Differential Analysis of Gut Microbiota Correlated With Oxidative Stress in Sows With High or Low Litter Performance During Lactation.

Hao Wang,Jinping Deng,Tianyue Tang,Wenkai Ren,Baichuan Deng,Yongcheng Ji,Yulong Yin,Cong Yin,Ming Deng,Chengquan Tan

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.01665

Abstract

It has been suggested that gut microbiota play a critical role in maternal metabolic oxidative stress responses and offspring growth. However, whether the gut microbiota and oxidative stress status of the sows affect the litter performance during lactation is unclear. A total of 66 Yorkshire sows were identified as high (H) or low (L) litter performance sows based on litter weight at day 21 of lactation. Ten sows per group with similar parity, backfat thickness, and litter weight after cross-foster from the H or L group were collected randomly to analyze the oxidative stress and gut microbiota during lactation. The result showed that the serum total antioxidant capacity was higher in the H group, while 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were lower in the H group at farrowing. Four distinct clusters of bacteria were related to litter performance and reproductive periods of sows. Twelve differentially abundant taxa during gestation and 13 taxa during lactation were identified as potential biomarkers between the H group and the L group. Moreover, the litter performance and the antioxidant capacity of sows were positively correlated with Bacteroides_f__Bacteroidaceae but negatively with Phascolarctobacterium and Streptococcus. In conclusion, this study found that gut microbiota and oxidative stress were significantly correlated with the litter performance of sows during lactation.

Highlights

Post-weaning and whole-of-life performance of pigs are significantly influenced by live weight at weaning (Quesnel et al, 2012)
There was a trend toward higher serum levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (P = 0.08) and -OH scavengingcapacity (P = 0.06) but lower thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) (P = 0.09) in the H group sows at L21
A previous study showed that a higher maternal oxidative stress status is associated with a decreased infant weight in human beings (Hong et al, 2014), consistent with the current results in which the serum levels of T-AOC are higher while those of 8-OHdG and TBARS are lower on L1 in the H group; the serum T-AOC and -OH scavenging capacities are slightly higher and TBARS is slightly lower at L21 in the H group, likely attributable to the high oxidative stress in the sows that suffered from parturition

Summary

Introduction

Post-weaning and whole-of-life performance of pigs are significantly influenced by live weight at weaning (Quesnel et al, 2012). One way of improving the performance may be by increasing the lactation performance of the sows and this would improve the weaning weight of the pigs. Several factors affect the litter performance of sows, including breed, diet, parity, backfat thickness, oxidative stress status, and milk composition. Sows’s Performance and Gut Microbiota beings (Koren et al, 2012; Hughes, 2016) and experiments with sows (Tan et al, 2016; Zhou et al, 2017) suggested that the gut microbiota plays a significant role in maternal metabolism and offspring growth. Previous studies suggested a close relationship between ruminant gut microbes and milk composition (Zhang et al, 2017a). The mechanism by which gut microbiota in dams affects offspring growth during lactation is poorly understood

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Discussion

Conclusion