Maternal antibiotic treatment affects offspring gastric sensing for umami taste and ghrelin regulation in the pig

Abstract

Background Scarce is knowledge on the process regulating the development of acid secretion, orexigenic signaling, and chemosensing in the stomach of young pigs. Changes of early microbial encounters by suckling pigs can interact with the gut maturation, by the induction of different molecular signaling. Our goal was to assess if the age of offspring and the maternal environment, influenced by sow antibiotic treatment peripartum, could affect gastric morphology and the expression of genes involved in the control of hydrochloric secretion, feed intake, taste, and inflammation in offspring stomach. Methods 84 pigs from sows fed a diet with amoxicillin (on –d10 to +d21 from farrowing, ANT) or without (CON) were sacrificed at d14, d21, d28 (weaning) or d42. Samples of oxyntic (OXY), pyloric (PY) and cardiac mucosae close to OXY were collected and parietal and enteroendocrine cells (EECs) were counted. Relative gene expression of a set of 11 key genes (ATP4A, SSTR2, GAST, GHRL, MBOAT4, PCSK1, GNAT1, TAS1R1, TAS1R3, IL8 and TNF) was assessed by qRT-PCR. In addition, 40 offspring obtained from the same ANT and CON sows were offered a normal or a fat-enriched diet for 4 weeks between 140 and 169 d of age, and then OXY and PY were sampled. Results The number of parietal and EECs increased with age (P < 0.001). ATP4A increased with age (within suckling, P = 0.043, post-weaning vs. suckling, P < 0.001), SSTR2 increased only after weaning (P < 0.001). In OXY, GHRL increased during suckling (P = 0.012), and post-weaning as a trend (P = 0.088). MBOAT4 tended to increase during suckling (P = 0.062). TAS1R1 increased from suckling to post-weaning period (P =0.001) and was lower in ANT offspring (P = 0.013). GNAT1 in PY was higher in ANT offspring (P = 0.041). Antibiotic treatment of sows peripartum increased expression of GHRL and MBOAT4 in OXY of growing-finishing offspring aged 5 months. Conclusions Data show that sensing for umami taste and ghrelin regulation can be affected by maternal environment, but the development of acid secretion, orexigenic signaling and taste perception in the stomach are mostly developmentally controlled.

The ghrelin system follows a precise post-natal development in mini-pigs that is not impacted by dietary medium chain fatty-acids

“…Importantly, we studied gene transcript level and not protein expression (or activity where appropriate) at the gastric level, which constitutes a limitation of our study. A recent study in older piglets described an increase in ghrl but no variation of goat or pcsk1/3 expressions between PND 14 and 42 ( Trevisi et al, 2021 ). However, timepoints at younger ages as well as corresponding plasma ghrelin levels like in our study were not reported.…”

Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Feed Intake of Farm Animals

“…One study suggests modulation of the olfactory receptor OR51E1 by the gut microbiome and factors that affect the complexity of the microbiota [ 91 ]. For taste receptors so far, it has been shown that maternal antibiotic administration leads to an upregulation of the TAS1R1 gene for the umami taste receptor TAS1TR in the stomach of suckling piglets [ 92 ]. However, there is no evidence that increased expression of TAS1R1 could affect piglet appetite.…”

Marine Macroalgae in Rabbit Nutrition—A Valuable Feed in Sustainable Farming

“…Pig production faces problems similar to those of rabbit production related to dysbiosis during the post-weaning period, which was traditionally controlled with the use of antibiotic-medicated feed and supplementation with high levels of minerals (particularly copper and zinc) [ 58 ]. The ban on (or limited use of) antibiotics has led to the need for feeding strategies in the post-weaning period that can re-establish the gut eubiosis lost at weaning, aimed at restoring the Lactobacillus count, promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria that boost the mucosal immune system and lowering the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria [ 83 ]. The pig farming sector already has some experience in using seaweed to improve the health and performance of piglets while avoiding the use of in-feed antibiotics (for a review, see [ 58 , 61 , 63 ]).…”