Prebiotic Short‐Chain Fructooligosaccharides (scFOS) Increases Abundance of the Butyrate Producing Microbial Community Differentially When Administered With or Without Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) in Piglets With Short‐Bowel Syndrome (SBS)
Authors: Loman Brett R. , Tappenden Kelly A. 
Published: June 2021

Intraluminal butyrate production may enhance absorption in children with SBS. The objective of this study was to define changes in the intestinal microbial community associated with butyrate and lactate production.

We hypothesized that scFOS would increase butyrate producing bacterial abundance, LGG would increase total Lactobacillus abundance, and synbiotic combination of the two would result in both changes.

Neonatal piglets (48 hours old, n=87) underwent 80% jejunoileal resection and jugular catheter placement. Piglets received 80% parenteral and 20% enteral nutrition (EN) for 1, 3, and 7 days (d) and received 1 of 4 treatments: (1) control (CON), unsupplemented EN; (2) prebiotic (PRE), 10g scFOS/L EN; (3) probiotic (PRO), 1×109 CFU LGG/L EN, and, (4) synbiotic (SYN), scFOS + LGG. Bacterial 16s rRNA genes (V3‐V5) were PCR amplified from mucosa (MUC) and digesta (DIG) of the distal ileum (ILE) and proximal colon (COL). DNA Sequencing was performed on Illumina MiSeq. Taxonomy assignment and quality control were determined with Silva 123 and IM‐Tornado. Statistical analysis, OTU abundance correlations, and network analysis were performed with QIIME1.9.1, SparCC, and Cytoscape 3.2.1 respectively.

The probiotic, L. rhamnosus, was present in samples assessed from PRO and SYN, but absent in those from CON and PRE. Orthogonal contrast for scFOS supplementation increased Chao1 alpha diversity in ILEDIG 7d (p = 0.029). 17 known butyrate producing species and 17 Lactobacillus species were identified for species level analysis. SYN increased Faecalibacterium prasnitzii (p = 0.006) and Anaerotruncuz colihominis (p = 0.02) abundance in ILEDIG 7d vs CON. scFOS tended to increase total butyrate species abundance in ILEDIG (p = 0.09), regardless of time. LGG tended to reduce total butyrate producing species in COLDIG 7d (p = 0.09). PRO, SYN increased Lactobacillus reuteri abundance in ILEMUC 7d vs CON, PRE (all p > 0.05). Othogonal contrast for LGG increased total Lactobacillus species abundance in ILEDIG (p = 0.03). Correlation network analysis of ILEDIG 7d revealed that OTUs related to F. prasnitzii, A. colihominis, and L. rhamnosus were completely discrete between treatments. F. prasnitzii was positively correlated to a potential butyrate producing OTU from the Butyricimonas genus (r = 0.47) in SYN, but negatively correlated to a potential butyrate producing OTU from the Coprococcus genus (r = −0.38) in PRE. A. colihominis was positively correlated to one potential butyrate producing OTU from the Butyricimonas genus (r = 0.39) in SYN, but two potential butyrate producing OTUs from the Pseudobutyrivibrio genus (r = 0.60) and Anaerotruncus genus (r = 0.51) in PRE. L. rhamnosus was positively correlated to L. johnsonii (r = 0.77) and L. mucosae (r = 0.54) in PRO, but negatively correlated to Tetragenococcus halophilus (r = −0.51) in SYN.

scFOS increases butyrate producing species in ILEDIG, but when combined with LGG F. prasnitzii and A. colihominis dominate. Therefore, it is important to evaluate combination therapies aimed at modulating microbiota to deliver intraluminal butyrate, bearing in mind changes to pH and cross feeding structures that may ultimately lead to less production of the health promoting metabolite.

Support or Funding Information

This work was partially funded by USDA Hatch Project #ILLU‐971‐367