摘要

Probiotics have been demonstrated to be useful to enhance gut health and prevent gastrointestinal infections in humans. Additionally, some multi-strain probiotic combinations have been suggested to have greater efficacy than single strains. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the potential of a combination of the probiotic strains: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CECT 7210 (brand name B. infantis IM1 (R)) and B. animalis subsp. lactis BPL6 to enhance gut health and to ameliorate the outcome of a Salmonella challenge using a weaning piglet model. Seventy-two 28-day-old weanling piglets, 7.7 (+/- 0.28) kg of body-weight, were distributed in a 2 x 2 factorial design; treated or not with the probiotic combination and challenged or not with the pathogen. Animals were orally challenged after an adaptation period (Day 8) with a single dose (5 x 108 cfu) of Salmonella Typhimurium. One animal per pen was euthanized on Day 12 (Day 4 post-inoculation [ PI]) and Day 16 (Day 8 PI). All parameters responded to the challenge and 4 deaths were registered, indicating a severe but self-limiting challenge. Improvements registered in the challenged animals due to the probiotic were: increased voluntary feed-intake (P probiotic x challenge = 0.078), reduced fecal excretion of Salmonella (P = 0.028 at Day 1 PI and P < 0.10 at Days 3 and 5 PI), decreased rectal temperature (P probiotic x day D 0.048) and improvements in the villous: crypt ratio (P probiotic x challenge < 0.001). Moreover, general probiotic benefits were observed in both challenged and non-challenged groups: decreased diarrhea scores of the PI period (P D 0.014), improved fermentation profiles on Day 8 PI (increased ileal acetic acid [P D 0.008] and a tendency to lower colonic ammonia concentrations [P D 0.078]), stimulation of intestinal immune response by increasing villous intraepithelial lymphocytes (P D 0.015 on Day 8 PI) and an improved villous: crypt ratio (P = 0.011). In conclusion, the multi-strain probiotic had a positive effect on reducing pathogen loads and alleviating animals in a Salmonella challenge. In addition, enhanced gut health and immunity was recorded in all animals receiving the probiotic, indicating an improvement in the post-weaning outcome.

  • 出版日期2017-8-15