PBMC and colon microbiome from goats

Sixteen male goat kids were used in this experiment. All kids were raised with milk-replacer and randomly distributed into 2 treatments: one group was orally inoculated with pooled fresh rumen fluid (RFC as probiotic) obtained from 4 adult goats used as donors whereas the control group did not receive inoculation. Briefly, rumen inocula were obtained from donor animals fitted with permanent rumen fistula which were fed a diet based on a 70% of concentrate and 30% of forage. Rumen fluid was daily collected, filtered through two layers of muslin and immediately inoculated to the RFC animals by oral drenching of 2.5 ml/animal during week 1 and 5 ml/animal thereafter. Inoculation was daily repeated from birth until 2.5 months of age, when they were weaned and fully adapted to a solid diet. Both groups were separated from each other to avoid physical contact and potential microbial transfer. Animals were weaned at the age of 7 weeks and experimental groups remained separated throughout the entire experiment. At 6 months of age, blood samples were taken from the jugular vein, animals were slaughtered and colon content was sampled and snap frozen in liquid N.