Effect of Tributyrin Supplementation in Diet on Production Performance and Gastrointestinal Tract of Healthy Nursery Pigs

Effects of Tributyrin Supplementation on Growth Performance, Insulin, Blood Metabolites and Gut Microbiota in Weaned Piglets

“…Moreover, Sun et al [73] described, in early-weaned piglets a reduction of Lactobacillus genus in the non-diarrheic compared to diarrheic animals. According to Sakdee et al [16], our results shown no significant effects of tributyrin on the populations of E. coli and Enterobacteriaceae; on the contrary a significant reduction in Lactobacillus spp. and bifidobacteria has been observed.…”

“…Interestingly, in that same study, no effects on cell growth of one Lactobacillus curvatus strain were detected in the presence of glycerol and butyric acid suggesting that tributyrin itself exert inhibitory action on bacterial cells. Moreover, Gresse et al [76] demonstrated the dynamic of piglet microbiota across the intestinal tract, with the Lactobacillus genus having the highest relative abundance in the stomach, duodenum and ileum segments that are also the site in which tributyrin hydrolysis occurs [16]. We can suppose that the tributyrin exerts its inhibitory effects, before the hydrolysis, on sensitive Lactobacillus strains inhabiting these gastrointestinal segments.…”

“…This typical condition led to limitations in the absorption and digestion processes and strategies to decrease the pH are used to overcome these problems. Organic acids can decrease the gastric pH [58] particularly tributyrin, resulting in the conversion of the pepsinogen into pepsin, thus increasing the activity of the proteolytic enzymes and improving protein digestion [16] Moreover, an in vitro experiment showed that butyrate enhanced the expression and activity of the peptide transporter PEPT1, located on the enterocytes, that has a key role in the protein-nitrogen absorption [59]. We suppose that in our study tributyrin ameliorated the protein absorption and utilization by the summation of different mechanisms: it principally lowered the gastric pH, thus activating the proteolytic enzymes; it increased the absorptive surface, due to its trophic effect on the gastrointestinal tract and it probably enhanced the activity of peptide transporter on the enterocytes surface.…”

“…Tributyrin is a valid alternative to butyrate, as one molecule of tributyrin releases three molecules of butyrate directly in the small intestine, thus butyrate is rapidly adsorbed. Supplementation of tributyrin showed different in vivo positive effects on growth performance and gut health, also after lipopolysaccharide challenge [16][17][18]. The higher growth performance and the improvement of protein digestibility suggest that tributyrin could modulate protein and lipid metabolism.…”

Implications of Tributyrin on Gut Microbiota Shifts Related to Performances of Weaning Piglets

“…In this context, tributyrate glyceride, also called tributyrin, appears to be a good candidate for alleviating intestinal dysfunctions, modulating immune response and improving growth performance in piglets. Despite the large number of papers addressing tributyrin impact on weaning piglets, its efficacy as a growth promoter is sometimes controversial [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] probably because of different experimental conditions in farm trials. Indeed, the efficiency of tributyrin, as with all other growth promoter candidates, may vary based on its mechanisms of action, the basal diet composition and the animal’s health conditions.…”