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. 2022 Sep 8;12(18):2336.
doi: 10.3390/ani12182336.

Effect of Dietary Lactose Supplementation on Growth Performance and Intestinal Epithelium Functions in Weaned Pigs Challenged by Rotavirus

Wei Yu  1 , Xuechun Xiao  1 , Daiwen Chen  1 , Bing Yu  1 , Jun He  1 , Ping Zheng  1 , Jie Yu  1 , Junqiu Luo  1 , Yuheng Luo  1 , Hui Yan  1 , Xuewu Yi  2 , Jianping Wang  1 , Huifen Wang  1 , Quyuan Wang  1 , Xiangbing Mao  1
Affiliations

Effect of Dietary Lactose Supplementation on Growth Performance and Intestinal Epithelium Functions in Weaned Pigs Challenged by Rotavirus

Wei Yu et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether dietary lactose supplementation relieves rotavirus (RV)-induced diarrhea and gut dysfunction. Thirty-six crossbred weaned piglets were randomly allocated into three groups and fed diets containing 0, 4%, and 6% lactose for 20 days. On Day 15, half of the piglets in each group were orally infused with RV. RV infection impaired growth performance; induced severe diarrhea; decreased serum D-xylose concentration and morphology and sIgA level of jejunal mucosa; downregulated MUC1, MUC2, occludin, Bcl-2, IL-4, pBD3, pBD2, and pBD1 mRNA expression of jejunal mucosa and/or mesenteric lymph nodes; upregulated Bax, caspase-3, IL-2, IFN-γ, and IFN-β mRNA expression of jejunal mucosa and/or mesenteric lymph nodes; and damaged microbiota and metabolites of cecal digesta in weaned piglets (p < 0.05). Dietary lactose supplementation improved nutrient digestibility and growth performance and relieved the negative influence of RV challenge on intestinal barrier function, mRNA expression of cytokines, and host defense peptides of jejunal mucosa and/or mesenteric lymph nodes in weaned piglets (p < 0.05). Dietary administration of 6% lactose tended to relieve diarrhea (p = 0.07). These results suggest that lactose in feed increases growth performance and has a tendency to alleviate RV-induced diarrhea, derived from the improvement of nutrient utilization, gut barrier function, and immunity.

Keywords: growth performance; gut health; lactose; nutrient utilization; rotavirus.

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Conflict of interest statement

We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work. There is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service, and/or company that could be construed as influencing the content of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effect of dietary lactose supplementation on nutrient digestibility in weaned piglets. Values are means ± SEs; n = 12. Values with different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05). CON, basal diet; 4% Lactose, diet supplemented with 4% lactose; 6% Lactose, diet supplemented with 6% lactose; DM = dry matter; CP = crude protein; GE = gross energy; EE = ether extract.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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