2018 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 13-19
Recently, several reports revealed that some gastrointestinal disease is associated with the alteration of gastrointestinal microbiota. Additionally, some bacterial species modulate the induction and proliferation of regulatory T-cell (T-reg) by producing the short chain fatty acid. The aim of this study is to evaluate the changes in the microbiota composition and the number of T-reg in the intestinal mucous membrane. In this study, probiotics containing Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, and phsyrium as a prebiotics, were administered to 6 healthy beagle dogs. Fecal samples and intestinal biopsy samples were obtained on day 0 and day 14, respectively. Fecal samples were analyzed by using a next generation sequencer amplifying V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. To evaluate the number of T-reg at intestinal mucosa, immunohistochemistry by using Foxp3 antibody was performed. On analysis of microbiom, although the difference was not significant,phylum Firmicutes was decreased while phylum Fusobacterium, and Bacteroidetes were increased on day 14 compared to day 0. Principal coordinates analysis revealed not significant but relatively similar pattern was observed in 5 out of 6 dogs on day 14. T-reg count in the intestinal mucous membrane showed no difference between day 0 and day 14. This study revealed that administration of probiotics and prebiotics can change the microbiome in healthy dogs to certain proportion. Although clinical significance of these results is unclear,potential of probiotics and prebiotics for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases is suggested. Further evaluation focused on short chain fatty acid and similar study in dogs with gastrointestinal diseases is needed.
