A germ-free neonatal pig model was established to determine the effects of bacterial colonization by different species on small intestinal morphology and proinflammatory cytokine gene expression. Two experimental groups of 16 pigs were aseptically delivered by cesarian section and allocated into 4 gnotobiotic isolators. Pigs were either maintained germ-free (GF), or were orally inoculated with either a single strain of nonpathogenic Escherichia coli (EC) or Lactobacillus fermentum (LF) or conventionalized with adult porcine feces (CV). After 13 days tissue samples were collected at 5 regions corresponding to 5%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 95% of the small intestine (SI) length. In Experiment 2, the GF isolator became contaminated with Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE). In general, intestinal responses to bacterial colonization were similar among GF, LF, and SE pigs, and intestinal responses in EC pigs were more similar to CV pigs. Responses to bacterial colonization were most pronounced in the distal SI regions (50%-95%), suggesting that nonmicrobial factors may be more important in the proximal SI. Relative to CV pigs, the distal intestines of GF, LF, and SE pigs were characterized by long villi, shallow crypts, increased relative intestinal mass, and decreased lamina propria cellularity, whereas SI morphology was intermediate in EC pigs. Relative expression of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta ) and IL-6 generally increased distally in the SI and was highest in EC and CV pigs. We observed regional variation in SI morphology and proinflammatory cytokine expression, which differed with bacterial species. This study demonstrates that bacterial species differentially affect intestinal morphology and expression of proinflammatory cytokines and suggests that neonatal bacterial colonization patterns may have long-term effects on intestinal health and development.

. 2008. Cloning of porcine proglucagon and effect of commensal bacteria on relative gene expression in the intestine of gnotobiotic pigs. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 88: 429Á438. Porcine proglucagon mRNA sequence was determined by designing primers based on homologous regions in bovine and human genes. The porcine sequence shared 90% nucleotide identity with human proglucagon; however, predicted Ser159Arg and Leu160Lys substitutions were observed. This newly identified sequence suggests that the intestinal trophic peptide, glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2), is actually 35 amino acids in the pig rather than 33 amino acids, as previously reported. To determine the effect of different bacteria on intestinal proglucagon gene expression, 16 piglets were reared in gnotobiotic isolators maintained germ-free (GF), monoassociated with Lactobacillus fermentum (LF) or Escherichia coli (EC), or conventionalized (CV) in two separate experiments for 13 d. Cultured cecal contents confirmed microbial status with the exception of GF pigs in exp. 2, which were contaminated with Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE). Mean fold differences in ileal proglucagon expression (CV set to 1) were 1.0ab, 1.6a, 0.7b, 1.0ab for GF, LF, EC and CV in exp. 1 and 4.0a, 2.0b, 0.6c, 1.0c for SE, LF, EC and CV groups in exp. 2, respectively. This study, for the first time, accurately describes the full nucleotide sequence for porcine proglucagon, and shows that proglucagon expression is differentially regulated by bacteria colonizing intestine of neonatal piglets.

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