Protective effects of Bacillus licheniformis on growth performance, gut barrier functions, immunity and serum metabolome in lipopolysaccharide-challenged weaned piglets

Abstract

Bacillus licheniformis (B. licheniformis) is a well-accepted probiotic that has many benefits on both humans and animals. This study explored the effects of B. licheniformis on growth performance, intestinal mucosal barrier functions, immunity as well as serum metabolome in the weaned piglets exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). One hundred and twenty piglets weaned at four weeks of age were separated into two groups that received a basal diet (the control group, CON), and a basal diet complemented with B. licheniformis (500 mg/kg, the BL group, BL). Twenty-four piglets were chosen from the above two groups and 12 piglets were injected with LPS intraperitoneally at a concentration of 100 μg/kg and the others were injected with sterile saline solution of the same volume. All the piglets were sacrificed 4 h after LPS challenge. Results showed that B. licheniformis enhanced the ADG and final body weight and lowered the F/G and diarrhea rate. Pre-treatment with B. licheniformis markedly attenuated intestinal mucosal damage induced by LPS challenge. Supplementation with B. licheniformis strengthened immune function and suppressed inflammatory response by elevating the concentrations of serum immunoglobulin (Ig) A and jejunum mucosal IgA and IgG and decreasing serum IL-6 and jejunum mucosal IL-1β. In addition, B. licheniformis pretreatment prevented LPS-induced intestinal injury by regulating the NLRP3 inflammasome. Furthermore, pretreatment with B. licheniformis tended to reverse the reduction of acetate and propionic acids in the colonic contents that occurred due to LPS stress. B. licheniformis markedly modulated the metabolites of saccharopine and allantoin from lysine and purine metabolic pathways, respectively. Overall, these data emphasize the potentiality of B. licheniformis as a dietary supplement to overcome the challenge of bacterial LPS in the animal and to enhance the food safety.

Fucoxanthin alleviates lipopolysaccharide-induced intestinal barrier injury in mice

“…Body weight loss is one of the typical symptoms of intestinal barrier injury. 34,35 In this study, pretreatment with Fx at a dose of 50 or 200 mg per kg bw for 7 consecutive days did not affect the body weight gain of mice, but it effectively prevented the body weight loss caused by LPS exposure. Intestinal barrier integrity can be commonly assessed by several indicators.…”

The Effect of Sodium Alginate-Coated Nano-Zinc Oxide on the Growth Performance, Serum Indexes and Fecal Microbial Structure of Weaned Piglets

“…The weights of piglets and the feed consumption from each pen were recorded on d 1, 14, and 28 to evaluate the ADG, ADFI and feed intake-to gain-ratio (F/G), which are common indicators for growth performance. The diarrhea incidences of piglets for different phases were measured according to previous studies [ 21 , 22 ]. The diarrhea rate was calculated as the following: total number of pigs with diarrhea/(total number of pigs × number of experiment days) × 100.…”

“…Fecal SCFAs were measured based on gas chromatography (GC, Agilent Technologies, Waldbronn, Germany) according to our previous study [ 22 ]. Briefly, 0.5 g of fecal samples were weighted and dissolved with 1.0 mL ultrapure water in a centrifuge tube (2 mL).…”

Microencapsulated Sodium Butyrate Alleviates Immune Injury and Intestinal Problems Caused by Clostridium Perfringens through Gut Microbiota

“…The VFAs in cecum content were determined via gas chromatography according to the method of Yu et al (2023) [18]. In brief, a sample containing about 0.5 g of cecum content was mixed with pre-cooled water at a mass volume ratio of 1:3 and centrifuged at 12,000× g for 10 min at 4 • C. The supernatant was mixed with 25% metaphosphoric acid in a 5:1 ratio and rested for 30 min, followed by centrifugation at 10,000× g for 10 min at 4 • C. Then, the supernatant was transferred into a sample bottle for testing using an Agilent Technologies 7890B GC System (column parameter: 30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm; Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA).…”