Effects of starter microbiota and early life feeding of medium chain triglycerides on the gastric transcriptome profile of 3 weeks old caesarean derived pigs

An early settlement of a complex gut microbiota can protect against gastro-intestinal dysbiosis, but the effects of neonatal microbiota colonization and early life feeding of medium chain triglycerides on the maturation of the porcine gastric mucosa are largely unknown. The transcriptome of the oxyntic mucosa of 24 caesarian-derived pigs previously associated with microbiota of different complexity and fed a diet fortified or not with medium chain fatty acids was studied. Pigs received pasteurized sow colostrum at birth (d0), 2 mL of starter microbiota (10^7 CFU of each Lactob. Amylovorus (LAM), Clostr. glycolicum, and Parabacteroides spp.) on d1-d3 of age and either a placebo inoculant (simple association, SA) or an inoculant consisting of diluted feces of an adult sow (complex association, CA) on d3-d4 of age. Then half of pigs was fed a moist diet (CON) or, for the remaining half, CTRL fortified in medium chain triglycerides with 7% coconut oil ( MCT). Gastric samples were obtained at on euthanised pigs at 3 weeks of age. The analysis of whole mRNA transcript expression was done by Affymetrix©Porcine Gene 1.1 ST array strips, a Robust Multichip Analysis was performed on the CEL files, and Transcripts ID’s were associated to human gene names, based on Sus scrofa Ensemble.