Scientifically Speaking …
By Matthew Wedzerai
PROCYANIDINS: IMPROVING GUT HEALTH IN WEANED PIGLETS
In a recent study published in Livestock Science, researchers found that adding grape seed procyanidins to weaner diets improves intestinal health and alleviates weaning-induced intestinal dysfunction.
Studies show that during weaning, a variety of stressors combined with insufficient digestive function, predispose piglets to GIT disturbances; stressors are important drivers of succession and modification of the gut microbiota. At weaning, the diet of piglets abruptly alters from a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, and non-fibrous milk diet to a low-fat, high-carbohydrate, and fibrous plant-based diet. Alterations in the gut microbiota composition and diversity caused by weaning disturb the intestinal immune system leading to post-weaning diarrhoea and increasing the pig’s susceptibility to diseases. Weaning stress can also induce oxidative damage to the intestine and disrupt the intestinal epithelial barrier function. The pig production industry has a growing interest in the use
of plant extracts. Grape seed procyanidins (GSPs) are polyphenolic compounds extracted from grape seeds and are known for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and immune-modulating properties. As weaning stress in piglets can cause dysbacteriosis and oxidative damage to the intestine, resulting in diarrhoea, the present study was conducted to determine whether administering GSPs can enhance intestinal antioxidant capacity and modulate the gut microbiota to improve the overall gut health in weaned piglets. In this study, crossbred piglets were assigned to one of the four experimental diets for the duration of 28 days: the basal diet (control diet) without additives or,
• •
the basal diet supplemented with either 50, 100, or 150 mg/kg of GSPs.
Intestinal antioxidant capacity Studies show that the endogenous generation of NO and H2
concentration. MDA is a commonly used marker of oxidative stress and antioxidant status. The procyanidins improved the mRNA expression of the
antioxidation-related genes for the superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase enzymes. Procyanidins are natural polyphenolic compounds that activate
the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2/heme oxygenase-1 (Nrf2/ HO-1) signalling pathway and upregulate the expression of antioxidative and cytoprotective associated genes in the gut, collectively explaining why GSPs improve the antioxidative capacity in weaned piglets. It was clearly concluded that procyanidins maintain the intestinal redox balance by enhancing the intestinal antioxidative capacity.
Table 1: Effects of dietary grape seed procyanidins (GSPs) supplementation on the concentration of antioxidant enzymes and MDA in weaned piglets
Enzyme (U/mg protein)
Superoxide dismutase Glutathione peroxidase Catalase
MDA (nmol/mg protein) Control 50
116.8 24.0 4.4
0.77
139.8 24.9 4.3
0.60
GSPs (mg/kg) 100
153.3 27.8 4.9
0.47 150
156.7 25.6 4.8
0.41
Modulation of microbiota The operational taxonomic units (OUT) which indicate the richness of the bacterial community, were enhanced by GSPs supplementation, with a significant enhancement observed in the caecal and colonic microflora. In the colon, the OTUs of the bacterial communities increased linearly and quadratically as dietary GSPs contents increased. In the cecum, the OTUs increased in a quadratic manner in response to the supplementation of dietary GSPs. Compared with the control group, the relative abundance of
O2
and the downregulation in the expression of antioxidants suggest that weaning stress stimulates free-radical production and inhibits antioxidant capacity. In this study, researchers found dietary GSPs supplementation (Table 1) at different concentrations to significantly increase the antioxidant capacity of the three main enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and catalase (CAT). In line with the activation of antioxidant capacity, GSPs significantly decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA)
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Firmicutes increased by 58.7%, 30.7% and 52.3%, and that of Actinobacteria increased by 16.0%, 5.4% and 6.8% in the groups supplemented with 50, 100, and 150 mg/kg GSPs, respectively; conversely, the abundances of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were reduced (68.9%, 32.6% and 60.7% for Bacteroidetes; 88.0, 97.3 and 79.8% for Proteobacteria) in these groups. Proteobacteria include many pathogenic bacteria, like Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Vibrio Cholerae, and Helicobacter pylori, which have been associated with inflammatory bowel diseases. GSPs supplementation also increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus in the caecal microbiota. It was concluded, “GSPs consumption may shift the composition of the gut microbial community in weaning piglets into healthier patterns by withholding proliferation of pathogenic bacteria and promoting beneficial bacteria and maintaining intestinal homeostasis.”
Impact on short-chain fatty acids In the current study, dietary GSPs supplementation enhanced (Table 2) the concentrations of acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid,
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