Antibiotic-free diet supplemented with live yeasts decreases inflammatory markers in the ileum of weaned piglets

Abstract

Emerging bacterial resistance to antibiotics increases the need for effective alternatives to control intestinal inflammation and thus gut disorders in piglets. This study evaluated the effects of including Saccharomyces cerevisiae (strain 1026) and Saccharomyces boulardii (CNCM I-1079) as antibiotic alternatives in the starter diets of pigs on the concentrations of ileal inflammatory markers (nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin-12 subunit p40 (IL-12p40), and villus height. Forty piglets were assigned to four experimental diets, namely basal diet (C−), basal diet with antibiotics (C+), basal diet with S. cerevisiae (Sc), and basal diet with S. boulardii (Sb). At 7 and 14 days post weaning, five piglets per diet group were euthanized to quantify the inflammatory markers and to measure villus height. The C− group exhibited the highest concentration of inflammatory markers and the most atrophied villi. The Sc group had intermediate values for both variables. The C+ group had the lowest values for inflammatory markers and the highest villus height was similar to that of the Sb group, which showed low concentrations of inflammatory markers, although not so low as those of the C+ group. Both yeasts could be used as antibiotic alternatives to reduce the use of antibiotics in pig starter diets. However, S. boulardii CNCM I-1079 supplementation controls inflammation and preserves intestinal mucosa more effectively than S. cerevisiae strain 1026.

Keywords: cytokines, pigs, probiotic, Saccharomyces, weaning