Rossi Raffaella, Mainardi Edda
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Via Dell'Università 6, 26900 Lodi, Italy.
Biomolecules. 2025 May 3;15(5):665. doi: 10.3390/biom15050665.
Animal models are an essential part of translational research for the purpose of improving human health. The pig is a potential human research model that can be used to assess the effects of dietary interventions, pathologies, and drugs on gut health and the microbiome, due to its anatomical and physiological similarity to humans. It is recognised that a healthy gut is closely linked to the prevention of several chronic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, gastrointestinal inflammation, as well as neurological and cardiovascular diseases. The use of prebiotics and probiotics plays an important role in maintaining a healthy digestive system, which is responsible for modulating all other body functions. The present review focuses on the applications of prebiotics and probiotics in the pig as an animal model in healthy and diseased conditions, in order to highlight the efficacy of these molecules in the perspective of human health outcomes. The data support the use of prebiotics to improve intestinal health in both healthy and diseased states. In addition, the use of human microbiota-associated (HMA) gnotobiotic pigs provided a good model to study the intestinal and systemic immune response and microbiota composition following probiotic supplementation after a vaccine or virus challenge.
动物模型是转化研究的重要组成部分，目的是改善人类健康。猪是一种潜在的人类研究模型，由于其在解剖学和生理学上与人类相似，可用于评估饮食干预、病理状况和药物对肠道健康和微生物群的影响。人们认识到，健康的肠道与预防多种慢性疾病密切相关，包括肥胖、糖尿病、胃肠道炎症以及神经和心血管疾病。益生元和益生菌的使用在维持健康的消化系统方面发挥着重要作用，而消化系统负责调节所有其他身体功能。本综述重点关注益生元和益生菌在猪作为健康和患病状态下的动物模型中的应用，以便从人类健康结果的角度突出这些分子的功效。数据支持在健康和患病状态下使用益生元来改善肠道健康。此外，使用人类微生物群相关（HMA）无菌猪提供了一个良好的模型，用于研究疫苗或病毒攻击后补充益生菌后的肠道和全身免疫反应以及微生物群组成。
