Early Parenteral Administration of Ceftiofur has Gender-Specific Short- and Long-Term Effects on the Fecal Microbiota and Growth in Pigs from the Suckling to Growing Phase

Abstract

Simple Summary: Antibiotics are commonly used in prevention and therapy of bacterial diseases in pig production. Although the main target of antibiotics are the pathogenic bacteria, they often disrupt the commensal gut microbiota as a whole, leading to intestinal disturbances. These detrimental effects have been well established for oral administration of antibiotics, whereas knowledge about potential disturbing effects of single parenteral antibiotic treatments on the gut microbiota development is limited. In this research, the impact of a single antibiotic injection on the first day of life on the maturation of the fecal microbiome and host growth performance was evaluated from the suckling to the growing phase. Results showed that a single antibiotic injection early in life influenced the bacterial community development in the short-and long-term and that this disturbance in the bacterial community was sex-specific. Present results further demonstrated that changes in the bacterial ecosystem of the gut may impair the growth performance of the growing pig. Thus, the results of the present study emphasize the importance of a proper and strict use of antibiotics in swine herds.Abstract: Using ceftiofur during the first days of life is a common preventative strategy against several bacterial diseases in pig production. This study aimed to evaluate short-and long-term effects of early use of ceftiofur on the fecal microbiota development in suckling and growing pigs. Sixty-four piglets from eight litters were assigned to the antibiotic (AB; n = 32) or control group (control; n = 32). Twelve hours postpartum (day 0) AB piglets received an intramuscular injection of ceftiofur (5.0 mg/kg body weight) or a placebo. DNA was extracted from fecal samples collected on days 0, 12, 28, and 97 for deep-sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The AB administration disturbed the maturational changes in the fecal microbiome, whereby effects were sex-specific. Sex-related differences in AB metabolism in females and males may have caused these diverging AB-effects on the fecal microbiota. Especially the loss of bacterial diversity and of certain taxa in female AB pigs may have contributed to the decreased body weight of these females on day 97 of life. Taken together, this study showed that an AB injection with ceftiofur 12 h postpartum markedly affected the successional changes in the fecal microbiota composition in male and female pigs, with long-term consequences for host performance.

Faecal Microbiota Analysis of Piglets During Lactation

“…However, the latter study did not investigate how quickly the differences became established. More recently, Ruczizka, et al [38] observed differences in the microbiota of piglets given a single intramuscular injection of ceftiofur 12 h post-partum, with differences evident at 12, 28 and 97 days of age. This approach was conducted in a more similar manner to the one implemented in the current study, therefore, it is likely that our inability to detect an effect of antibiotic may be due to a need for a longer period of time after antibiotic administration in order to see a change in the faeces.…”

“…This approach was conducted in a more similar manner to the one implemented in the current study, therefore, it is likely that our inability to detect an effect of antibiotic may be due to a need for a longer period of time after antibiotic administration in order to see a change in the faeces. Additionally, Ruczizka, et al [38], also observed sex-specific differences and had 16 piglets of each sex per treatment. So, the lower number of replicates in the present study may have impacted the results.…”

Variations in porcine colostrum oligosaccharide composition between breeds and in association with sow maternal performance

“…This also suggests that, for the development of new products that promote the nutrition of the suckling or weaning pig, a complex pattern of sugars should be considered instead of a single one. OS continue to be produced in transitional and mature pig milk, and, hence, it can be assumed that these OS also modulate the establishment of the microbiota in piglets' intestine [9] which is known to mature with age [34,35] and influence the piglets' growth [36][37][38]. Though the OS composition in transitional and mature milk was not analysed in this study, the obtained results could imply that OS composition can contribute to the programmed development of the gut microbiota, since different OS clusters were associated with different final weaned litter weights and different average piglet growth during the first 3 days of life (Table 4).…”

Opportunities of prebiotics for the intestinal health of monogastric animals

“…The gut microbiota of the GIT plays an important role in processing signals and cues from the environment and delivering them to the host ( Celi et al., 2019 ; Dietert and Silbergeld, 2015 ). However, a number of factors influence the diversity and activity of the intestinal microbiota, such as colonization and associated succession of inhabitation, dietary composition, feeding methods, feed processing, feed additives, antimicrobial agents, disease load, season, environment, stress, and genetics ( Guevarra et al., 2019 ; Ji et al., 2019 ; Rinninella et al., 2019 ; Ruczizka et al., 2019 ). Furthermore, the gut microbiota displays a compromise between supportive barrier functionality, synthesis of beneficial nutrients and proteins, and improved energy accumulation from diets, and the deleterious effects of inflammatory and clinical or subclinical pathologies ( Celi et al., 2017 ; Pluske et al., 2018 ).…”