This study was developed to provide further information on the intestinal barrier permeability and the tight junction protein expression in weaned piglets fed with different levels of soybean agglutinin (SBA). Twenty-five weaned crossbred barrows (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) were selected and randomly allotted to five groups, each group with five replicates. The piglets in the control group were not fed with leguminous products. 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2% SBA was added to the control diet to form four experimental diets, respectively. After the experimental period of 7 days (for each group), all the piglets were anesthetized with excess procaine and slaughtered. The D-lactic acid in plasma and the Ileal mucosa diamine oxidase (DAO) was analyzed to observe the change in the intestinal permeability. The tight junction proteins occludin and ZO-1 in the jejunum tissue distribution and relative expression were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western Blot. The results illustrated that a high dose of SBA (0.1–0.2%) could increase the intestinal permeability and reduce piglet intestinal epithelial tight junction protein occludin or ZO-1 expression, while low dose of SBA (0.05% of total diet) had no significant affects. The contents of DAO, D-lactic acid, occludin or ZO-1, had a linear relationship with the SBA levels (0–0.2%) in diets. The high dose SBA (0.1–0.2%) could increase the intestinal permeability and reduce piglet intestinal epithelial tight junction protein occludin or ZO-1 expression, while low dose of SBA (0.05% of total diet) had no affects.

Studies on dietary fiber and nutrient bioavailability have gained an increasing interest in both human and animal nutrition. Questions are increasingly being asked regarding the faith of nutrient components such as proteins, minerals, vitamins, and lipids after feed formulation. The aim of this review is to evaluate the evidence with the perspective of fiber usage in feed formulation. The consumption of dietary fiber may affect the absorption of nutrients in different ways. The physicochemical factors of dietary fiber, such as fermentation, bulking ability, binding ability, viscosity and gel formation, water-holding capacity and solubility affect nutrient absorption. The dietary fiber intake influences the different methods in which nutrients are absorbed. The increase in the total fiber content of the diet may delay the glycemic response. Soluble fiber decreased blood glucose content whereas purified insoluble fiber has a little or no effect on the blood glucose levels after a meal. Dietary fiber and prebiotics influence the host animal well-being by regulating blood glucose or insulin levels, stool bulking effects, increasing the acidity of the gut, constructive synthesis of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), decreasing intestinal transit time, stimulating the growth of intestinal microbes, and increasing blood parameters. Previous studies suggest that fiber affects the bioavailability of nutrients, and maintains the host wellness.

In this study, we sought to investigate the role of soybean agglutinin (SBA) in mediating membrane permeability and the mechanical barrier function of intestinal epithelial cells. The IPEC-J2 cells were cultured and treated with 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, or 3.0 mg/mL SBA. Transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity were measured to evaluate membrane permeability. The results showed a significant decrease in TEER values (p < 0.05) in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and a pronounced increase in AP activity (p < 0.05). Cell growth and cell morphology were used to evaluate the cell viability. A significant cell growth inhibition (p < 0.05) and alteration of morphology were observed when the concentration of SBA was increased. The results of western blotting showed that the expression levels of occludin and claudin-3 were decreased by 31% and 64% compared to those of the control, respectively (p < 0.05). In addition, immunofluorescence labeling indicated an obvious decrease in staining of these targets and changes in their localizations. In conclusion, SBA increased the membrane permeability, inhibited the cell viability and reduced the levels of tight junction proteins (occludin and claudin-3), leading to a decrease in mechanical barrier function in intestinal epithelial cells.

BACKGROUND: Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom (POM) is an edible mushroom with rich nutritional components and vital pharmacological properties. The present study comprised 100 cross‐bred piglets, weaned at 28 days old, who were randomly assigned to four POM diets with five replicates per diet and five piglets per pen.RESULTS: POM supplementation (P < 0.05) decreased the incidence of diarrhea, and also increased the average daily feed intake and average daily gain of pigs. Fecal acetate, butyrate and propionate increased with the addition of POM. Interleukin‐2, immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M, tumor necrosis factor‐α and immunoglobulin A increased (P < 0.05) with the addition of POM. The 16S rDNA sequencing results showed that the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant microbial strains in the fecal samples, irrespective of POM supplementation. Shannon diversity, whole tree phylogenetic diversity, observed species and Chao1 analysis exhibited significant variation in species richness across the treatments. Principal coordinates analysis showed a significant (P < 0.1) increase in the microbial communities amongst all of the treatment groups.CONCLUSION: The results of the present study suggest that the supplementation of POM in the diet of piglets might increase feed consumption, gut microbial composition and diversity, as well as short‐chain fatty acids synthesis, consequently preventing the occurrence of diarrhea and increasing the growth of piglets. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

Dietary alfalfa fiber (AF) is conceived to modulate gut microbial richness and diversity to improve the health and growth of weaning piglets. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prebiotic effects of AF on diarrhea incidence, the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and microbiota composition in weaning piglets. This study utilized 100 crossbred piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire) with a body weight of 8.42 ± 1.88 kg randomly assigned to the following treatments: 0.00% AF meal (A), 6.00% of AF meal (B), 12.00% AF meal (C), and 18.00% AF meal (D). The cecum samples were used to determine microbial community composition and diversity through high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing. The results of this study show that the lowest average daily gain (ADG) was observed in treatment D, and the highest ADG was recorded in treatment C. However there was no significant difference between the treatment groups and the control. The average daily feed intake (ADFI) was significantly higher in treatment C compared to the other treatments. The feed conversion ratio was high in the control group compared to the AF treated groups. The highest diarrhea incidence was observed in treatment A and the lowest diarrhea incidence was observed in treatment C and D. The highest acetate and propionate levels were observed in treatment B, but there was no significant difference between the treatment groups and the control. The supplementation of AF significantly increased the butyrate level in treatment D compared with treatments A and B but was not significantly different from treatment C. The Observed_species richness and Simpson diversity values of the cecum bacterial composition in the AF fed piglets were higher than the control. In addition, the Chao 1 richness and Shannon diversity increased with an increase in AF supplementation, reaching a plateau at treatment B and C, then decreasing at treatment D. The Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Tenericutes, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Spirochaetae, Actinobacteria, Fibrobacteres, Saccharibacteria, Synergistetes, Chlamydiae, Elusimicrobia, Deferribacteres, Fusobacteria, and others were relatively abundant in all treatments. The Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla, accounting for 98% of all reads. AF treatment decreased the Bacteroidetes phylum and increased the Firmicutes phylum compared with treatment A. Therefore, the dietary inclusion of AF may decrease diarrhea incidence, increase cecal bacterial composition and richness, and consequently improve the growth performance of weaning piglets.