Journal Article

The gut microbial metabolite indole-3-aldehyde alleviates impaired intestinal development by promoting intestinal stem cell expansion in weaned piglets

Chen, Yahui, Zhang, Ruofan, Li, Xuan, Wang, Mengting, Zhu, Weiyun, Zhang, Jiaqi, Guo, Xin, Yu, Kaifan

2024

Overview

Background Weaning stress-induced diarrhea is widely recognized as being associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis. However, it has been challenging to clarify which specific intestinal microbiota and their metabolites play a crucial role in the antidiarrhea process of weaned piglets. Results In this study, we first observed that piglets with diarrhea exhibited a lower average daily gain and higher diarrhea score, and elevated levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and D-lactate (D-LA) compared to healthy piglets. Subsequently, we analyzed the differences in intestinal microbial composition and metabolite levels between healthy and diarrheal weaned piglets. Diarrheal piglets demonstrated intestinal microbiota dysbiosis, characterized primarily by a higher Firmicutes to Bacteroidota ratio, a deficiency of Lactobacillus amylovorus and Lactobacillus reuteri , and an increased abundance of Bacteroides sp.HF-5287 and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron . Functional profiling of the gut microbiota based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) data was performed, and the results showed that tryptophan metabolism was the most significantly inhibited pathway in piglets with diarrhea. Most tryptophan metabolites were detected at lower concentrations in diarrheal piglets than in healthy piglets. Furthermore, we explored the effects of dietary indole-3-aldehyde (IAld), a key tryptophan metabolite, on intestinal development and gut barrier function in weaned piglets. Supplementation with 100 mg/kg IAld in the diet increased the small intestine index and improved intestinal barrier function by promoting intestinal stem cell (ISC) expansion in piglets. The promotion of ISC expansion by IAld was also confirmed in porcine intestinal organoids. Conclusions These findings revealed that intestinal microbial tryptophan metabolite IAld alleviates impaired intestinal development by promoting ISC expansion in weaned piglets.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,Springer Nature B.V,National Center for International Research on Animal Gut Nutrition,Nanjing Agricultural University,Nanjing 210095,China%Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Microbiology,Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Nutrition and Animal Health,College of Animal Science and Technology,Nanjing Agricultural University,Nanjing 210095,China,Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Microbiology,Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Nutrition and Animal Health,College of Animal Science and Technology,Nanjing Agricultural University,Nanjing 210095,China,National Center for International Research on Animal Gut Nutrition,Nanjing Agricultural University,Nanjing 210095,China,Wujiang Animal Health Inspection Institute,Suzhou 215200,China,BMC
• Subject: absorption barrier / Agriculture / Aldehydes / Animal Genetics and Genomics / Animal Physiology / Antibiotics / average daily gain / Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biotechnology / Diarrhea / Diet / Dietary supplements / Digestive system / Dysbacteriosis / dysbiosis / Feces / Food Science / Gastrointestinal tract / Genes / genome / Gut Microbiome and Animal Health / Hogs / Immune system / Immunology / Indole-3-aldehyde / Intestinal development / Intestinal microbiota / Intestinal microflora / intestinal microorganisms / Intestinal stem cell / Intestine / lactic acid / Lactobacillus amylovorus / Lactobacillus reuteri / Life Sciences / Lipopolysaccharides / Metabolism / Metabolites / Microbiota / Microorganisms / Nonparametric statistics / Organoids / Small intestine / Software / Stem cells / Swine / Tryptophan / Weaned piglets / Weaning