Dietary fiber has beneficial roles in energy production and the regulation of intestinal health in mammals. This study evaluated the genetic effects on dietary high-fiber adaptation and redox balance of commercial pigs through fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from Chinese indigenous donor pigs following an lipopolysaccharides (LPS) challenge to induce oxidative stress and inflammation. Fifty-six weaned piglets (28 days old) were assigned to dietary treatments (low/high-fiber) with or without FMT. After a four-week feeding trial, piglets were challenged with either LPS or a similar amount of normal saline. The results indicated that FMT enhanced growth performance, and reduced diarrhea in recipient piglets regardless of dietary fiber levels. LPS challenge impaired intestinal barrier integrity of piglets, while FMT significantly counteracted this effect by reducing plasma and colonic D-lactate and diamine oxidase levels, as well as upregulating the expressions of proteins and genes related to intestinal barrier integrity. Notably, FMT maintained the redox balance by reducing malondialdehyde level, increasing the total antioxidant capacity, and upregulating SOD2 and Nrf2 expressions in the colon. Microbiome and metabolome analyses revealed that FMT elevated the abundances of beneficial bacteria (particularly Lactobacillus and norankₒClostridiaUCG-014), as well as several metabolites associated with dietary fiber degradation. These findings exhibit a novel perspective on the advantages of genetic factors through FMT to attenuate oxidative stress, maintain intestinal barrier integrity, and ultimately reduce piglet diarrhea caused by high-fiber diet and weaning stress.
Gao et al. (Fri,) studied this question.