Effect of Arabinoxylan and Xylo-Oligosaccharide on Growth Performance and Intestinal Barrier Function in Weaned Piglets.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of xylose with different polymerizations on growth performance, intestinal barrier function, and gut microbial composition in weaned piglets. A total of 144 weaned piglets were assigned to 3 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design according to their body weight and sex. Dietary treatments included a corn-soybean meal basal diet (CON) and 2 additional diets formulated with 1% arabinoxylan (AX) and 1% xylo-oligosaccharide (XOS), respectively. Results showed that dietary supplementation of XOS or AX reduced diarrhea incidence of weaned piglets compared with the CON group (p < 0.05). XOS or AX increased the ileal villus height and intestinal activity of antioxidases in weaned piglets compared with the CON group (p < 0.05). XOS or AX reduced the ileal and colonic IL-6 content and increased the colonic sIgA and IL-10 concentrations in weaned piglets compared with the CON group (p < 0.05). XOS or AX increased the total organic acids concentrations in the ileum and in vitro fermentation (p < 0.05). XOS increased the abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the ileal digesta (p < 0.05), while AX increased the population of Lactobacillus in the ileal digesta and the abundance of Bifidobacterium in the colonic digesta of weaned piglets (p < 0.05). In conclusion, both XOS and AX reduce diarrhea incidence and improve antioxidant capacity, immune function, and populations of beneficial bacteria, while microbial fermentation of XOS with a lower polymerization and molecular mass can produce more organic acids and an increased abundance of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the upper gut of weaned pigs compared with AX.

Molecular actions of different functional oligosaccharides on intestinal integrity, immune function and microbial community in weanling pigs.

This study investigated the effects of different functional oligosaccharides on the growth performance, intestinal barrier function and gut microbiota of weanling piglets. A total of 192 weanling piglets were randomly allocated into 4 dietary groups, which were a control (CON), CON + 0.1% xylo-oligosaccharide (XO), CON + 0.1% isomalto-oligosaccharide (IM) or CON + 0.08% mannan-oligosaccharide (MO) diet. Results showed that the XO and MO groups showed lower diarrhea incidence in weanling piglets compared with the CON group (P < 0.05). Colonic goblet cell numbers and the mRNA expression of mucin-2 (P < 0.05) were greater in all functional oligosaccharide groups. Both the XO and MO groups had a greater concentration of sIgA, IL-10, SOD and GSH-Px and higher antioxidase activity, and the XO group had a lower protein expression of NF-κB in the ilea of piglets (P < 0.05) compared with the CON group. The XO group had a greater concentration of butyrate and an abundance of Bifidobacterium in the ileum (P < 0.05). The MO group had a greater ileal concentration of acetate compared with the additional dietary treatments and greater butyrate compared with the IM and CON groups (P < 0.05). In summary, XO increased the growth of Bifidobacterium, butyrate production and intestinal antioxidant capacity; however, MO promoted the expression of tight junction proteins and the intestinal immune function to reduce piglet diarrhea.

Inhalation bioaccessibility, health risk assessment, and source appointment of ambient PM2.5-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Caofeidian, China.

The inhalation bioaccessibility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is significant for accurately assessing the health risks posed by PM2.5-bound PAHs. In this study, 96 PM2.5 samples from Caofeidian, China, were investigated for PM2.5-bound PAH source appointment and bioaccessibility assessment during four seasons. PAH18 potential sources were identified by positive matrix factorization. The inhalation bioaccessibility of PAH18 was investigated by simulated epithelial lung fluid extraction. The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) model was subsequently used to evaluate the carcinogenic risk posed by PM2.5-bound PAHs in children, teenagers, and adults. Four potential sources of PM2.5-bound PAH18 were identified: industry emissions (44%), petroleum volatilization (30%), vehicle emissions (15%), and coal combustion (11%). The average inhalation bioaccessibility of PAHs ranged from 17.8% (dibenzo [a,h] anthracene) to 67.9% (fluorene). The ILCR values for children and teenagers were lower than the acceptable levels (10-6) in the four seasons considering inhalation bioaccessibility. However, the ILCR value of adults was higher than the threshold in winter (1.26 × 10-6). Source identification suggested that reducing industrial pollution was the primary measure for controlling PM2.5-bound PAHs in Caofeidian. Additionally, the inhalation bioaccessibility of PM2.5-bound PAHs was evaluated to precisely estimate the health risks caused by PAHs.