Abstract
BackgroundPregnancy is associated with important changes in gut microbiota composition. Dietary factors may affect the diversity, composition, and metabolic activity of the intestinal microbiota. Among amino acids, proline is known to play important roles in protein metabolism and structure, cell differentiation, conceptus growth and development, and gut microbiota re-equilibration in case of dysbiosis.ResultsDietary supplementation with 1% proline decreased (P < 0.05) the amounts of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Peptostreptococcus productus, Pseudomonas, and Veillonella spp. in distal colonic contents than that in the control group. The colonic contents of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Bifidobacterium sp., Clostridium coccoides, Clostridium coccoides-Eubacterium rectale, Clostridium leptum subgroup, Escherichia coli, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Fusobacterium prausnitzii, and Prevotella increased (P < 0.05) on d 70 of pregnancy as compared with those on d 45 of pregnancy. The colonic concentrations of acetate, total straight-chain fatty acid, and total short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the proline-supplemented group were lower (P < 0.05), and butyrate level (P = 0.06) decreased as compared with the control group. Almost all of the SCFA displayed higher (P < 0.05) concentrations in proximal colonic contents on d 70 of pregnancy than those on d 45 of pregnancy. The concentrations of 1,7-heptyl diamine (P = 0.09) and phenylethylamine (P < 0.05) in proximal colonic contents were higher, while those of spermidine (P = 0.05) and total bioamine (P = 0.06) tended to be lower in the proline-supplemented group than those in the control group. The concentrations of spermidine, spermine, and total bioamine in colonic contents were higher (P < 0.05) on d 70 of pregnancy than those measured on d 45 of pregnancy. In contrast, the concentration of phenylethylamine was lower (P < 0.05) on d 70 than on d 45 of pregnancy.ConclusionThese findings indicate that L-proline supplementation modifies both the colonic microbiota composition and the luminal concentrations of several bacterial metabolites. Furthermore, our data show that both the microbiota composition and the concentrations of bacterial metabolites are evolving in the course of pregnancy. These results are discussed in terms of possible implication in terms of luminal environment and consequences for gut physiology and health.
Highlights
Pregnancy is associated with important changes in gut microbiota composition
Ji et al Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology (2018) 9:18 (Continued from previous page). These findings indicate that L-proline supplementation modifies both the colonic microbiota composition and the luminal concentrations of several bacterial metabolites
Our data show that both the microbiota composition and the concentrations of bacterial metabolites are evolving in the course of pregnancy
Summary
Pregnancy is associated with important changes in gut microbiota composition. Dietary factors may affect the diversity, composition, and metabolic activity of the intestinal microbiota. The importance of the maintenance of host-microbiome symbiosis is underscored by the observation that dysbiotic shifts in microbiota are associated with inflammatory bowel disorders, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and pregnancy metabolic syndrome in humans [1,2,3,4,5]. The gut microbiota metabolizes dietary compounds in both the small and large intestines. The metabolic activity of the microbiota allows for the synthesis of various compounds, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), indoles, ammonia, gaseous compounds, organic acids, bioamines, and vitamins. Among these various metabolites, some are considered beneficial whereas others are believed to exert deleterious effects on the intestinal mucosa, when present in excess [7]. Limited amounts of bioamines have no detectable effect on health [11] and participate in the physiology of the host, larger quantities (1.4 g/d) of bioamines can become harmful to humans and livestock [12]
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