Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.
Oncotarget. 2016 Nov 18. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.13450. [Epub ahead of print]
Dietary grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) improve weaned intestinal microbiota and mucosal barrier using a piglet model.
- 1State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
- 2School of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
- 3College of Dental Medicine, Midwestern University, Downers Grove IL, USA.
- 4Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.
- 5Department
of Internal Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Center for Autophagy
Research, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX,
USA.
Abstract
Proanthocyanidins
have been suggested as an effective antibiotic alternative, however
their mechanisms are still unknown. The present study investigated the
effects of grape seed proanthocyanidins on gut microbiota and mucosal
barrier using a weaned piglet model in comparison with colistin. Piglets
weaned at 28 day were randomly assigned to four groups treated with a
control ration, or supplemented with 250 mg/kg proanthocyanidins,
kitasamycin/colistin, or 250 mg/kg proanthocyanidins and half-dose
antibiotics, respectively. On day 28, the gut chyme
and tissue samples were collected to test intestinal microbiota and
barrier function, respectively. Proanthocyanidins treated piglets had
better growth performance and reduced diarrhea incidence (P < 0.05),
accompanied with decreased intestinal permeability and improved mucosal
morphology. Gene sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA revealed that dietary
proanthocyanidins improved the microbial diversity in ileal and colonic
digesta, and the most abundant OTUs belong to Firmicutes and
Bacteroidetes spp.. Proanthocyanidins treatment decreased the abundance
of Lactobacillaceae, and increased the abundance of Clostridiaceae in
both ileal and colonic lumen, which suggests that proanthocyanidins
treatment changed the bacterial composition and distribution.
Administration of proanthocyanidins increased the concentration of
propionic acid and butyric acid in the ileum and colon, which may
activate the expression of GPR41. In addition, dietary proanthocyanidins
improved the antioxidant indices in serum and intestinal mucosa,
accompanied with increasing expression of barrier occludin. Our findings
indicated that proanthocyanidins with half-dose colistin was equivalent
to the antibiotic treatment and assisted weaned animals in resisting
intestinal oxidative stress by increasing diversity and improving
balance of gut microbes.
KEYWORDS:
Immune
response; Immunity; Immunology and Microbiology Section; antibiotic
alternative; bacterial composition and distribution; grape seed
proanthocyanidins; intestinal mucosal barrier; oxidative stress
