Fucoidan Improves Growth, Digestive Tract Maturation, and Gut Microbiota in Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys crocea) Larvae.

The early life period is considered an essential period for gut microbial colonization. Manipulating gut microbiota interventions during early life periods has been proven to be a promising method to boost healthy growth. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of dietary fucoidan (Fuc) on the growth, digestive tract maturation, and gut microbiota of large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) larvae. Four diets were formulated with different levels of Fuc (0.00%, 0.50%, 1.00%, and 2.00%). Results showed that dietary Fuc significantly improved the growth performance of larvae. Meanwhile, dietary Fuc promoted digestive tract maturation. Dietary 1.00% Fuc significantly improved intestinal morphology. Dietary Fuc upregulated the expression of intestinal cell proliferation and differentiation related-genes and intestinal barrier related-genes. Dietary 2.00% Fuc significantly increased the activities of brush border membranes enzymes and lipase while inhibiting α-amylase. Furthermore, dietary Fuc maintained healthy intestinal micro-ecology. In detail, dietary 1.00% and 2.00% Fuc altered the overall structure of the gut microbiota and increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes while decreasing the relative abundance of opportunistic pathogens and facultative anaerobe. In conclusion, appropriate dietary Fuc (1.00-2.00%) could improve the growth of large yellow croaker larvae by promoting digestive tract maturation and maintaining an ideal intestinal micro-ecology.

Corrigendum: How Early-Life Gut Microbiota Alteration Sets Trajectories for Health and Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2021.690073.].

How Early-Life Gut Microbiota Alteration Sets Trajectories for Health and Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a recurrent chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine without any efficient therapeutic regimens. Gut microbiota, which plays an instrumental role in the development and maturation of the immune system, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of IBD. Emerging evidence has established that early-life events particularly maternal influences and antibiotic treatment are strongly correlated with the health or susceptibility to disease of an individual in later life. Thus, it is proposed that there is a critical period in infancy, during which the environmental exposures bestow a long-term pathophysiological imprint. This notion sheds new light on the development of novel approaches for the treatment, i.e., early interventions, more precisely, the prevention of many uncurable chronic inflammatory diseases like IBD. In this review, we have integrated current evidence to describe the feasibility of the "able-to-be-regulated microbiota," summarized the underlying mechanisms of the "microbiota-driven immune system education," explored the optimal intervention time window, and discussed the potential of designing early-probiotic treatment as a new prevention strategy for IBD.

Targeting Parenting Quality to Reduce Early Life Adversity Impacts on Lifespan Cardiometabolic Risk.

Mounting evidence that early life adversity (ELA) exposures confer risk for cardiometabolic disease over the lifespan motivated this narrative review to examine parenting quality as a potential intervention target to reduce ELA exposures or mitigate their impact as a way of reducing or preventing cardiometabolic disease. We describe findings from the limited number of family-based intervention studies in ELA-exposed children that have tested parenting impacts on cardiometabolic health outcomes. We then describe the implications of this work and make recommendations for future research that will move this field forward.

Early Life Intervention Using Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Improves Intestinal Development, Immune Response, and Gut Microbiota in Large Yellow Croaker (Larimichthys crocea) Larvae.

Marine fish larvae are vulnerable during the early life period. The early intervention using probiotics may be a promising method to improve growth of fish larvae. In this study, a 30-day feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of early life intervention using probiotic Clostridium butyricum (CB) on growth performance, intestinal development, immune response and gut microbiota of large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) larvae. Four isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated with the supplementation of four different levels of CB (5 × 109 CFU g-1), 0.00% (Control), 0.10% (CB1), 0.20% (CB2), and 0.40% (CB3). Results showed that larvae fed diets with CB had significant higher final length than the control group. Meanwhile, larvae fed the diet with 0.10% CB had significant higher final weight and specific growth rate (SGR) than the control group. However, no significant difference in survival rate was observed among dietary treatments. CB supplementation significantly increased the height of intestinal villus and the length of intestinal enterocyte. Similarly, CB supplementation significantly increased the expression of tight zonula occludens-2 (zo-2) and ornithine decarboxylase (odc) than the control group. Larvae fed the diet with 0.20% CB had significant higher lipase and leucine-aminopeptidase (LAP) activity than the control group. Moreover, CB supplementation significantly improved immune enzyme activities than the control group. Sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA V4-5 region indicated that dietary CB altered intestinal microbiota profile and decreased intestinal microbial diversities of larvae. CB supplementation could effectively increase the abundance of CB, and decrease the abundance of some potential pathogenic bacteria in larval gut. These results revealed that early life intervention using 0.10-0.20% CB could promote growth of large yellow croaker larvae probably through promoting intestinal development, improving immune enzyme activities and modulating gut microbiota.

Performance, Rumen Microbial Community and Immune Status of Goat Kids Fed Leucaena leucocephala Post-weaning as Affected by Prenatal and Early Life Nutritional Interventions.

Leucaena leucocephala represents a local protein source in tropical ruminant diets. However, its full exploitation is impaired by mimosine, unless it is degraded by the rumen microbial community. Recently, the ruminal bacterial communities of newborns were persistently modified through prenatal or postnatal dietary interventions. Such early-life interventions might enhance adaptation of ruminants to Leucaena leucocephala, which was investigated using a 2 × 2 factorial design trial that tested both supplementation of L. leucocephala in the late pregnancy diet of goat does, and supplementation of live yeast to their newborns. The composition of ruminal bacteria, immune status, as well as organic matter digestibility (OMD) and performance of kids were studied during and after the intervention. Ten pregnant goats were divided into two groups: the D+ and D- groups, which either received or did not receive 30 g of L. leucocephala forage meal during the last 7 ± 0.5 weeks of gestation. Twins from each goat were divided into the K+ and K- group (supplemented with or without 0.2 g/d of live yeast from day 3 until weaning at 8 weeks). Rumen samples were collected from 4-, 8-, 14-, and 20-weeks old kids to assess the bacterial community, while immune parameters (white blood cells, immunoglobulin M and G, and chitotriosidase activity) were measured in blood and saliva sampled at 4-, 8-, and 20-weeks. We found a stimulatory effect of the prenatal exposure on the post-weaning dry matter intake of the L. leucocephala supplemented diet, resulting in a higher daily gain and final body weight at 20 weeks in the D+ vs. D- group (406 vs. 370 g DM/d, 85.4 vs. 78.6 g/d, and 15.2 vs. 13.8 kg, respectively). Moreover, Ruminococcus represented a greater proportion of the rumen bacterial community of the D+ vs. D- kids (5.1 vs. 1.6%). Differences in the immune status were relatively small and not thought to be a driving factor of differences in animal performance. Furthermore, postnatal supplementation of live yeast favored maturation of the rumen bacterial community (i.e., greater abundance of Bacteroidetes, in particular Prevotella, and reduced abundance of Firmicutes) and protozoa colonization. Concomitantly, OMD was enhanced post-weaning, suggesting effects of the early-life intervention persisted and could have affected animal performance.

The Effects of Improved Nutrition in Early Childhood on Adolescent and Early Adulthood Body Size, Composition, Maturity, and Function: Results From the First INCAP Follow-Up Study.

The first follow-up study of the original Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama Longitudinal Study was conducted in 1988 to 1989 when participants were between the ages of 11 and 27 years. The longer term effects of the original supplementation in early life of either high protein and energy, Atole, or no protein and low energy, Fresco, were seen in anthropometry, skeletal maturation, physical work capacity, and intellectual development, with maximum benefit seen in those participants who had maximum exposure to the supplementation during prenatal and early postnatal years. No effects were observed in bone mineralization and menarche. The long-term positive effects are consistent with the promotion of improved nutrition during the first 1000 days and established the foundation for further follow-up studies as the participants move into adulthood and further develop their human capital.

Early-Life Intervention Using Fecal Microbiota Combined with Probiotics Promotes Gut Microbiota Maturation, Regulates Immune System Development, and Alleviates Weaning Stress in Piglets.

Previous studies have suggested that immune system development and weaning stress are closely related to the maturation of gut microbiota. The early-life period is a "window of opportunity" for microbial colonization, which potentially has a critical impact on the development of the immune system. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and probiotics are often used to regulate gut microbial colonization. This study aims to test whether early intervention with FMT using fecal microbiota from gestation sows combined with Clostridium butyricum and Saccharomyces boulardii (FMT-CS) administration could promote the maturation of gut microbiota and development of immune system in piglets. Piglets were assigned to control (n = 84) and FMT-CS treatment (n = 106), which were treated with placebo and bacterial suspension during the first three days after birth, respectively. By 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we found that FMT-CS increased the α-diversity and reduced the unweighted UniFrac distances of the OTU community. Besides, FMT-CS increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria, while decreasing that of opportunistic pathogens. FMT-CS also enhanced the relative abundance of genes related to cofactors and vitamin, energy, and amino acid metabolisms during the early-life period. ELISA analysis revealed that FMT-CS gave rise to the plasma concentrations of IL-23, IL-17, and IL-22, as well as the plasma levels of anti-M.hyo and anti-PCV2 antibodies. Furthermore, the FMT-CS-treated piglets showed decreases in inflammation levels and oxidative stress injury, and improvement of intestinal barrier function after weaning as well. Taken together, our results suggest that early-life intervention with FMT-CS could promote the development of innate and adaptive immune system and vaccine efficacy, and subsequently alleviate weaning stress through promoting the maturation of gut microbiota in piglets.

Mild environmental intervention in mother-infant interactions reduces social play behavior in rats

During early life, animals are sensitive to environmental events that may lead to short-term and long-lasting changes in their neurobiology and behavior, which could be related to increased risk for psychopathology. Neonatal handling is an experimental intervention in the mother-infant relationship. Based on previous studies, it is known to decrease rat pups' preference for maternal cues. Handling also reduces social, sexual, and fear behavior in adult animals, which is related to underlying neuroendocrine alterations. One prominent feature of adolescence is the high frequency of social behaviors such as play that appear to be necessary for proper socioemotional development. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of repeatedly handling pups on social play behavior during the neonatal period in juvenile Wistar rats. We found that handling consistently decreased pouncing, wrestling, and chasing play behavior on postnatal days (PND) 25, 30, and 35 compared with non-handled juveniles. As expected, sex differences were also found. Consistent with previous studies in infant and adult rats, the neonatal handling procedure also reduced affiliative behaviors in juvenile animals. The precise mechanisms by which this early intervention leads to these alterations in offspring remain to be determined, but the cumulative effects of briefly disrupting the mother-infant relationship that caused the neonatal handling may be one possible explanation.

Mild environmental intervention in mother-infant interactions reduces social play behavior in rats

During early life, animals are sensitive to environmental events that may lead to short-term and long-lasting changes in their neurobiology and behavior, which could be related to increased risk for psychopathology. Neonatal handling is an experimental intervention in the mother-infant relationship. Based on previous studies, it is known to decrease rat pups' preference for maternal cues. Handling also reduces social, sexual, and fear behavior in adult animals, which is related to underlying neuroendocrine alterations. One prominent feature of adolescence is the high frequency of social behaviors such as play that appear to be necessary for proper socioemotional development. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of repeatedly handling pups on social play behavior during the neonatal period in juvenile Wistar rats. We found that handling consistently decreased pouncing, wrestling, and chasing play behavior on postnatal days (PND) 25, 30, and 35 compared with non-handled juveniles. As expected, sex differences were also found. Consistent with previous studies in infant and adult rats, the neonatal handling procedure also reduced affiliative behaviors in juvenile animals. The precise mechanisms by which this early intervention leads to these alterations in offspring remain to be determined, but the cumulative effects of briefly disrupting the mother-infant relationship that caused the neonatal handling may be one possible explanation.(AU)