Vecchiato Carla Giuditta, Pinna Carlo, Sung Chi-Hsuan, Borrelli De Andreis Francesca, Suchodolski Jan S, Pilla Rachel, Delsante Costanza, Sportelli Federica, Mammi Ludovica Maria Eugenia, Pietra Marco, Biagi Giacomo
Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Tolara di Sopra 50, 40064 Ozzano Emilia, Italy.
Gastrointestinal Laboratory, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Jan 31;13(3):502. doi: 10.3390/ani13030502.
Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) are considered to be interesting energy sources for dogs affected by chronic enteropathies (CE). This study analyzed the clinical scores, fecal microbiota, and metabolomes of 18 CE dogs fed a home-cooked diet (HCD) supplemented with virgin coconut oil (VCO), a source of MCFA, at 10% of metabolizable energy (HCD + VCO). The dogs were clinically evaluated with the Canine Chronic Enteropathy Activity Index (CCECAI) before and at the end of study. Fecal samples were collected at baseline, after 7 days of HCD, and after 30 days of HCD + VCO, for fecal score (FS) assessment, microbial analysis, and determination of bile acids (BA), sterols, and fatty acids (FA). The dogs responded positively to diet change, as shown by the CCECAI improvement ( = 0.001); HCD reduced fecal fat excretion and HCD + VCO improved FS ( < 0.001), even though an increase in fecal moisture occurred due to HCD ( = 0.001). HCD modified fecal FA (C6:0: +79%, C14:0: +74%, C20:0: +43%, C22:0: +58%, C24:0: +47%, C18:3n-3: +106%, C20:4n-6: +56%, and monounsaturated FA (MUFA): -23%, < 0.05) and sterol profile (coprostanol: -27%, sitostanol: -86%, < 0.01). VCO increased ( < 0.05) fecal total saturated FA (SFA: +28%, C14:0: +142%, C16:0 +21%, C22:0 +33%) and selected MCFAs (+162%; C10:0 +183%, C12:0 +600%), while reducing ( < 0.05) total MUFA (-29%), polyunsaturated FA (-26%), campesterol (-56%) and phyto-/zoosterols ratio (0.93:1 vs. 0.36:1). The median dysbiosis index was <0 and, together with fecal BA, was not significantly affected by HCD nor by VCO. The HCD diet increased total fecal bacteria ( 0.005) and the abundance of spp. ( = 0.028). This study confirmed that clinical signs, and to a lesser extent fecal microbiota and metabolome, are positively influenced by HCD in CE dogs. Moreover, it has been shown that fecal proportions of MCFA increased when MCFAs were supplemented in those dogs. The present results emphasize the need for future studies to better understand the intestinal absorptive mechanism of MCFA in dogs.
中链脂肪酸（MCFAs）被认为是受慢性肠病（CE）影响的犬类的有趣能量来源。本研究分析了18只患有慢性肠病的犬的临床评分、粪便微生物群和代谢组，这些犬食用了一种家庭烹饪饮食（HCD），该饮食添加了占可代谢能量10%的初榨椰子油（VCO），VCO是MCFA的一种来源（HCD + VCO）。在研究开始前和结束时，用犬慢性肠病活动指数（CCECAI）对犬进行临床评估。在基线、HCD喂养7天后以及HCD + VCO喂养30天后收集粪便样本，用于粪便评分（FS）评估、微生物分析以及胆汁酸（BA）、固醇和脂肪酸（FA）的测定。犬对饮食变化反应积极，如CCECAI改善所示（P = 0.001）；HCD减少了粪便脂肪排泄，HCD + VCO改善了FS（P < 0.001），尽管HCD导致粪便水分增加（P = 0.001）。HCD改变了粪便FA（C6:0：增加79%，C14:0：增加74%，C20:0：增加43%，C22:0：增加58%，C24:0：增加47%，C18:3n - 3：增加106%，C20:4n - 6：增加56%，以及单不饱和脂肪酸（MUFA）：减少23%，P < 0.05）和固醇谱（粪甾醇：减少27%，谷甾烷醇：减少86%，P < 0.01）。VCO增加了（P < 0.05）粪便总饱和脂肪酸（SFA：增加28%，C14:
