Animal Microecology Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, No. 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China.
Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China.
Probiotics Antimicrob Proteins. 2019 Dec;11(4):1278-1292. doi: 10.1007/s12602-018-9476-x.
Probiotics could promote animal growth and enhance immune function. This study investigated the effects of Clostridium butyricum (CB) on the growth performance, intestinal immune, and gut microbiota of weaning rex rabbits. A total of 60 healthy female rabbits (5-month-old) were divided equally into four groups and mated on the same day: control group (CTRL, fed with basal feed), low-dose group (LDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 10 CFU/g CB), middle-dose group (MDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 10 CFU/g CB), and high-dose group (HDG, fed with basal feed + 1.0 × 10 CFU/g CB). Then, 30 weaning rex rabbits (35-day-old) were collected from each group for this experiment, and they were offered the same feeds as their mother. The results demonstrated that high-dose CB treatment significantly increased average daily weight gain of weaning rex rabbits. Further studies suggested that CB enhanced small intestinal digestive enzyme activity and improved mucosal morphology and antioxidant status. Supplemented with CB, small intestinal barrier function was maintained with the upregulation of mRNA levels of ZO-1, claudin, and occludin as well as the increase of sIgA production. Moreover, the relative expressions of MyD88, TLR2, and TLR4 were elevated in HDG; simultaneously, pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-6, INF-γ, and TNF-α were decreased after CB administration. In addition, CB showed beneficial effects in improving weaning rex rabbit intestinal microflora via increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Therefore, our results indicated CB can promote rex rabbit growth, which is likely to the enhancement of immune function and the improvement of intestinal microbiota.
益生菌可以促进动物生长并增强免疫功能。本研究探讨了丁酸梭菌（CB）对断奶獭兔生长性能、肠道免疫和肠道微生物群的影响。将 60 只健康雌性兔（5 月龄）分为 4 组，同日交配：对照组（CTRL，基础饲料喂养）、低剂量组（LDG，基础饲料+1.0×10 CFU/g CB）、中剂量组（MDG，基础饲料+1.0×10 CFU/g CB）和高剂量组（HDG，基础饲料+1.0×10 CFU/g CB）。然后，从每组收集 30 只断奶獭兔（35 日龄）进行本实验，它们的饲料与母亲的相同。结果表明，高剂量 CB 处理显著提高了断奶獭兔的平均日增重。进一步的研究表明，CB 增强了小肠消化酶活性，改善了黏膜形态和抗氧化状态。补充 CB 可维持小肠屏障功能，上调 ZO-1、claudin 和 occludin 的 mRNA 水平以及增加 sIgA 的产生。此外，HDG 中 MyD88、TLR2 和 TLR4 的相对表达增加；同时，CB 给药后促炎细胞因子 IL-6、INF-γ 和 TNF-α 减少。此外，CB 通过增加有益菌的丰度对改善断奶獭兔肠道微生物群具有有益作用。因此，我们的结果表明，CB 可以促进獭兔生长，这可能是通过增强免疫功能和改善肠道微生物群实现的。
