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Mammals are born free from germs; therefore, colonization of the gut with microbiota begins immediately after birth. The source of the gut microbiota is external, whereas the structure of the microbiota is influenced by the environmental factors, such as pH, oxygen and nutrient availability in the gastrointestinal tract. Epidemiological studies suggest that the administration of probiotics to mothers can affect the health of their infants, including their immune system and development. However, the timing and conditions surrounding the administration of probiotic microbes and how these factors change the effects of the microbes have not been determined. Here the effects of temporal administering multispecies microbial supplements to sows on the composition of gut microbiota and on the bacteria-mediated fecal metabolites in their offsprings were investigated. During gestation and lactation, pregnant sows were fed either a normal diet (group A) or a diet with multispecies supplements comprised of nine microbial species such as Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, L. rhamnosus, L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Enterococcus faecium, Candida pintolopesii and Aspergillus oryzae (group B). All of the sows' piglets were temporarily fed with the same supplemented bacteria around weaning in accordance with the guideline of the farm. This regimen was followed by a normal diet in both groups over one month thereafter.
Under such conditions, the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in fecal samples remarkably increased in group B compared to group A (P < 0.05). When 16S rDNA sequences of the fecal bacteria were analyzed, the microbial structure of bacteria was different between both goups. These observations suggest that in addition to the temporal administration of probiotics and antibiotics to piglets between the post-lactation and pre-weaning periods, oral administration of probiotics to their sows has clear effects on the establishment of gut microbiota after weaning. Especially the Clostridium cluster IV and subcluster XIVa were particularly increased in group B (P < 0.05), although the administered microbes were undetectable. These bacteria have the ability to produce acetate, propionate, and butyrate.
Thus, temporal administration of multispecies-microbial supplements to pregnant sows changes the composition of SCFAs and gut microbiota in their offsprings.
K Mori, T Ito, H Miyamoto, M Ozawa, S Wada, Y Kumagai, J Matsumoto, R Naito, S Nakamura, H Kodama and Y Kurihara, 2011. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, 112(2): 145-150.