The Responses of Lactobacillus reuteri LR1 or Antibiotic on Intestinal Barrier Function and Microbiota in the Cecum of Pigs

Bijing Yang; Chunyan Liu; Yanna Huang; Qiwen Wu; Yunxia Xiong; Xuefen Yang; Shenglan Hu; Zongyong Jiang; Li Wang; Hongbo Yi

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.877297

The Responses of Lactobacillus reuteri LR1 or Antibiotic on Intestinal Barrier Function and Microbiota in the Cecum of Pigs

Front Microbiol. 2022 Jun 2:13:877297. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.877297. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Bijing Yang^{1

2}, Chunyan Liu^{1

3}, Yanna Huang³, Qiwen Wu¹, Yunxia Xiong¹, Xuefen Yang¹, Shenglan Hu¹, Zongyong Jiang¹, Li Wang¹, Hongbo Yi¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Institute of Animal Science, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
² College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
³ College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate responses of the Lactobacillus reuteri or an antibiotic on cecal microbiota and intestinal barrier function in different stages of pigs. A total of 144 weaned pigs (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, 21 days of age) were randomly assigned to the control group (CON, fed with a basal diet), the antibiotic group (AO, fed with basal diet plus 100 mg/kg olaquindox and 75 mg/kg aureomycin), and the L. reuteri group (LR, fed with the basal diet + 5 × 10¹⁰ CFU/kg L. reuteri LR1) throughout the 164-d experiment. A total of 45 cecal content samples (5 samples per group) from different periods (14th, 42th, and 164th days) were collected for 16S rRNA gene amplification. The results revealed that although LR and AO did not change the diversity of cecal microbiota in pigs, the abundance of some bacteria at the genus level was changed with age. The proportion of Lactobacillus was increased by LR in early life, whereas it was decreased by AO compared with the control group. The relative abundance of Ruminococcaceae was increased along with age. In addition, the gas chromatography results showed that age, not AO or LR, has significant effects on the concentrations of SCFAs in the cecum of pigs (P < 0.05). However, the mRNA expression of tight junction proteins zonula occluden-1 (ZO-1) and occludin were increased by AO in the cecum of pigs on day 14, while LR increased the mRNA expression of intestinal barrier-related proteins ZO-1, occludin, mucin-1, mucin-2, PG1-5, and pBD2 in the cecum of pigs on days 14 and 164 (P < 0.05). In conclusion, LR and AO have different effects on the intestinal barrier function of the cecum, and neither LR nor AO damaged the intestinal barrier function of pig cecum. In addition, LR and AO have little effects on cecal microflora in different stages of the pigs. The microflora and their metabolite SCFAs were significantly changed along with age. These findings provide important information to understand the homeostasis of the cecum of pigs after antibiotic or probiotic treatment.

Keywords: Lactobacillus reuteri; antibiotics; cecum; intestinal barrier function; microbiome; pig.