Early Life Intervention Using Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves Intestinal Development, Immune Response, and Gut Microbiota in Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys crocea) Larvae

Abstract

Marine fish larvae are vulnerable during the early life period. The early intervention using probiotics may be a promising method to improve growth of fish larvae. In this study, a 30-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of early life intervention using probiotic Clostridium butyricum (CB) on growth performance, intestinal development, immune response and gut microbiota of large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) larvae. Four isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated with the supplementation of four different levels of CB (5 × 109 CFU g−1), 0.00% (Control), 0.10% (CB1), 0.20% (CB2), and 0.40% (CB3). Results showed that larvae fed diets with CB had significant higher final length than the control group. Meanwhile, larvae fed the diet with 0.10% CB had significant higher final weight and specific growth rate (SGR) than the control group. However, no significant difference in survival rate was observed among dietary treatments. CB supplementation significantly increased the height of intestinal villus and the length of intestinal enterocyte. Similarly, CB supplementation significantly increased the expression of tight zonula occludens-2 (zo-2) and ornithine decarboxylase (odc) than the control group. Larvae fed the diet with 0.20% CB had significant higher lipase and leucine-aminopeptidase (LAP) activity than the control group. Moreover, CB supplementation significantly improved immune enzyme activities than the control group. Sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA V4-5 region indicated that dietary CB altered intestinal microbiota profile and decreased intestinal microbial diversities of larvae. CB supplementation could effectively increase the abundance of CB, and decrease the abundance of some potential pathogenic bacteria in larval gut. These results revealed that early life intervention using 0.10–0.20% CB could promote growth of large yellow croaker larvae probably through promoting intestinal development, improving immune enzyme activities and modulating gut microbiota.

A primer on metagenomics and next‐generation sequencing in fish gut microbiome research

“…Further, the inclusion of probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus attenuated obesity in fish fed with moderate to high‐fat diets (Falcinelli et al, 2017). Inclusion of prebiotics or probiotics has been reported to cause changes in the gut microbial profiles of several fish species (Foysal et al, 2020; Fuentes‐Quesada et al, 2020; Kazlauskaite et al, 2020; Schmidt et al, 2017; Yin et al, 2021; Yu et al, 2019; Zhao et al, 2018).…”

Gut microbiota in a population highly affected by obesity and type 2 diabetes and susceptibility to COVID-19

“…Among the multiple benefits breastfeeding provides to neonates, human milk contains a complex community of bacteria that helps to seed the infant GM[ 70 , 71 ]. This event is extremely important since appropriate initial bacterial colonization is essential for adequate intestinal immune development[ 72 , 73 ]. Whether infective SARS-CoV-2 viruses are present in human milk, the data are still limited, and breastfeeding by women with COVID-19 remains a controversial issue.…”

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Disturbs Lipid Homeostasis and Augments Inflammation in the Intestine and Isolated Intestinal Cells of Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys crocea)

“…Although fish are less evolutionary than mammals, the nutrientand pathogen-sensing and immune response were evolutionarily conserved (16). They are susceptible and vulnerable to nutritional stress and aquatic environments, which leads to ER stress, lipid dysregulation, and inflammation in the intestine of fish (17)(18)(19). Therefore, fish is a good model to research the pathogenesis of metabolic disease and inflammation in the intestine.…”