Lonneke Onrust, Richard Ducatelle, Karolien Van Driessche, Celine De Maesschalck, Karen Vermeulen, Freddy Haesebrouck, Venessa Eeckhaut, Filip Van Immerseel
Abstract
The ban on antimicrobial growth promoters and efforts to reduce therapeutic antibiotic usage has led to major problems of gastrointestinal dysbiosis in livestock production in Europe. Control of dysbiosis without the use of antibiotics requires a thorough understanding of the interaction between the microbiota and the host mucosa. The gut microbiota of the healthy chicken is highly diverse, producing various metabolic end products, including gases and fermentation acids. The distal gut knows an abundance of bacteria from within the Firmicutes Clostridium clusters IV and XIVa that produce butyric acid, which is one of the metabolites that are sensed by the host as a signal. The host responds by strengthening the epithelial barrier, reducing inflammation, and increasing the production of mucins and antimicrobial peptides. Stimulating the colonization and growth of butyrate-producing bacteria thus may help optimizing gut health. Various strategies are available to stimulate butyrate production in the distal gut. These include delivery of prebiotic substrates that are broken down by bacteria into smaller molecules which are then used by butyrate producers, a concept called cross-feeding. Xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) are such compounds as they can be converted to lactate, which is further metabolized to butyrate. Probiotic lactic acid producers can be supplied to support the cross-feeding reactions. Direct feeding of butyrate-producing Clostridium cluster IV and XIVa strains are a future tool provided that large scale production of strictly anaerobic bacteria can be optimized. Current results of strategies that promote butyrate production in the gut are promising. Nevertheless, our current understanding of the intestinal ecosystem is still insufficient, and further research efforts are needed to fully exploit the capacity of these strategies.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 May 2017.
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#7,224,902
of 22,835,198 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Veterinary Science
#1,299
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Outputs of similar age
#107,241
of 363,134 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Veterinary Science
#6
of 34 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,835,198 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 67th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,204 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.9. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 34 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its contemporaries.
