Successful establishment of a model of the piglet gastrointestinal microbiota and its' modulation by prebiotics

Aims This study proposed an in-house in vitro model to investigate the effects of two prebiotic treatments on the gastrointestinal microbiota of piglets. Methods and Results The model involved suspending piglet feces in a culture medium to simulate the ileum and proximal colon regions of the swine gastrointestinal tract. The prebiotics tested were mannanoligosaccharides (MOS) and sodium butyrate. Metabarcoding and culturomics were used to assess the impact of prebiotics on bacterial species composition. Minimum inhibitory concentration tests were conducted to examine bacterial susceptibility patterns. Key bacterial phyla identified included Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. Culturomics detected families and several species not identified by metabarcoding. In the simulated proximal colon, MOS increased the abundance of certain species and reduced bacteria with type I fimbriae. Butyric acid promoted beneficial host-associated bacteria and decreased pathogenic species. However, the prebiotics did not significantly affect bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. Conclusion The in-house model successfully mimicked piglet intestinal microbiota, allowing for detailed analysis. Both prebiotics positively influenced the piglets microbiota, providing insights into how these treatments potentially influenced the microbiota.