Early Changes in Microbial Colonization Selectively Modulate Intestinal Enzymes, but Not Inducible Heat Shock Proteins in Young Adult Swine

Metabolic diseases and obesity are developing worldwide in a context of plethoric intake of high energy diets. The intestine may play a pivotal role due to diet-induced alterations in microbiota composition and increased permeability to bacterial lipopolysaccharide inducing metabolic inflammation. Early programming of metabolic disorders appearing in later life is also suspected, but data on the intestine are lacking. Therefore, we hypothesized that early disturbances in microbial colonization have short- and long-lasting consequences on selected intestinal components including key digestive enzymes and protective inducible heat shock proteins (HSP). The hypothesis was tested in swine offspring born to control mothers (n = 12) or mothers treated with the antibiotic amoxicillin around parturition (n = 11), and slaughtered serially at 14, 28 and 42 days of age to assess short-term effects. To evaluate long-term consequences, young adult offspring from the same litters were offered a normal or a fat-enriched diet for 4 weeks between 140 and 169 days of age and were then slaughtered. Amoxicillin treatment transiently modified both mother and offspring microbiota. This was associated with early but transient reduction in ileal alkaline phosphatase, HSP70 (but not HSP27) and crypt depth, suggesting a milder or delayed intestinal response to bacteria in offspring born to antibiotic-treated mothers. More importantly, we disclosed long-term consequences of this treatment on jejunal alkaline phosphatase (reduced) and jejunal and ileal dipeptidylpeptidase IV (increased and decreased, respectively) of offspring born to antibiotic-treated dams. Significant interactions between early antibiotic treatment and later diet were observed for jejunal alkaline phosphatase and sucrase. By contrast, inducible HSPs were not affected. In conclusion, our data suggest that early changes in bacterial colonization not only modulate intestinal architecture and function transiently, but also exert site- and sometimes diet-specific long-term effects on key components of intestinal homeostasis.