Pre-weaning inulin supplementation alters the ileal transcriptome in pigs regarding lipid metabolism. pre-weaning inulin supplementation on pig ileum

Prebiotics such as inulin are non-digestible carbohydrates that stimulate the growth of beneficial microbiota and are as a result known to improve gut health. In this study, we were interested to see if and how the ileal transcriptome alters after inulin administration in the pre-weaning period in pigs. Twenty-three Piétrain-Landrace newborn piglets were divided into three groups: (a) a control (CON) group (n=7), (b) an IN50 group (n=8) and (c) an IN75 group (n=8). Inulin was provided as a solution and administered twice a day. At week 4, piglets were sacrificed, and ileal scrapings were collected and analysed using QuantSeq. Only 3 genes were differentially expressed (DE) between the CON and IN50 group at an FDR of 10%. All three genes were downregulated in the IN50 group. When comparing the CON group with the IN75 group, 5 genes were downregulated in the IN75 group, including the 3 genes seen earlier being DE between CON and IN50. No genes were found to be DE between IN50 and IN75. Among the downregulated genes were Angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4), Aquaporin 7 (AQP7) and Apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1), all three involved in lipid metabolism, belonging to the PPAR signaling pathway and known to promote lipolysis.