There is increasing evidence showing that dietary supplementation with
prebiotics can be effective in the treatment of intestinal
inflammation. Because weaning time is characterized by rapid intestinal
inflammation, this study investigated the effect of a diet supplemented with a combination of 4 fermentable
carbohydrates (
lactulose,
inulin, sugarbeet pulp, and wheat
starch) on the
mRNA content of proinflammatory
cytokines in newly weaned piglets.
Cytokines (IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p40, IL-18, and
tumor necrosis factor-alpha) were analyzed using a semiquantitative reverse-transcription PCR technique on d 1, 4, and 10 in the ileum and colon of piglets fed either a test diet (CHO) or a control diet. In addition to the diet, the effect of enforced fasting on
cytokine mRNA content was also evaluated. No effect of fasting was observed on the pro-inflammatory
cytokine mRNA content. Our results showed that the CHO diet induced an up-regulation of
IL-6 mRNA content in the colon of piglets 4 d postweaning. This up-regulation was specific for the animals fed the CHO diet and was not observed in animals fed the control diet. An increase in IL-1beta
mRNA content was also observed on d 4 postweaning in all of the piglets. Correlations between proinflammatory
cytokines and the end-products of fermentation indicated that the regulation of
cytokines may be linked with some of the fermentation end-products such as branched-chain
fatty acids, which are in turn end-products of
protein fermentation.