JUNE 2018 THE RIDER /11 Teaming up to Go with the Gut Horse & human investigations on the gut microbiome & health


Guelph, ON, previously published in Equine Guelph Health Studies Annual Spring, 2018 - Horse own- ers know the importance of team work. When your part- ner weighs 1000 pounds, the importance of listening to and learning about their per- spective is clear. Teamwork is also important when it comes to research, and is the driving force behind many important scientific discov- eries. At the University of Guelph, 2 researchers with expertise in different areas have teamed up to learn more about the gut bacteria of horses. The research is a collaborative effort between Dr. Luis Arroyo, a re- searcher and clinician fo- cused on large animal health, and Dr. Emma Allen-Vercoe, whose main focus is on links between the gut microbiome and health in humans. Links between the gut


microbiome and human health have gained much at- tention in the past few years. Changes in the human mi- crobiome have been linked to obesity, diabetes and more. These


findings


spurred researchers to inves- tigate the microbiome in horses, and many now be- lieve that the microbiota are key to understanding horse health and diseases, such as colic. The researchers hope to use an in vitro system known as Robogut, devel- oped by Dr. Allen-Vercoe, to answer questions about the gut bacteria in healthy horses and those affected with disease, such as colitis. Robogut, a combination of beakers, tubes and monitors, simulates the human gut and allows researchers to ex- plore the human micro- biome. For


instance,


Robogut has been used to investigate the impact that high protein diets have on the microbiome when com- pared to high fibre diets. Both researchers em-


phasize key differences be- tween horses and humans that will need to be ac- counted for when transition- ing Robogut


from a


simulated human gut to a horse gut. For one, horses generally have a more stan- dardized diet than humans. Many humans eat vastly dif- ferent meals each day. Dif- ferent


nutrients have


different and often rapid im- pacts on your microbiome. Setting up Robogut for horses may be more straightforward in this re- spect, as the researchers will not have to account for such a large amount of variation. However, the unique char- acteristics of the equine di- gestive system may also make setting up Robogut more complicated. “Horses are hindgut fermenters, and rely on the bacteria in their


cecum and colon to produce as much as 70% of their en- ergy needs” says Dr. Ar- royo. Since the intestinal tract of the horse is much different than humans, re- searchers first need to un- derstand what conditions are necessary for microbial growth in horses, to ensure that Robogut’s experimental set up accurately reflects that environment. Dr. Ar- royo is currently overseeing the research that will answer these questions. First, fecal samples


were collected from healthy horses and horses with coli- tis. DNA sequencing was completed on the samples to determine and compare the microbes present in the in- testinal


tracts of


on the microbiome in humans and are now areas of interest in horses as well. Dr. Allen-Vercoe adds weaning as a topic of in- terest, stating that “weaning can cause a lot of stress to the foal, especially if it is done too early or is forced. This stress com- bined with change to the diet can have a rapid and huge im- pact on the microbiome, and may be a cause of diarrhea seen in foals.” Dr. Allen-Vercoe be- lieves weaning should always be done very slowly in all species to prevent these nega- tive effects. Dr. Arroyo is excited to


get back the results of the initial


experiments. He says “these results will help us understand what a healthy horse microbiome looks like, and will make sure that our ex- periments with Robogut will be of the utmost value.” The future for re- search into the horse microbiome certainly looks promising with the help of Robogut. Stay tuned with Equine Guelph for updates on the project! This research is supported by


funding from Equine Guelph, Emerging Leaders of Latin America and The Natural Sciences and Engi- neering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).


Story by: Nicole Weidner these


horses. Researchers also grew the samples under dif- ferent experimental condi- tions, to understand how these conditions would af- fect the growth of different microbial species. The sam- ples were grown using close to 50 different media types (this changes the nutrients that the bacteria feed on), and under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Re- searchers then harvested the samples, and are currently completing DNA sequenc- ing. From these experi- ments, comparisons can be made between the original samples collected from the horses, and those grown by the researchers, to deter- mine which conditions re- sulted in optimal microbial growth. These comparisons will help Drs. Arroyo and Allen-Vercoe determine the right experimental condi- tions to use for Robogut to mimic a horse gut. Although the differ-


ences between horses and humans can make experi- mental set up more time consuming, studies in hu- mans can often help re- searchers identify new areas of investigation in horses. For example, scientists now believe that many cases of colitis in humans are due to imbalances in the micro- biome, and not pathogens as was previously thought. These findings guided the research into microbiome and colitis in horses, includ- ing this project. Dietary change has also been linked to effects on the microbiome in humans. Dr. Allen-Vercoe cites a study performed in her lab where a switch from a high protein diet to a high fibre diet did not affect the composition of the micro- biome, but resulted in rapid changes to the abundance profile. This area is now being investigated in horses as well. Instances of antibi- otic use, stress and bottle feeding with milk substi- tutes can also be found in both species. These have all been associated with effects


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