Title : Supplementation of encapsulated multispecies probiotic improved gut health indicators in rats
Abstract:
The study was conducted on weaned Wistar rats procured from the Laboratory Animal Research section of Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, UP, India. A forty-two-days rat trial was conducted and the rats were randomly divided into four groups-Con (fed with basal diet), Pro (supplemented with multispecies probiotic, MSP), ProE (supplemented with Encapsulated MSP) and ProL (supplemented with Lyophilized MSP). The multispecies probiotic was characterized and developed (Waghe et al., 2022; Kala et al., 2022) and later encapsulated or lyophilized (Sharma et al., 2022) in author’s laboratory. During the course of our study, fecal microbiology, pH, fecal metabolites as short chain fatty acids, lactic acid and ammonia concentrations were determined fortnightly (on 14th, 28th and 42nd day) in rats as gut health indices. Also, a four days digestion trial was conducted after one month of feeding the MSP. Towards the end of the experimental feeding, the intestinal morphometry and histology of the gut sections like jejunum and caecum was also done.
We observed that adding MSP to rats’ diets considerably reduced the population of Salmonella and coliforms while significantly increasing health-promoting microorganisms like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria. Likewise, upon comparing the MSP-supplemented groups to the control group, the Pro, ProE and ProL groups had considerably higher fecal lactate concentrations and lower fecal ammonia levels. The concentration of fecal lactate, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria increased, while fecal ammonia and coliforms decreased as the experimental feeding progressed. We also found significantly higher levels of fecal acetate, propionate, butyrate, and total short-chain fatty acids in MSP- supplemented groups, that increased as the experiment progressed. However, the digestibility of nutrients like dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, crude fibre remained similar in all the groups.
The histological analysis of intestinal segments revealed that MSP supplementation significantly increased the mean villi height of jejunum, caecum and colon, being higher in ProL followed by ProE. Apart from this, there was a significant increase in the crypt depth of jejunum and caecum in MSP supplemented groups indicating lesser damage and thus lower requirement of epithelial renewal as indicated by more crypt depth. The mean lengths of the entire intestine and its segments, duodenum and colon showed similar results across all treatment groups. The mean widths of intestinal segments were greater in the MSP-supplemented groups than in the control group which could be attributed to the trophic effect of probiotics. The absolute and relative organ weights were comparable across all treatment groups in rats.
Conclusions: Supplementation of the probiotic products (Pro, ProE and ProL) significantly enhanced the population of health-positive microbes (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria) while decreasing the counts of harmful microbes (Coliform and Salmonella) with a concurrent increase in fecal lactate and reduction in ammonia concentration, showing improved overall intestinal health. Within the different MSP groups, the beneficial effects in improved gut health attributes were more pronounced in ProE group as compared to other MSP groups.
Audience Take Away:
- Encapsulation of probiotics can enhance shelf life of probiotics and reduces the need of sub culturing the probiotic for its maintenance.
- Easy and effective administration, storage and transportation of probiotic.
- Encapsulated probiotics proved to be superior to as such probiotic culture in in vivo study (rat trial)
