Abstract
BackgroundEarly-life antibiotic administration is known to affect gut microbiota and host adiposity, but the effects of antibiotic exposure on skeletal muscle properties remain unknown. The present study evaluated the changes in skeletal muscle properties including myofiber characteristics and composition, as well as intramuscular fat (IMF) content in skeletal muscle of piglets when exposed to a tylosin-containing diet.ResultsA total of 18 piglets (28 days of age) were randomly allocated into two groups: control basal diet (Control) and Control + 100 mg tylosin phosphate/kg of feed (Antibiotic). The trial lasted for 39 days. High-throughput amplicon sequencing revealed that no significant difference in initial gut microbiota composition was existed between Control and Antibiotic groups. Antibiotic administration increased body weight and growth rate and decreased feed to gain ratio of pigs (P < 0.05). The carcass lean and fat volumes of pigs were increased by the tylosin administration (P < 0.05). Antibiotic treatment increased myofiber density and the expression of genes related to type I and type IIb myofibers in longissimus muscle (P < 0.05). The IMF content in longissimus muscle was increased by antibiotic exposure (P < 0.05). Antibiotic administration increased expression of genes related to fatty acid uptake and de novo synthesis, and decreased expression of genes related to triglyceride hydrolysis (P < 0.05). Tylosin administration affected taxonomic distribution and beta diversity of the caecal and colonic microbiota of piglets.ConclusionThese results confirm that the growth performance, myofiber composition and muscle lipid metabolism are affected by antibiotic administration, which may be associated with an altered gut microbiota, suggesting that the gut microbiota could be served as a potential target for modulating skeletal muscle properties of host.
Highlights
Early-life antibiotic administration is known to affect gut microbiota and host adiposity, but the effects of antibiotic exposure on skeletal muscle properties remain unknown
The expression pattern of lipid metabolism-related genes, which are required for de novo fatty acid synthesis [acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha (ACACA) and fatty acid synthase (FASN)], fatty acid uptake [lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and CD36 molecule (CD36)], and lipolysis [carnitine palmitoyl-transferase 1B (CPT1B) and patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 2 (PNPLA2)], in skeletal muscle could be transferred from pig donors to mice recipients by fecal microbiota transplantation [7]
No significant differences were observed in initial fecal microbiota composition between groups Since the initial gut microbiota composition may influence the host response to antibiotic exposure [28], the initial fecal microbiota composition of two groups were determined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
Summary
Early-life antibiotic administration is known to affect gut microbiota and host adiposity, but the effects of antibiotic exposure on skeletal muscle properties remain unknown. The expression pattern of lipid metabolism-related genes, which are required for de novo fatty acid synthesis [acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha (ACACA) and fatty acid synthase (FASN)], fatty acid uptake [lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and CD36 molecule (CD36)], and lipolysis [carnitine palmitoyl-transferase 1B (CPT1B) and patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 2 (PNPLA2)], in skeletal muscle could be transferred from pig donors to mice recipients by fecal microbiota transplantation [7]. This supports the contention that gut microbiota may become a new target in the regulation of lipid metabolism and myofiber development in skeletal muscle
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