Maternal Soluble Fiber Diet during Pregnancy Changes the Intestinal Microbiota, Improves Growth Performance, and Reduces Intestinal Permeability in Piglets

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that maternal diet during pregnancy modifies offspring's microbiota composition and intestinal development in a long-term manner. However, the effects of maternal soluble fiber diet during pregnancy on growth traits and the developing intestine are still underexplored. Sows were allocated to either control or 2.0% pregelatinized waxy maize starch plus guar gum (SF) dietary treatment during gestation. Growth performance, diarrhea incidence, gut microbiota composition and metabolism, and gut permeability and inflammation status of 14-day-old suckling piglets were analysed. The maternal SF diet improved growth rate but decreased diarrhea incidence of piglets. Next-generation sequencing analysis revealed that the intestinal microbiota composition was altered by a maternal SF diet. The fecal and plasma levels of acetate and butyrate were also increased. Furthermore, a maternal SF diet reduced the levels of plasma zonulin and fecal lipocalin-2 but increased the plasma concentrations of interleukin 10 (IL-10) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β). Additionally, the increased relative abundances of in SF piglets were positively correlated with growth rate while the decreased was positively correlated with fecal lipocalin-2. Our data reveal that a maternal SF diet during pregnancy has remarkable effects on offspring's growth traits, intestinal permeability and inflammation may via modulating the composition and metabolism of gut microbiota. Although the direct effects of dietary soluble fiber on gut microbiota have been extensively studied, the more indirect effects of maternal nutrition during pregnancy independently on the development of the intestine are until now largely unexplored. Our data show that a maternal soluble fiber diet during pregnancy is independently associated with changes in intestinal microbiota composition and metabolism of suckling piglets. These findings have direct implications for refining dietary recommendations in pregnancy. Moreover, a maternal soluble fiber diet reduces intestinal permeability, prevents intestinal inflammation and excessive systemic immune response of suckling piglets. Therefore, the suckling piglets' resistance to disease was enhanced, diarrhea was reduced and weight gain was raised. Additionally, the changes of gut microbiota in response to a maternal soluble fiber diet may also direct correlated with the offspring's growth and gut development.

Short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides enhances intestinal barrier function by attenuating mucosa inflammation and altering colonic microbiota composition of weaning piglets

“…Likewise, Shim et al (2005) also showed that dietary scFOS inclusion significantly increased butyric acid and isobutyric acid production of weaning piglets. SCFAs are important for intestinal health, as indicated by improved gut barrier function and accelerated intestinal growth in SCFAsinfused or fibre-treated piglets (Diao et al 2017;Cheng et al 2018). Acetic acid has been shown to be an anti-inflammatory substance to maintain intestinal homeostasis and butyric acid is considered to enhance intestinal barrier function by increasing the expression of tight junctions (Huang et al 2015).…”

Dietary Supplementation with Flammulina velutipes Stem Waste on Growth Performance, Fecal Short Chain Fatty Acids and Serum Profile in Weaned Piglets

“…Given the similarity in weaning day (d 28), diets and environment, we deduced that the difference may be due to the initial body weight (IBW) imparity. In the opinion of Cheng et al [31], maternal diet during pregnancy modifies microbiota and intestinal development of offspring in a long-term manner. In that way, different IBW may be closely associated with the microbiota and sow diet.…”

Dietary lysozyme supplement alters serum biochemical makers and milk metabolite profile of sows via gut microbiota

“…Recent studies revealed that maternal diets and gut microbiota could directly affect the offspring development early in life [32, 33, 45]. For instance, sows treated with probiotic combinations resulted in improved microbiota diversity in neonatal piglets [46].…”

“…Previous studies reported that lysozyme could be effective against a wide range of gastrointestinal pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes , Clostridium perfringens , Candida spp., and Helicobacter pylori in vitro [7, 21]. Reduced microbial diversity should result from combined factors including physiological preparation for parturition and lysozyme treatment [32, 46]. Furthermore, Spirochaetes , Euryarchaeota, and Actinobacteria significantly increased while Firmicutes showed a remarkable reduction in the 1.0 kg/t treated group compared with the control group.…”

“…However, none of these studies above provided a systematic overview of lysozyme mediated variations in gut microbiota and its potential interactions with immune systems. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that maternal diet during pregnancy modifies an offspring’s microbiota composition and intestinal development in a long-term manner [32, 33]. Nutritional intervention on sows with additives results in greater neonatal survival and infant health [15].…”