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Updated: Aug 29, 2026
Probiotic Studies in Neonatal Mice Using Gavage
Published on: January 27, 2019
Effects of prefeeding a prebiotic on diarrhea and colonic cell proliferation in piglets fed lactulose
C Lawrence Kien1, J C Chang, James R Cooper
1Children's Research Institute, Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. clkien@utmb.edu
Objectives:
Severe lactulose malabsorption causes osmotic diarrhea and decreased cecal cell proliferation. We tested the hypothesis that prefeeding with inulin, a prebiotic, would attenuate these effects.
Methods:
Piglets aged 10 days were randomized to 3 feeding groups (n = 6 each group): Control (CON), fed sow-milk replacement formula (SMR; lactose, 60 g/L) for 14 days; a lactulose-challenged group (LAC) that was fed SMR for 7 days and then a formula containing lactose (30 g/L) and lactulose (60 g/L) for 7 days; and a group prefed SMR containing inulin (3 g/L) for 7 days and then fed the lactulose-supplemented formula (INULIN). Groups CON and INULIN were pair-fed to LAC. Then, cecal tissue was collected for histology, determination of crypt cell proliferation index, apoptosis, and Western blot determination of expression of Bax, a pro-apoptotic protein.
Results:
The fraction of days when diarrhea was present (mean +/- SD) was greater for LAC (0.87 +/- 0.14; p = .004) than CON (0.28 +/- 0.22; INULIN: 0.52 +/- 0.44; p = .058 vs LAC). Cell proliferation index for the total crypt was less for LAC (0.12 +/- 0.04; p = .016) compared with CON (0.20 +/- 0.04; INULIN: 0.15 +/- 0.04; p = .06 vs LAC). BAX protein expression and apoptosis were similar in the 3 groups.
Conclusions:
We observed trends consistent with the hypothesis that prefeeding inulin attenuates diarrhea and the reduction in cell proliferation caused by lactulose.
