Interplay between salivary biomarkers and gut microbiome in dogs supplemented with grape proanthocyanidins: results of dietary intervention study.

Several studies about the interaction between gut microbiome and host health have been made in animal models, especially in dogs. Prebiotics have been exploited to understand the restoring of the gastrointestinal and microbial balance but few information about the effects of dietary supplementation of proanthocyanidins in dogs have been collected until now. Twenty-four healthy adult dogs of different breeds were recruited and divided in three groups of 8 subject each. A first group was fed with control diet, whilst the others were supplemented with two doses of proanthocyanidins (1 and 3 mg/kg live weight). Faeces, salivary and hair samples were collected at the beginning of the study and after 14 and 28 days for microbiota, serotonin and cortisol analysis. The supplementation influenced genera level of faecal microbiota and results highlighted high variability of taxa among dogs, suggesting a uniqueness and stability of the latter, that responds differently to dietary intervention.