Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2) has been employed to improve weaned-animal's intestinal development. The goal of this study was to determine whether either exogenous S. cerevisiae or GLP-2 elicits the major effects on fecal microbiotas and cytokine responses in weaned-piglets. Ninety-six piglets weaned at 26 days were assigned to one of four groups: 1) Basal diet (Control), 2) empty vector-harboring S. cerevisiae (EV-SC), 3) GLP-2-expressing S. cerevisiae (GLP2-SC), and 4) recombinant human GLP-2 (rh-GLP2). At the start of the post-weaning period (day 0), and at day 28, fecal samples were collected to assess the bacterial communities via sequencing the V1-V2 region of the 16S-rRNA gene, and piglets' blood was also sampled to measure cytokine responses (i.e., IL-1β, TNF-α, and IFN-γ). Revealed in this study, on the one hand, although S. cerevisiae supplementation did not significantly alter the growth of weaned-piglets, it exhibited the increases in the relative abundances of two core genera (Ruminococcaceae_norank and Erysipelotrichaceae_norank) and the decreases in the relative abundances of other two core genera (Lachnospiraceae_norank and Clostridiale_norank) and cytokine levels (IL-1β and TNF-α) (P < 0.05, Control vs EV-SC; P < 0.05, rh-GLP2 vs GLP2-SC). On the other hand, GLP-2 supplementation had no significant influence on fecal bacterial communities and cytokine levels, but it had better body weight and average daily gain (P < 0.05, Control vs EV-SC; P < 0.05, rh-GLP2 vs GLP2-SC). Herein, altered the fecal microbiotas and cytokine response effects in weaned-piglets was due to S. cerevisiae rather than GLP-2.
Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Sus scrofa; fecal microbiota; glucagon-like peptide-2; weaned piglets.