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Abstract Background In modern animal husbandry, breeders pay increasing attention to improving sow nutrition during pregnancy and lactation to favor the health of neonates. Sow milk is a main food source for piglets during their first three weeks of life, which is not only a rich repository of essential nutrients and a broad range of bioactive compounds, but also an indispensable source of commensal bacteria. Maternal milk microorganisms are important sources of commensal bacteria for the neonatal gut. Bacteria from maternal milk may confer a health benefit on the host. Methods Sow milk bacteria were isolated using culturomics followed by identification using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. To screen isolates for potential probiotic activity, the functional evaluation was conducted to assess their antagonistic activity against pathogens in vitro and evaluate their resistance against oxidative stress in damaged Drosophila induced by paraquat. In a piglet feeding trial, a total of 54 newborn suckling piglets were chosen from nine sows and randomly assigned to three treatments with different concentrations of a candidate strain. Multiple approaches were carried out to verify its antioxidant function including western blotting, enzyme activity analysis, metabolomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results The 1240 isolates were screened out from the sow milk microbiota and grouped into 271 bacterial taxa based on a nonredundant set of 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Among 80 Pediococcus isolates, a new Pediococcus pentosaceus strain (SMM914) showed the best performance in inhibition ability against swine pathogens and in a Drosophila model challenged by paraquat. Pretreatment of piglets with SMM914 induced the Nrf2-Keap1 antioxidant signaling pathway and greatly affected the pathways of amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism in plasma. In the colon, the relative abundance of Lactobacillus was significantly increased in the high dose SMM914 group compared with the control group. Conclusion P. pentosaceus SMM914 is a promising probiotic conferring antioxidant capacity by activating the Nrf2-Keap1 antioxidant signaling pathway in piglets. Our study provided useful resources for better understanding the relationships between the maternal microbiota and offspring. Video Abstract

Pathogenic enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of bacterial diarrhea in weaning piglets, which are vulnerable to changes in environment and feed. This study aimed to determine the effects of the ETEC challenge on piglet growth performance, diarrhea rate, jejunal microbial profile, jejunal morphology and goblet cell distribution. A total of 13 piglets from one litter were selected on postnatal day 21 and assigned to treatments with or without ETEC challenge at 1 × 108 CFUs, as ETEC group or control group, respectively. On postnatal day 28, samples were collected, followed by the detection of serum biochemical indexes and inflammatory indicators, HE staining, PAS staining and 16S rDNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results showed that the growth performance decreased, while the diarrhea rate increased for the ETEC group. The jejunum is the main segment of the injured intestine during the ETEC challenge. Compared with the control, the ETEC group displayed fewer goblet cells in the jejunum, where goblet cells are more distributed at the crypt and less distributed at the villus. In addition, ETEC piglets possessed higher abundances of the genus Desulfovibrio, genus Oxalobacter and genus Peptococus and lower abundances of the genus Prevotella 2, genus Flavonifractor and genus Blautra. In terms of alpha diversity, Chao 1 and observed features indexes were both increased for the ETEC group. Our study provides insights into jejunal histopathological impairment and microbial variation in response to ETEC infection for weaned piglets and is a valuable reference for researchers engaged in animal health research to select stress models.

This study aims to compare the meat quality of Shaziling and Yorkshire pigs and to find the potential indicator in serum for superior meat quality. Six Shaziling and Yorkshire pigs at 30, 60, 90, 150, 210, and 300 d of age were selected to examine carcass traits, meat quality, and serum metabolome. The results showed that the body weight, carcass length, and loin eye area of Shaziling pigs at 150, 210, and 300 d of age were significantly lower than those of Yorkshire pigs (P

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of 3 meals administered daily with varying dietary crude protein (CP) contents on hepatic lipid metabolism with a pig model. Pigs were divided into 3 groups according to the following feeding patterns: feeding a basal CP diet 3 times daily (3C); feeding a high CP diet for breakfast, the basal CP diet for lunch, and a low CP diet for dinner (HCL); and feeding the low CP diet for breakfast, the basal CP diet for lunch, and the high protein diet for dinner (LCH). Three groups took equivalent diet per meal ensuring that every pig was fed with similar dietary formulae daily. Results showed that HCL feeding pattern reduced the relative kidney weight (P

Iron is a trace element necessary for cell growth, development, and cellular homeostasis, but insufficient or excessive level of iron is toxic. Intracellularly, sufficient amounts of iron are required for mitochondria (the center of iron utilization) to maintain their normal physiologic function. Iron deficiency impairs mitochondrial metabolism and respiratory activity, while mitochondrial iron overload promotes ROS production during mitochondrial electron transport, thus promoting potential disease development. This review provides an overview of iron homeostasis, mitochondrial iron metabolism, and how mitochondrial iron imbalances-induced mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to diseases.

A 60-days feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of Lonicera macranthoides leaf (LML) on growth performance, meat quality, and free amino acid profiles in growing-finishing pigs. L. macranthoides leaves were harvested, air-dried and milled to powder. A total of 288 crossbred barrows (Large White × Landrace) with an average initial BW of 54.0 ± 3.4 kg were randomly allocated to 3 treatment groups and fed either a basal diet or a diet supplemented with 0.5% or 1.0% LML powder. Results showed that diet supplemented with LML powder did not affect average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed: gain ratio (P > 0.05) in growing-finishing pigs. Moreover, diet supplemented with LML powder showed no significant effects on carcass traits (P > 0.05) including dressing percentage, backfat thickness and loin muscle area, and meat quality traits (P > 0.05) including meat color, intramuscular fat and cooking loss. However, diet supplemented with LML powder significantly improved free amino acid profiles in serum and longissimus thoracis muscle in growing-finishing pigs. Most importantly, dietary LML powder increased total free amino acids content (P

Nutrient composition and pattern of food intake may play a significant role in weight gain. The aim of this study was to document the effects of a daily 3-meal pattern with isocaloric diets containing different dietary protein contents on growth performance and different plasma biochemical indexes including amino acid plasma concentration in castrated male pigs. Then, 21 DLY (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) pigs aged 60 days were assigned randomly into 3 groups: a control group (crude protein, CP 18.1%), a group receiving high then basal and then low CP meals (High-Low group) and a group receiving low then basal and then high CP meal (Low-High group) for 40 days with pigs being feed-restricted. On day 40, after 12 h fasting, blood samples were obtained for analysis. The results showed that the insulin/glucagon ratio was lower in the High-Low group (P