immune system. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and probiotics are often used to regulate gut microbial colonization. This study aims to test whether early intervention with FMT using fecal microbiota from gestation sows combined with Clostridium butyricum and Saccharomyces boulardii (FMT-CS) administration could promote the maturation of gut microbiota and development of immune system in piglets. Piglets were assigned to control (n = 84) and FMT-CS treatment (n = 106), which were treated with placebo and bacterial suspension during the first three days after birth, respectively. By 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we found that FMT-CS increased the α-diversity and reduced the unweighted UniFrac distances of the OTU community. Besides, FMT-CS increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria, while decreasing that of opportunistic pathogens. FMT-CS also enhanced the relative abundance of genes related to cofactors and vitamin, energy, and amino acid metabolisms during the early-life period. ELISA analysis revealed that FMT-CS gave rise to the plasma concentrations of IL-23, IL-17, and IL-22, as well as the plasma levels of anti-M.hyo and anti-PCV2 antibodies. Furthermore, the FMT-CS-treated piglets showed decreases in inflammation levels and oxidative stress injury, and improvement of intestinal barrier function after weaning as well. Taken together, our results suggest that early-life intervention with FMT-CS could promote the development of innate and adaptive immune system and vaccine efficacy, and subsequently alleviate weaning stress through promoting the maturation of gut microbiota in piglets.

Introduction of Colonic and Fecal Microbiota From an Adult Pig Differently Affects the Growth, Gut Health, Intestinal Microbiota and Blood Metabolome of Newborn Piglets

“…Similar to previous works ( Cheng et al, 2018 ; McCormack et al, 2018 ; Brunse et al, 2019 ; Xiang et al, 2020 ), our present study demonstrated that microbiota transplantation following birth significantly promoted the growth of the piglets and improved their intestinal structure, as well as their immune and digestive functions. These beneficial effects in these young pigs are absolutely inseparable from the changes in their gut microorganisms.…”

“…Fecal microbe transplantation is mainly used for the treatment of severe diarrhea and enteritis in the clinic ( Cui et al, 2015 ; Haber et al, 2019 ). In recent years, some microbial transplantation studies have been carried out in pigs and other domestic animals ( Cheng et al, 2018 ; Geng et al, 2018 ; McCormack et al, 2018 ; Brunse et al, 2019 ; Xiang et al, 2020 ). The parallel results obtained from these research studies have indicated that early interventions based on microbe transplantation improve the intestinal health of young animals, thereby promoting their growth.…”

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Shows Marked Shifts in the Multi-Omic Profiles of Porcine Post-weaning Diarrhea

“…Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a technique for transplanting the fecal microbiota from a healthy individual into the gut of a recipient individual ( Youngster et al, 2014 ; Lin et al, 2018 ). As an important therapy for intestinal diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome ( Borody and Khoruts, 2011 ; Pigneur and Sokol, 2016 ; Heath et al, 2018 ), FMT has attracted some researchers’ attention due to its ability to restore the intestinal microbiota ( Cheng et al, 2018 ; Hu et al, 2018 ; Xiang et al, 2020 ). Over the past decade, FMT has been developed rapidly from initial methods that proposed the use of fresh stool to the use of purified and cryopreserved standardized preparations of fecal microbiota from highly selected donors ( Staley et al, 2017 ; Reygner et al, 2020 ; Tang et al, 2020 ).…”

Feed additives for the control of post-weaning Streptococcus suis disease and the effect on the faecal and nasal microbiota

“…Regarding major changes in nasal microbial composition after weaning, we found the same Bacteroides and Prevotella inverse apparent association observed in the faeces. Remarkably, several genera associated to health (such as Lachnospira and Blautia from Lachnospiraceae, and Faecalibacterium and Ruminococcus from Ruminococcaceae) relatively increased, probably promoting the immune and anti-stress functions 29 , while Bergeyella and Fusobacterium, which have been associated to disease [30][31][32] , showed to relatively decrease over time.…”