In order to evaluate the potential prebiotic effects of cellobiose, 10 healthy adult research beagle dogs received a complete diet containing 0, 0.5 and 1 g cellobiose/kg bodyweight (BW)/day. At the end of each feeding period, faeces, urine and blood of the dogs were collected. The results demonstrated a significant increase of faecal lactate concentrations, indicating a bacterial fermentation of cellobiose in the canine intestine. Along with this, a dose-dependent linear increase of the relative abundance of Lactobacillaceae in the faeces of the dogs was observed (p = 0.014). In addition, a dose-dependent increase (p < 0.05) of Alloprevotella, Bacteroides and Prevotella, and a linear decrease for unidentified Lachnospiraceae (p = 0.011) was observed when cellobiose was added to the diet, although the relative abundance of these genera was low (<1%) among all groups. The faecal pH was not affected by dietary cellobiose. Cellobiose seemed to modulate the excretion of nitrogen metabolites, as lower concentrations of phenol (p = 0.034) and 4-ethylphenol (p = 0.002) in the plasma of the dogs were measured during the supplementation periods. Urinary phenols and indoles, however, were not affected by the dietary supplementation of cellobiose. In conclusion, cellobiose seems to be fermented by the intestinal microbiota of dogs. Although no effect on the faecal pH was detected, the observed increase of microbial lactate production might lower the pH in the large intestine and consecutively modulate the intestinal absorption of nitrogen metabolites. Also, the observed changes of some bacterial genera might have been mediated by increased intestinal lactate concentrations or a higher relative abundance of lactobacilli. Whether these results could be considered as a prebiotic effect and used as a dietetic strategy in diseased animals to improve gut function or hepatic and renal nitrogen metabolism should be evaluated in future studies.

中文翻译：

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膳食纤维二糖对健康成年犬肠道微生物群和氮代谢物排泄的影响

为了评估纤维二糖的潜在益生元作用，10 只健康成年比格犬接受了含有 0、0.5 和 1 克纤维二糖/公斤体重 (BW)/天的完整饮食。在每个喂食期结束时，收集狗的粪便、尿液和血液。结果表明粪便乳酸浓度显着增加，表明犬肠道中纤维二糖的细菌发酵。与此同时，观察到狗粪便中乳杆菌科相对丰度的剂量依赖性线性增加（p  = 0.014）。此外，剂量依赖性增加（p 的<0.05）Alloprevotella，拟杆菌和普氏菌， 当纤维二糖添加到饮食中时，观察到不明毛螺科的线性减少（p = 0.011），尽管这些属的相对丰度在所有组中都很低（<1%）。粪便 pH 值不受膳食纤维二糖的影响。纤维二糖似乎调节氮代谢物的排泄，因为苯酚 ( p  = 0.034) 和 4-乙基苯酚 ( p = 0.002) 在补充期间测量到狗的血浆中。然而，尿酚和吲哚不受纤维二糖膳食补充剂的影响。总之，纤维二糖似乎是由狗的肠道微生物群发酵的。尽管未检测到对粪便 pH 值的影响，但观察到的微生物乳酸产生的增加可能会降低大肠的 pH 值，并连续调节肠道对氮代谢物的吸收。此外，观察到的某些细菌属的变化可能是由肠道乳酸浓度增加或乳酸杆菌相对丰度较高所介导的。