Search

There is a growing interest in milk oligosaccharides (MOs) because of their numerous benefits for newborns’ and long-term health. A large number of MO structures have been identified in mammalian milk. Mostly described in human milk, the oligosaccharide richness, although less broad, has also been reported for a wide range of mammalian species. The structure of MOs is particularly difficult to report as it results from the combination of 5 monosaccharides linked by various glycosidic bonds forming structurally diverse and complex matrices of linear and branched oligosaccharides. Exploring the literature and extracting relevant information on MO diversity within or across species appears promising to elucidate structure-function role of MOs. Currently, given the complexity of these molecules, the main issues in exploring literature to extract relevant information on MO diversity within or across species relate to the heterogeneity in the way authors refer to these molecules. Herein, we provide a thesaurus (MilkOligoThesaurus) including the names and synonyms of MOs collected from key selected articles on mammalian milk analyses. MilkOligoThesaurus gathers the names of the MOs with a complete description of their monosaccharide composition and structures. When available, each unique MO molecule is linked to its ID from the NCBI PubChem and ChEBI databases. MilkOligoThesaurus is provided in a tabular format. It gathers 245 unique oligosaccharide structures described by 22 features (columns) including the name of the molecule, its abbreviation, the chemical database IDs if available, the monosaccharide composition, chemical information (molecular formula, monoisotopic mass), synonyms, its formula in condensed form, and in abbreviated condensed form, the abbreviated systematic name, the systematic name, the isomer group, and scientific article sources. MilkOligoThesaurus is also provided in the SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System) format. This thesaurus is a valuable resource gathering MO naming variations that are not found elsewhere for (i) Text and Data Mining to enable automatic annotation and rapid extraction of milk oligosaccharide data from scientific papers; (ii) biology researchers aiming to search for or decipher the structure of milk oligosaccharides based on any of their names, abbreviations or monosaccharide compositions and linkages.

Postweaning feed restriction preserves rabbit digestive health after weaning, but the underlying physiological mechanisms are not yet understood. To elucidate whether the feeding intake pattern modification related to feed restriction might be involved, we studied the effects of both feed intake quantity and intake frequency. Animals were allotted at weaning (28 d old) in a 2 × 2 factorial design: feed intake quantity (AL = ad libitum vs R = 75% of AL) and fragmented feed distribution (FFD) (1 vs 13 distributions), thus forming four groups (AL1, AL13, R1 and R13). New Zealand White growing rabbits were used from weaning to slaughter (70 d old), to analyse mortality, morbidity, performance, intake behaviour, digestion and microbial activity. Seven days after starting feed restriction (35 d old, group R1), rabbits consumed 44% of the feed within 2 h, 65% in 4 h and in 7 h over 95%. Over the 28–70 d period, mortality was low (5.3%) while morbidity averaged 18.5% and neither was affected by treatment. However, FFD tended to decrease the morbidity rate during the first 14 days after weaning (P = 0.06). Feed conversion (28–70 d) was improved by restriction (+15%, P

Intestinal organoids are self-organized 3-dimensional (3D) structures formed by a single layer of polarized epithelial cells. This innovative in vitro model is highly relevant to study physiology of the intestinal epithelium and its role in nutrition and barrier function. However, this model has never been developed in rabbits, while it would have potential applications for biomedical and veterinary research. Here, we cultured rabbit caecum organoids with either pharmacological inhibitors (2Ki medium) or L-WRN cells conditioned medium (L-WRN CM) to reconstitute the intestinal stem cell niche in vitro. Large spherical organoids were obtained with the 2Ki medium and this morphology was associated with a high level of proliferation and stem cells markers gene expression. In contrast, organoids cultured with L-WRN CM had a smaller diameter; a greater cell height and part of them were not spherical. When the L-WRN CM was used at low concentration (5%) for two days, the gene expression of stem cells and proliferation markers were very low, while absorptive and secretory cells markers and antimicrobial peptides were elevated. Epithelial cells within organoids were polarized in 3D cultures with 2Ki medium or L-WRN CM (apical side towards the lumen). We cultured dissociated organoid cells in 2D monolayers, which allowed accessibility to the apical compartment. Under these conditions, actin stress fibers were observed with the 2Ki medium, while perijonctionnal localization of actin was observed with the L-WRN CM suggesting, in 2D cultures as well, a higher differentiation level in the presence of L-WRN CM. In conclusion, rabbit caecum organoids cultured with the 2Ki medium were more proliferative and less differentiated than organoids cultured with L-WRN CM. We propose that organoids cultured with the 2Ki medium could be used to rapidly generate in vitro a large number of rabbit intestinal epithelial stem cells while organoids cultured with the L-WRN CM used at low concentration represent a suitable model to study differentiated rabbit epithelium.

Weaning is a critical period for the health of rabbits, with a high sensitivity to digestive diseases. Allowing early consumption of solid feed in the nest of the suckling rabbit could help to maintain its health around weaning. In general, previous studies have focused on feed intake of rabbits when they are able to leave the nest, i.e. around 16 days. Herein, we provide a unique dataset of the dynamics of the onset of feed intake in suckling rabbits from 8 days to weaning. We quantified the solid feed intake behaviour and determined the dietary preferences for pellets according to their physical properties using nine pellets differing in diameter or compression rate. Additionally to the data provided in Paës et al. [1] we provide (i) the description of the nine pellets processing (ii) the description of the 3 point-scale system for nest quality evaluation, (iii) details on the device used to provide pellets in the nest, (iv) milk intake data and milk intake curve calculation and (v) pellet intake data according to physical characteristics. Keywords: Rabbit, Feed intake, Onset of feeding behaviour, Doe's nest quality, Pellet compression rate, Pelleting, Nutrition, Feed presentation