Probiotics and lactoferrin are currently being used in neonatal intensive care units in the hopes of reducing rates of sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). While studies have shown that these measures can be clinically beneficial to premature babies, and there are ongoing trials to measure their impact on NEC and sepsis rates, little is known about how they may impact microbiota development. We thus employed a newborn piglet model to assess the impact of feeding probiotics or a combination of probiotics and lactoferrin on development of the gastrointestinal microbiota. Healthy full-term piglets were fed either probiotics alone or probiotics and a bovine lactoferrin supplement over the first weeks of life, and their microbiota profiles were compared with unsupplemented controls. We found that both probiotic and probiotic plus lactoferrin treatments impacted the microbial composition within the gastrointestinal tract, with differing impacts on various regions within the gut. In addition, the impact of probiotics was often reversed by the presence of lactoferrin and both feeding interventions altered the microbiota's genetic propensity to use ferric versus ferrous ions. These results suggest that iron availability may be a key factor to consider when designing feeding interventions that target the microbiome.

中文翻译：

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益生菌和乳铁蛋白的补充对仔猪胃肠道微生物群落的影响。

益生菌和乳铁蛋白目前正在新生儿重症监护病房中使用，希望降低败血症的发生率和坏死性小肠结肠炎（NEC）。尽管研究表明这些措施对早产儿可能在临床上有益，并且正在进行评估其对NEC和败血症发生率的影响的试验，但对它们如何影响微生物群发育的了解甚少。因此，我们采用新生仔猪模型来评估饲喂益生菌或益生菌和乳铁蛋白的组合对胃肠道微生物群发育的影响。健康足月仔猪在生命的最初几周内要么单独饲喂益生菌，要么饲喂益生菌和牛乳铁蛋白补充剂，并将其微生物群特征与未补充的对照组进行比较。我们发现，益生菌和益生菌加乳铁蛋白的治疗均会影响胃肠道内的微生物组成，并对肠道内的各个区域产生不同的影响。另外，益生菌的作用通常由于乳铁蛋白的存在而被逆转，并且两种喂养干预都改变了微生物群使用铁离子和亚铁离子的遗传倾向。这些结果表明，在设计针对微生物组的喂养干预措施时，铁的有效性可能是要考虑的关键因素。使用铁离子和亚铁离子的遗传倾向。这些结果表明，在设计针对微生物组的喂养干预措施时，铁的有效性可能是要考虑的关键因素。使用铁离子和亚铁离子的遗传倾向。这些结果表明，在设计针对微生物组的喂养干预措施时，铁的有效性可能是要考虑的关键因素。