Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China.
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Intestinal Function and Regulation, College of Life Sciences, Hunan International Joint Laboratory of Animal Intestinal Ecology and Health, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China.
J Anim Sci. 2023 Jan 3;101. doi: 10.1093/jas/skad220.
Probiotics, such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, promote growth in piglets by modulating gut microbiota composition and improving the host immune system. A strain of Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium thermacidophilum were previously isolated from fresh feces of Tibetan pigs. The effects of these isolated strains on growth performance, intestinal morphology, immunity, microbiota composition, and their metabolites were evaluated in weaned piglets. Thirty crossbred piglets were selected and fed either a basal diet (CON), a basal diet supplemented with aureomycin (ANT), or a basal diet supplemented with Lactobacillus sp. and B. thermacidophilum (LB) for 28 d. The piglets in the ANT and LB groups had significantly higher body weight gain than those in the CON group (P < 0.05). Piglets in the ANT and LB groups had regularly arranged villi and microvilli in the small intestine. Furthermore, they had improved immune function, as indicated by decreased serum concentrations of inflammatory cytokines (P < 0.05), improved components of immune cells in the blood, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen. Additionally, metagenomic sequencing indicated a significant shift in cecal bacterial composition and alterations in microbiota functional profiles following Lactobacillus sp. and B. thermacidophilum supplementation. Metabolomic results revealed that the metabolites were also altered, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis revealed that several significantly altered metabolites were enriched in glycerophospholipid and cholesterol metabolism (P < 0.05). Furthermore, correlation analysis showed that several bacterial members were closely related to the alterations in metabolites, including Bacteroides sp., which were negatively correlated with triglyceride (16:0/18:0/20:4[5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z]), the metabolite that owned the highest variable importance of projection scores. Collectively, our findings suggest that combined supplementation with Lactobacillus sp. and B. thermacidophilum significantly improved the growth performance, immunity, and microbiota composition in weaned piglets, making them prospective alternatives to antibiotics in swine production.
益生菌，如乳杆菌和双歧杆菌，通过调节肠道微生物群落组成和改善宿主免疫系统来促进仔猪生长。先前从藏猪新鲜粪便中分离出一株乳杆菌和一株嗜热双歧杆菌。在断奶仔猪中评估了这些分离株对生长性能、肠道形态、免疫、微生物群落组成及其代谢物的影响。选择 30 头杂交仔猪，分别饲喂基础日粮（CON）、基础日粮添加金霉素（ANT）或基础日粮添加乳杆菌和嗜热双歧杆菌（LB）28d。与 CON 组相比，ANT 和 LB 组仔猪体重增加显著（P<0.05）。ANT 和 LB 组仔猪小肠绒毛排列整齐，微绒毛排列整齐。此外，它们的免疫功能得到改善，表现为血清炎症细胞因子浓度降低（P<0.05），血液、肠系膜淋巴结和脾脏中免疫细胞的组成得到改善。此外，宏基因组测序表明，补充乳杆菌和嗜热双歧杆菌后，盲肠细菌组成发生显著变化，微生物群功能谱发生改变。代谢组学结果表明代谢物也发生了改变，京都基因与基因组百科全书分析显示，甘油磷脂和胆固醇代谢中几种显著改变的代谢物含量丰富（P<0.05）。此外，相关性分析表明，几种细菌成员与代谢物的变化密切相关，包括拟杆菌属，其与甘油三酯（16:0/18:0/20:4[5Z,8Z,11Z,14Z]）呈负相关，甘油三酯是具有最高变量重要性投影得分的代谢物。总之，我们的研究结果表明，联合补充乳杆菌和嗜热双歧杆菌显著改善了断奶仔猪的生长性能、免疫力和微生物群落组成，使其成为猪生产中抗生素的有前景替代品。
