The effects of feeding and withholding food on the canine small intestinal microbiota.
Prolonged lack of enteral feeding has a negative impact on gut physiology, potentially via microbiota modulation. The aims were to investigate the impact of fasting and post-prandial changes in canine jejunal microbiota. To study post-prandial effects, jejunal brushings were analyzed in 8 healthy fistulated dogs 15 min before feeding (baseline) and hourly for 8 h after feeding. To study effects of withholding food (WF), daily samples were collected for 15 days from 5 dogs. The first 5 days (PRE) dogs were fed regular diet. Food was withheld the next 5 days (days 6-10). For days 11-15 (POST), the original diet was reintroduced. Microbiota was characterized via denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 454-pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. In the post-prandial study, no changes in microbiome structure were seen after feeding (ANOSIM, P = 0.28), but Betaproteobacteria (P = 0.04) and Bacteroidales decreased compared to baseline. Species richness decreased by 300 min (P = 0.04). During WF, microbiota structure differed from PRE and POST period (P = 0.001). During WF, species richness did not vary over time (P = 0.69). In conclusion, a prolonged period of food withholding results in altered jejunal microbiota. How these changes affect the microbiota metabolism warrants further studies.
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4474, USA.
Alyssa C
AC
Kasiraj
Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Helsinki University, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Jaana
J
Harmoinen
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4474, USA.
Anitah
A
Isaiah
Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Helsinki University, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Elias
E
Westermarck
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4474, USA.
Jörg M
JM
Steiner
Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Helsinki University, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Thomas
T
Spillmann
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Gastrointestinal Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4474, USA jsuchodolski@cvm.tamu.edu.
Jan S
JS
Suchodolski
D000818:Animals; D001439:Bacteroides / Q000254:growth & development*; D020562:Betaproteobacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D004032:Diet; D004285:Dogs; D005215:Fasting; D005502:Food; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000382:microbiology*; D007583:Jejunum / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Dog; dysbiosis; fasting; gastrointestinal; metagenomics; microbiota