Abstract
The composition and activity of the intestinal microbial community structures can be beneficially modulated by nutritional components such as non-digestible oligosaccharides and omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs). These components affect immune function, brain development and behaviour. We investigated the additive effect of a dietary combination of scGOS:lcFOS and n-3 PUFAs on caecal content microbial community structures and development of the immune system, brain and behaviour from day of birth to early adulthood in healthy mice. Male BALB/cByJ mice received a control or enriched diet with a combination of scGOS:lcFOS (9:1) and 6% tuna oil (n-3 PUFAs) or individually scGOS:lcFOS (9:1) or 6% tuna oil (n-3 PUFAs). Behaviour, caecal content microbiota composition, short-chain fatty acid levels, brain monoamine levels, enterochromaffin cells and immune parameters in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and spleen were assessed. Caecal content microbial community structures displayed differences between the control and dietary groups, and between the dietary groups. Compared to control diet, the scGOS:lcFOS and combination diets increased caecal saccharolytic fermentation activity. The diets enhanced the number of enterochromaffin cells. The combination diet had no effects on the immune cells. Although the dietary effect on behaviour was limited, serotonin and serotonin metabolite levels in the amygdala were increased in the combination diet group. The combination and individual interventions affected caecal content microbial profiles, but had limited effects on behaviour and the immune system. No apparent additive effect was observed when scGOS:lcFOS and n-3 PUFAs were combined. The results suggest that scGOS:lcFOS and n-3 PUFAs together create a balance—the best of both in a healthy host.
Highlights
The gut microbiota is the total collection of microbial organisms within a community.The microbiota evolves and adapts to its host over a lifetime and microbiota activities have significant consequences for the host in terms of health and disease
We investigated the effect of a combined dietary mixture of short-chain galacto-oligosaccharide (scGOS):long-chain fructo-oligosaccharide (lcFOS) and n-3 PUFAs on caecal content microbiota and activity and the development of the immune system, the brain and behaviour from day of birth in healthy mice
Alpha-diversity was significantly higher in the combination diet mice compared to the scGOS:lcFOS mice (Shannon index (p < 0.05): Figure 2A) and (evenness (p < 0.01): Figure 2B)
Summary
The gut microbiota is the total collection of microbial organisms within a community. Microbial community structures can be beneficially modulated by nutritional components such as non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDOs) with prebiotic function and omega-3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) [22,23,24,25,26] These dietary components have been shown to be important in immune function as well as brain development and behaviour [27,28,29,30,31]. Dietary supplementation with n-3 PUFAs resulted in changed faecal bacterial taxa, depicting lower abundances of the genus Coprococcus and higher abundances of the genera Bifidobacterium, Oscillospira and Lactobacillus [25,49] These data might indicate that, in addition to affecting the immune system and brain development directly, n-3 fatty acids are able to influence these systems through microbial modulation of the intestinal microbiota [25,49]. We investigated the effect of a combined dietary mixture of scGOS:lcFOS and n-3 PUFAs on caecal content microbiota and activity and the development of the immune system, the brain and behaviour from day of birth in healthy mice
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