Effect of dietary Bacillus coagulans on the performance and intestinal microbiota of weaned piglets

Yan

et al. 2023

Preprint

Background Lactulose has been considered to be an effective prebiotic protect intestinal mucosal injury in pigs. Bacillus coagulans (B. coagulans) is known as ‘the king of probiotics’ due to its high stability in the gastrointestinal tract, non-toxic effects, as well as high pharmacological activity. Our previous in vitro study indicating that the combination of lactulose and B. coagulans may be a good candidate as alternative of antibiotic growth promoters. However, the in vivo effects of lactulose and B. coagulans on growth and intestinal health under immune challenge in piglets remains unclear. The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of symbiotic containing lactulose and B. coagulans as alternative of antibiotic growth promoter in piglets and its effects on the intestinal mucosal injury and barrier dysfunction under immune challenge. Methods A total of 24 weaned male piglets were randomly assigned to 4 groups: CTR-saline, LPS-LPS, ANT-LPS and SYN-LPS groups, respectively. Piglets in the CTR-saline and LPS-LPS group were fed basal diet, while other piglets were fed either with 75 mg/kg chlortetracycline (CTC) or synbiotic mixture of 10 g/kg lactulose and 2×109 CFU/kg B. coagulans for 32 days before intraperitoneal injection of saline or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (100 µg/kg BW), respectively. Piglets were sacrificed 4 h after LPS injection to collect samples for determining intestinal morphology, integrity and barrier functions as well as relative genes and protein expression analysis. Results Our data shown that dietary supplementation of synbiotic mixture of lactulose and B. coagulans had higher feed efficiency than CTC and CON. Under acute immune stress, LPS injection induced higher serum diamine oxidase activities, D-lactic acid levels, and endotoxin status, lower villus height and ratio of villus height to crypt depth, greater mRNA and lower protein expression related tight junction in both jejunum and ileum. Moreover, higher apoptosis index and higher protein expression of Bax and caspase-3 were also observed in LPS challenge group. Surprisingly, dietary synbiotic mixture with lactulose and B. coagulans remarkably protected against LPS-induced intestinal damage, barrier dysfunction and higher apoptosis progress as well as CTC. Conclusions Our in vivo data suggest that dietary supplementation of synbiotic mixture with lactulose and B. coagulans resulted in higher feed efficiency, and show greater resilience to LPS-induced intestinal morphology damage, barrier dysfunction and aggressive apoptosis in piglets as well as the protective effects of CTC. Those results indicating that synbiotic mixture of lactulose and B. coagulans as novel synbiotic shown beneficial effects on the performance and resilience to acute immune stress in piglets.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Previous evidence has indicated that B. coagulans could improve the growth performance and gut health of animals [11,12]. Lactulose is a prebiotic made up of galactose and fructose which is a non-absorbable synthetic disaccharide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The synbiotic mixture of lactulose and Bacillus coagulans protect intestinal barrier dysfunction and apoptosis in weaned piglets challenged with lipopolysaccharide

Zheng

Yan

et al. 2023

Preprint

“…Studies have shown that these fatty acids have special antibacterial activity, which could inhibit intestinal pathogens and reduce inflammation to replace antibiotics ( Li et al, 2022 ). Anaerovibrio is a group of lipid-degrading bacteria, which is prone to produce oxidizing substances such as malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxy-2-hexenal ( Sun et al, 2022 ). The oxidation products would affect intestinal absorption and digestion with a strong proinflammatory effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of fermented feed of Pennisetum giganteum on growth performance, oxidative stress, immunity and gastrointestinal microflora of Boer goats under thermal stress

Qiu

et al. 2023

Front. Microbiol.

IntroductionThis study was conducted to evaluate the effects of fermented feed of Pennisetum giganteum (P. giganteum) on growth performance, oxidative stress, immunity and gastrointestinal microflora of Boer goats under thermal stress.MethodsThe study was conducted during 45 days using twenty 2 months Boer goats. The goats were randomly allocated into two groups: NPG (n = 10; normal P. giganteum) and FPG (n = 10; fermented feed of P. giganteum), and the ratio of concentrates to roughage was 3:2. Both groups of animals were kept in sheds and exposed to summer thermal stress from 10:00 h to 18:00 h (temperature and humidity index, THI > 78). At the end of the study, the animals were slaughtered and assessed for various characteristics.ResultsThe findings from the study revealed that FPG-feeding significantly increased (p < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG, 48.18 g) and carcass weight (4.38 kg), while decreased (p < 0.01) average daily feed intake (ADFI, 0.74 kg/d; p < 0.01) and the feed:gain (F/G, 15.36) ratio. The CAT, GSH-Px activities and GSH in serum, liver and spleen, and the levels of IgA, IgG, IgM, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-1β in serum of FPG-fed goats were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of NPG-feeding goats. Further, we found that FPG feed is rich in nutrients with Lactobacillus (65.83%) and Weissella (17.80%). Results for gastrointestinal microbiota composition showed that FPG-feeding significantly enhanced the abundance of Lactobacillus and unidentified Clostridiales, and reduced Anaerovibrio and Methanobrevibacter. Meanwhile, Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that these microbiotas were closely related to the improvement of oxidative stress and immune indexes of goats.DiscussionThese results demonstrated that FPG-feeding not only reduces oxidative stress and improves ROS clearance to enhance antioxidant defense system, but also improves gastrointestinal microbiota to enhance immune function by overcoming the adverse effects of heat stress, and further improve growth performance of goats.

“…These findings consisted with previous studies shown that the application of either Bacillus coagulans or lactulose obtained good results in animal husbandry [ 11 ]. For example, feeding 600 g Bacillus coagulans (8.0 × 10 9 CFU/g, spore rate > 98%) to weaned piglets for 28 d had positive effects on growth performance (higher ADG and lower ratio of F:G) [ 13 ]. Moreover, dietary supplementation with 0.1% lactulose improved the growth performance (greater ADG and G/F) in weaning piglets [ 15 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a kind of probiotic, Bacillus coagulans is a Gram-positive lactic acid-producing bacterial species and its spores have strong resistance to acid, high temperature, high pressure, and easy storage properties [ 11 ]. Earlier evidence has indicated that Bacillus coagulans could improve the growth performance and intestinal health in animals [ 12 , 13 ]. Lactulose is a prebiotic made up of galactose and fructose which cannot be metabolized by the digestive enzymes in animals and therefore directly fermented by the microbe in the gastrointestinal tract [ 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The synbiotic mixture of lactulose and Bacillus coagulans protects intestinal barrier dysfunction and apoptosis in weaned piglets challenged with lipopolysaccharide

Zheng

J Animal Sci Biotechnol

Yang

et al. 2023

Background Lactulose as an effective prebiotic protects intestinal mucosal injury. Bacillus coagulans is widely used in feed additives because of its ability to promote intestinal health. Our previous study suggests that the combination of lactulose and Bacillus coagulans may be a good candidate as alternative for antibiotic growth promoters. However, the in vivo effects of lactulose and Bacilluscoagulans on growth and intestinal health under immune challenge in piglets remains unclear. The objective of this study is to explore the protective effects of synbiotic containing lactulose and Bacillus coagulans on the intestinal mucosal injury and barrier dysfunction under immune challenge in weaned piglets. Methods Twenty four weaned piglets were assigned to 4 groups. Piglets in the CON-saline and LPS-LPS group were fed the basal diet, while others were fed either with chlortetracycline (CTC) or synbiotic mixture of lactulose and Bacillus coagulans for 32 d before injection of saline or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Piglets were sacrificed 4 h after LPS injection to collect samples to determine intestinal morphology, integrity and barrier functions as well as relative genes and proteins. Results Our data showed that no differences were observed in the growth performance of the four test groups. LPS injection induced higher serum diamine oxidase activities, D-lactic acid levels, and endotoxin status, lower villus height and ratio of villus height to crypt depth, greater mRNA and lower protein expression related tight junction in both jejunum and ileum. In addition, a higher apoptosis index, and protein expression of Bax and caspase-3 were also observed in the LPS challenge group. Interestingly, dietary synbiotic mixture with lactulose and Bacillus coagulans protected against LPS-induced intestinal damage, barrier dysfunction and higher apoptosis as well as CTC. Conclusions Our data suggest that dietary supplementation of synbiotic mixture with lactulose and Bacillus coagulans showed resilience to LPS-induced intestinal morphological damage, barrier dysfunction and aggressive apoptosis in piglets as well as the protective effects of CTC. These results indicate that synbiotic mixture of lactulose and Bacillus coagulans showed beneficial effects on performance and resilience to acute immune stress in weaned piglets.