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• S. platensis and probiotics improved growth and serum IgG, IgM, IgA, and C3. • Synergistic effect was found on IgM at d7 and 28, and Ig G and C3 at d 28. • S. platensis had no effect on the fecal Lactobacillus spp. and E. coli contents. • S. platensis was weaker than probiotics in improving the fecal flora. The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementations with S. platensis (purity ≥ 99%) and probiotics (1.0 × 109 CFU/g B. subtilis and 1.0 × 108 CFU/g L. plantarum) on pigs' growth performance, immune responses and fecal Lactobacillus spp. and E. coli contents. Eighty weaned piglets (8.85 ± 0.20 kg) with negative maternal food-and-mouth disease (FMD) antibodies were blocked by initial weight, sex, and litter of origin and subsequently randomly allotted to 1 of 4 dietary treatments, consisting of 5 replicates of 4 pigs each. In this experiment, a control diet (CON), diet containing 0.5% S. platensis (SP) or 0.05% probiotics (PRO) or diet combined with 0.5% S. platensis and 0.05% probiotics (SP + PRO) was fed to weaned piglets for 28 days. On d 8, pigs were immunized with type O and A FMD vaccine. Added S. platensis , probiotics or both of them increased (p < 0.001) the average daily gain and average daily intake, decreased (p ≤ 0.015) the feed conversion ratio of weaned piglets, but had no effect on the antibody titer of type O and A FMD (p ≥ 0.22). Supplemented S. platensis , probiotics or both of them increased the contents of IgG on d 28 (p < 0.001), IgM on both d 7 and 28 (p ≤ 0.041), IgA and complement 3 on d 28 (p ≤ 0.039), but showed no impact (p ≥ 0.054) on complement 4, toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) or TLR4 on both d 7 and 28. Unlike probiotics, S. platensis -supplement showed no influence (p ≥ 0.34) on the contents of Lactobacillus spp. and E. coli of pig feces at 7 and 28 days of the trail. The synergistic effect between S. platensis and probiotics only be detected (p ≤ 0.024) on Ig M on d 7 and 28, IgG and complement 3 on d 28. These results indicated that adding 0.5% S. platensis , 0.05% probiotics or both of them when immunized with FMD vaccine on weaned piglets can promote their growth performance and enhance their serum IgG, IgM, IgA, and C3. However, S. platensis was weaker than probiotics in improving the fecal flora of weaned piglets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inulin efficacy was proven for raising anti- Salmonella activity of the inulin-degrading Lactobacillus paracasei I321 (infant isolate) through the mechanisms of antibacterial secretion and competitive adhesion. Inulin significantly promoted competitive adhesion of L. paracasei I321 against many Gram-negative foodborne pathogenic bacteria. Salmonella Typhimurium SA2093 was completely suppressed under highly competitive niche of fecal microflora when inulin, L. paracasei I321, and their synbiotic combination were applied. Inulin supplementation obviously alleviated nutrient limitation in the mimicked proximal colon leading to complete destruction of Salmonella . This was achieved through the manipulation of fecal bifidobacteria which subsequently altered antibacterial metabolites. Acetate was the major metabolite correlating to high number of fecal bifidobacteria in the presence of inulin, whereas lactate became dominant when L. paracasei I321 was coupled. This inulin-degrading strain was able to persist and dominate in the competitive environment of fecal microflora and functioned synergistically with inulin to completely destroy Salmonella . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of Lactobacillus brevis ZLB004 on growth performance, fecal microflora, and serum profile in weaned pigs. A total of 144 weaned pigs (Duroc×Yorkshire×Landrace) with an average initial body weight of 15.60±0.13 kg were randomly assigned to 3 treatments, with 4 replicate pen per treatment and 12 pigs per pen. Pigs were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0, 0.4, and 0.8 g/kg of L. brevis ZLB004. All pigs were given free access to feed and water for 30 d. The results showed that pigs fed diets with L. brevis ZLB004 increased average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and gain to feed ratio ( P =0.026, 0.031, and 0.022 respectively), while decreased diarrhea incidence ( P =0.044) compared with the control group. On d 30, dietary L. brevis ZLB004 increased lactobacillus populations ( P =0.001), reduced fecal coliform populations ( P =0.022). Supplemental L. brevis ZLB004 increased serum interferon-γ and total protein concentrations ( P =0.024 and 0.044, respectively), while decreased serum haptoglobin and blood urea nitrogen ( P =0.014 and 0.040, respectively). The results showed that L. brevis ZLB004 had beneficial effects on the improvement of intestinal microflora balance, immunity, and growth performance of weaned pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistant starch (RS) from unripe saba banana ( Musa sapientum (Linn)) (Kluai Hin) exhibited high resistance to gastric acid and intestinal amylases. Its bifidogenic effect under competition of human fecal microflora was determined in the simulated proximal region of human colon. In addition, saba RS effectively protected Lactobacillus plantarum CIF17AN2 during drying process. The maximum survival of 85.81% was achieved under vacuum drying operated at 37 °C when saba RS was added. The addition of saba RS to formulate a synbiotic product was able to retain high viability of the vacuum-dried L. plantarum during 8-week storage at ambient temperature. This is because saba RS can stabilize the moisture content of the synbiotic product. In contrast, the dramatic increase of moisture content in the vacuum-dried L. plantarum without saba RS led to significant decrease in cell survival. Moreover, saba RS could potentially protect the vacuum-dried L. plantarum from gastric acid and bile exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A total of 60 growing pigs with an average initial BW of 32.51±1.75kg were randomly allotted into one of three groups for a 24-d study to determine effects of sericite (silicate clay) supplementation on growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, blood profiles and fecal microflora. Treatments were: Sericite-0.0%, control diet; Sericite-0.5%, control diet+0.5% sericite and Sericite-1.0%, control diet+1.0% sericite. Pigs fed the diet supplemented with 0.5% sericite had 6.6% higher (P<0.05) ADG and 5.1% higher (P<0.05) G/F ratio compared with their control counterparts. Dietary supplementation with 0.5% and 1.0% sericite increased (P<0.05) the CTTAD of DM by 3.9% and 7.5%, as well as the CTTAD of N by 4.9% and 5.7%, respectively. Simultaneously, the CTTAD of Ca and P were increased by 5.0–19.1% when pigs were fed supplementation of 0.5% and 1.0% sericite. Dietary supplementation of 1.0% sericite decreased (P<0.05) blood iron concentration by 34.2% compared with other two treatments. The blood IgG concentration, lymphocyte and monocyte percentage in pigs fed 0.5% and 1.0% sericite were increased (P<0.05) by 5.2–24.9% compared with control group. Supplementation of 0.5% and 1.0% sericite decreased (P<0.05) fecal E. coli population counts by 12.6% and 11.6% and increased (P<0.05) fecal Lactobacillus counts by 9.5% and 14.7% respectively. The results suggest that sericite has the potential to enhance nutrient digestibility and the performance of pigs and to alter indicators of immune status and gut microflora and warrants further investigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work was conducted to assess the accuracy of in situ hybridization to show differences in human microflora composition between volunteers and to optimize the storage of fecal samples to allow delayed analysis of gut microflora composition in humans. Fecal samples from 25 healthy subjects (14 women, 11 men aged 24–51) were collected. The samples were fixed in 4% Paraformaldehyde (PFA) solution at 4 °C overnight and stored at −70 °C. Twenty samples were analysed to quantify the variation due to interindividual differences in the composition of fecal microflora. The five remaining samples were stored either after PFA fixation or directly frozen at −70 °C and were monitored on a 12-month period. The fecal microflora was analysed by in situ hybridization combined with flow cytometry detection. Ribosomal RNA-targeted probes were used to assess the relative proportions of four phylogenetic groups: Clostridium coccoides–Eubacterium rectale (Erec 482), Bacteroides (Bac 303), Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (Fprau 645) and Bifidobacterium (Bif 164). Our results demonstrated that the method used is adapted to detect significant differences in fecal microflora composition in humans. Moreover, samples stored in PFA solution demonstrated a stable composition even after 8 months of storage. Conversely, frozen samples were less stable as the Bifidobacterium and C. coccoides–E. rectale groups showed significant differences after 2 months of storage. In conclusion, the fecal microflora composition can be analysed up to 8 months after 4% PFA fixation and storage at −70 °C. It represents an extended time compared with the 2-month period currently recommended. This will give more flexibility for applying this technology in epidemiological studies including a large number of samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigated the effect of konjac glucomannan (KGM) of different molecular weight on fecal microflora against antibiotic disturbance. KGM (~1.8 × 107 Da) was partially hydrolysed with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) for 10 and 60 min to KGM1 (~2.1 × 104 Da) and KGM2 (7413 Da), respectively. The acid treatment caused significant reduction of intrinsic viscosity, average molecular weight (MW) and particle size of KGM, but brought limited change to the molecular structure. Low-MW KGM2 showed the most significant effect on fecal microflora in the presence of two common antibiotics (ampicillin and clindamycin), by increasing the relative abundance of Bifidobacteriaceae while decreasing the proportion of Enterobacteriaceae. Additionally, both the native and acid-treated KGM counteracted the adverse influence of antibiotics on the production of short chain fatty acids. The results have demonstrated the effect of KGM on gut microbiota with antibiotic disturbance. [Display omitted] • Acid treatment of KGM reduced average molecular weight (MW) and partially removed acetyl groups. • All KGM samples increased short chain fatty acid production under antibiotic perturbance. • KGM consumption was accelerated by antibiotics during in vitro fecal fermentation. • Reduction of KGM MW affected fecal microbial composition favorably to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of probiotics (Lactobacillus planetarium) relative to chlortetracycline (CTC) supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbiota, fecal score and noxious gas emission in weaning pigs. A total of 135 weanling pigs with an average body weight of 6.61 kg and 28 ± 1 d of age were used in a 6-week feeding trial. The three treatments were (i) CON; control group, feeding with basal diet; (ii) CL; Control + 0.06% probiotic (1.2 × 109 cfu kg−1 of viable L. planetarium) (iii) AT; Control + 0.01% Antibiotic. The dietary supplementation with probiotic or CTC increased (P < 0.05) the body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG) and gain: feed (G: F) compared with basal diet during 3-6 weeks. Additionally, the CTC group showed significantly higher (P < 0.05) BW, ADG and G: F than probiotic group. During the overall experimental period, pigs fed probiotic or CTC supplemented diet showed higher ADG (P < 0.05) than pigs fed basal diet, the G: F ratio in CTC group was higher (P < 0.05) than basal diet and probiotic group. In the 6th week, the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nitrogen increased (P < 0.05) for the probiotic or CTC group, the CTC group showed significantly higher (P < 0.05) ATTD of N than probiotic group. The dietary supplementation with CTC or probiotic decreased (P < 0.05) the E. coli counts on d 42. The CTC group showed lower (P < 0.05) E. coli counts than probiotic group. There was no significant difference in gas emission and diarrhea score in all treatments. Probiotic (L. planetarium) at 600mg kg−1 concentration can be suggested as an alternative to growth-promoting probiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Exopolysaccharide (EPS) of Cs-HK1 fungus was treated by power ultrasound (US). • Exopolysaccharide US treatment of EPS reduced the aggregate size and average molecular weight (MW). • The lower MW EPS fractions were fermented more rapidly in fecal culture. • Reduction of EPS MW affected the relative abundance of microbial populations in fecal microflora. This work was to examine the impact of power ultrasound (US) on the molecular properties of a high-molecular weight (MW) exopolysaccharide (EPS) from the Cs-HK1 medicinal fungus and the utilization, and prebiotic function of the US-treated EPS fractions in human fecal microflora in vitro. The US treatment caused notable reduction of intrinsic viscosity, average MW and aggregate size of EPS in water but no significant changes in the molecular structure. The US-treated EPS fractions were consumed more rapidly by the fecal microflora, resulting in a higher total level of short chain fatty acids. They also affected the relative abundance in the microflora more beneficially than the original EPS. The results suggest that power US is effective for modifying and improving the prebiotic properties of high-MW polysaccharides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Dietary supplementation of YEC increased average daily gain of weaning pigs. • Dietary supplementation of YEC increased apparent nutrient digestibility of dry matter. • The body weight, gain to feed ratio, and the digestibility of nitrogen and energy tended to increase in pigs fed increasing levels of YEC. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of a yeast extract complex (YEC, derived from the culture of Kluyveromyces maxianus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, fecal microflora, diarrhea score, and blood profiles in weaning pigs. A total of 150 crossbred [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] piglets with an initial body weight (BW) of 6.89 ± 0.46 kg (28 days old) were used in a 6-week feeding trial. Pigs were blocked by initial BW and gender (3 barrows and 2 gilts), and randomly allotted into 1 of 3 experimental treatments (10 pens/treatment, 5 pigs/pen). The dietary treatments were as follows: 1) CON, basal diet; 2) YEC1, CON + 0.1% yeast extract complex; 3) YEC2, CON + 0.2% yeast extract complex. At week 6 and during overall period, dietary YEC supplementation showed linear increase (P < 0.05) in average daily gain. Apparent nutrient digestibility of dry matter was increased (P < 0.05) with increasing YEC level at week 6. At week 6, the body weight, gain to feed ratio, and the digestibility of nitrogen and energy tended to increase (0.05 < P < 0.10) in pigs fed increasing levels of YEC. The average daily feed intake tended to increase (0.05 < P < 0.10) in pigs fed YEC diet. There were no significant effects (P > 0.05) on fecal microflora, diarrhea score, and blood profiles in weaned pigs fed with YEC diets. In conclusion, results of current study suggest that at the given dose, prolonged supplementation of YEC is needed to exhibit significant effects in growth performance and digestibility in weaning pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Changes in the human microbiome have been suggested as a risk factor for a number of lifestyle-related disorders, such as atopic diseases, possibly through a modifying influence on immune maturation in infancy. Objectives: We aimed to explore the association between neonatal fecal flora and the development of atopic disorders until age 6 years, hypothesizing that the diversity of the intestinal microbiota influences disease development. Methods: We studied the intestinal microbiota in infants in the Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Childhood, a clinical study of a birth cohort of 411 high-risk children followed for 6 years by clinical assessments at 6-month intervals, as well as at acute symptom exacerbations. Bacterial flora was analyzed at 1 and 12 months of age by using molecular techniques based on 16S rRNA PCR combined with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, as well as conventional culturing. The main outcome measures were the development of allergic sensitization (skin test and specific serum IgE), allergic rhinitis, peripheral blood eosinophil counts, asthma, and atopic dermatitis during the first 6 years of life. Results: We found that bacterial diversity in the early intestinal flora 1 and 12 months after birth was inversely associated with the risk of allergic sensitization (serum specific IgE P = .003; skin prick test P = .017), peripheral blood eosinophils (P = .034), and allergic rhinitis (P = .007). There was no association with the development of asthma or atopic dermatitis. Conclusions: Reduced bacterial diversity of the infant''s intestinal flora was associated with increased risk of allergic sensitization, allergic rhinitis, and peripheral blood eosinophilia, but not asthma or atopic dermatitis, in the first 6 years of life. These results support the general hypothesis that an imbalance in the intestinal microbiome is influencing the development of lifestyle-related disorders, such as allergic disease. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]