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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Mucosal Immunity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1487664
This article is part of the Research Topic Gut microbiome and immune system View all articles

Investigating the potential immunomodulatory effects of commercial oral probiotic supplements on equine gastrointestinal tract barrier function

Provisionally accepted
Agnieszka Żak-Bochenek Agnieszka Żak-Bochenek 1*Paulina Żebrowska-Różańska Paulina Żebrowska-Różańska 2Joanna Bajzert Joanna Bajzert 1Lukasz Laczmanski Lukasz Laczmanski 3Bogumila Szponar Bogumila Szponar 3Natalia Siwinska Natalia Siwinska 1Klaudia Gładysz Klaudia Gładysz 3Katarzyna Sikorska Katarzyna Sikorska 1Anna Chełmońska-Soyta Anna Chełmońska-Soyta 1
  • 1 Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
  • 2 Independent researcher, Canberra, Australia
  • 3 Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Silesian, Poland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Oral probiotic dietary supplements are widely used in veterinary medicine, including in horses. It is hypothesized that the presence of probiotic strains can both modulate the intestinal microbiota and affect mucosal immunity parameters. Such a study has not yet been conducted in horses.Methods: This study involved 12 healthy horses, which were randomly divided into a control group and a group that received a commercial oral probiotic formula containing Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Pedioccus acidilactici or Enterococcus faecium for 84 days. Fecal samples were collected from all horses on day 0 (D0), 28 days after starting the probiotic (D28), 56 days (D56), 84 days (D84) and 28 days after stopping the probiotic (DX) treatment. The samples were subjected to microbiome analysis via next-generation sequencing of hypervariable regions V3-V4 and V7-V9 of the 16S rRNA gene for analysis of short-chain fatty acids via HPLC analysis and fecal secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) quantification via ELISA.Results: Microbiome analysis revealed no significant differences in either alpha or beta diversity parameters between the groups. No probiotic strains were detected in the samples. Significant changes were detected in three taxa: the family Bacteroidales RF16 group, the genus Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-004, and the genus Fibrobacter during the study in both groups. In all the cases, there was a gradual decrease in relative abundance over time. The concentrations of SCFAs, specifically acetic and propionic acids, significantly increased over time in both groups according to the generalized linear mixed effects (GLME) model. There were no significant differences in fecal SIgA secretion.The present study revealed no effect of the use of a commercial probiotic dietary supplement on either mucosal immunity or the composition of the intestinal microbiota.

    Keywords: Probiotics, Horses, biosurfactants, Secretory IgA, microbiome

    Received: 28 Aug 2024; Accepted: 24 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Żak-Bochenek, Żebrowska-Różańska, Bajzert, Laczmanski, Szponar, Siwinska, Gładysz, Sikorska and Chełmońska-Soyta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Agnieszka Żak-Bochenek, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.