Live Probiotic Lactobacillus johnsonii BS15 Promotes Growth Performance and Lowers Fat Deposition by Improving Lipid Metabolism, Intestinal Development, and Gut Microflora in Broilers

Abstract

Numerous studies have focused on the beneficial effects of probiotics in animals. Even so, additional information should be obtained about the mechanisms by which a useful probiotic strain successfully exerts such beneficial effects. In this study, we evaluated the effect of the dietary supplementation of both live and disrupted Lactobacillus johnsonii (LJ) strain BS15 in broilers at different ages. Specifically, growth performance, lipid metabolism, gut microbiota, intestinal development, and digestive ability of the broilers were assessed. A total of 180 1-day-old Cobb 500 chicks were randomly distributed into three groups. These chicks were fed diets supplemented with 1 × 106 colony-forming units (cfu) LJ per gram of feed (LJ group); 1 × 106 cfu disrupted LJ per gram of feed (D-LJ group); and de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe liquid medium (control group), respectively, throughout a 42-day experimental period. The results demonstrated that LJ supplementation of feed had a positive effect on the average daily gain and starter feed conversion ratio. In addition, LJ supplementation of feed decreased serum triglyceride and low-density lipid cholesterol levels, as well as abdominal fat deposition. LJ also reduced the mRNA levels of lipoprotein lipase in adipose tissue and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 in the liver. LJ diminished the mRNA quantities of the sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c and fatty acid synthase, as well as increased the level of serum high-density lipid cholesterol. LJ increased the mRNA quantities of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α, acyl-CoA oxidase in the liver, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1. LJ also improved the intestinal development and digestive ability mainly by increasing the villus height/crypt depth ratio in the ileum. The probiotic increased the levels of epidermal growth factor and insulin-like growth factor-1, as well as the activities of trypsin and lipase in the jejunum and ileum. LJ exerted beneficial effects on the intestinal flora. Specifically, LJ markedly enhanced the population of Bacteroidetes and Lactobacillus spp. Moreover, the probiotic reduced the population of Enterobacteriaceae and the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio. Slight changes caused by disrupted LJ were detected. These findings indicated that live LJ supplementation may promote growth performance and lower fat deposition in broilers.

Effect of Lactobacillus gallinarum PL 53 Supplementation on Xylose Absorption and Intestinal Morphology in Broilers Challenged with Campylobacter jejuni

“…It has been reported that the use of probiotics particularly Lactobacillus spp. enhanced the absorptive capacity by the small intestine with an increase in villus height and crypt depth and better overall gut health and growth performance by balancing microflora (Wang et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018). Our results were in accordance to previous studies in which, probiotic supplementation in drinking water significantly increased villus height and in turn also enhanced the villus surface area as compared to control groups.…”

Galacto-oligosaccharides modulate the juvenile gut microbiome and innate immunity to improve broiler chicken performance

“…The correlation between increased IL-17A expression and L. johnsonii abundance parallels the intestinal induction of IL-17A observed in response to tightly adherent symbiotic species (60)(61)(62)(63)(64). L. johnsonii is an established probiotic that has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects when applied in poultry production (48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53). Several modes of action have been proposed for probiotic strains of L. johnsonii but underlying these is the multi-modal ability of the species to affect epithelial gut cell adherence (65)(66)(67)(68), which we propose will induce the expression of IL-17A.…”

“…L. johnsonii LB1 expresses a bile salt hydrolase active against tauro-beta-muricholic acid (T--MCA), a critical mediator of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) signaling that is important in maintaining metabolic homeostasis (47). In broiler chickens, administration of a L. johnsonii isolate has been reported to improve growth performance (48). Subsequently it was reported that meat from L. johnsonii treated birds had higher nutritional value and the birds showed resistance to the development of necrotic enteritis (49,50).…”

The PPAR–microbiota–metabolic organ trilogy to fine‐tune physiology

“…In the mouse study, hepatic PPAR-a gene expression was up-regulated 2-fold following HFD feeding, and FMT into HFD-fed mice reduced PPAR-a expression significantly, indicating an association between gut microbiota and the PPAR-a expression level (206). In the rat study, there were lower PPAR-a protein expression levels in the liver after the rats were fed an HFD, and treatment with cholesterol-lowering probiotics was able to reverse this HFD effect (204,208). Despite these contradictory data, a common observation was that FMT or probiotic treatment was able to alleviate HFD-induced lipid accumulation and inflammation in the liver (204,206).…”

“…A few studies have indicated possible roles of the gut microbiota in influencing host energy metabolism through PPAR-a (204)(205)(206)(207)(208). It is now known that the gut microbiota responds to nutrient deprivation by augmenting the PPAR-a-dependent fatty acid oxidation and the hepatic production of ketone bodies via the PPAR-a-dependent ketogenesis pathway (205,209).…”