Supplementing infant milk formula with a multi-strain synbiotic and osteopontin enhances colonic microbial colonization and modifies jejunal gene expression in lactating piglets.

A total of ninety-six weaned piglets were assigned to four dietary treatments in a 2 × 2 design. The treatments included: a standard milk formula (CTR); CTR + probiotics (6.4 × 10 cfu L CECT 7210 and 1.1 × 10 cfu L NH001) + prebiotics (galacto-oligosaccharides 4.36 g L and human-milk-oligosaccharide 0.54 g L) (SYN); CTR + osteopontin (0.43 g L) (OPN); and CTR + SYN + OPN (CON). Daily records including feed intake, body weight, and clinical signs, were maintained throughout the 15-day trial. At the end of the study samples from blood, digestive content, and gut tissues were collected to determine serum TNF-α, intestinal fermentative activity (SCFA and ammonia), colonic microbiota (16S rRNA Illumina-MiSeq), histomorphology, and jejunal gene expression (Open-Array). No statistical differences were found in weight gain; however, the animals supplemented with osteopontin exhibited higher feed intake. In terms of clinical signs, synbiotic supplementation led to a shorter duration of diarrhoea episodes. Regarding gut health, the sequenced faecal microbiota revealed better control of potentially dysbiotic bacteria with the CON diet at day 15. In the colon compartment, a significant increase in SCFA concentration, a decrease in ammonia concentration, and a significant decrease in intraepithelial lymphocyte counts were particularly observed in CON animals. The supplemented diets were also associated with modified jejunal gene expression. The synbiotic combination was characterized by the upregulation of genes related to intestinal maturation (ALPI, SI) and nutrient transport (SLC13A1, SLC15A1, SLC5A1, SLC7A8), and the downregulation of genes related to the response to pathogens (GBP1, IDO, TLR4) or the inflammatory response (IDO, IL-1β, TGF-β1). Osteopontin promoted the upregulation of a digestive function gene (GCG). Correlational analysis between the microbiota population and various intestinal environmental factors (SCFA concentration, histology, and gene expression) proposes mechanisms of communication between the gut microbiota and the host. In summary, these results suggest an improvement in the colonic colonization process and a better modulation of the immune response when milk formula is supplemented with the tested synbiotic combined with osteopontin, benefiting from a synergistic effect.