Dietary fibre enrichment of supplemental feed modulates the development of the intestinal tract in suckling piglets

Background: Commercial pre-weaning diets are formulated to be highly digestible and nutrient-dense and contain low levels of dietary fibre. In contrast, pigs in a natural setting are manipulating fibre-rich plant material from a young age. Moreover, dietary fibre affects gastrointestinal tract (GIT) development and health in older pigs. We hypothesised that supplemental diets that contain vegetal fibres are accelerating GIT development in suckling piglets in terms of size and functionality. From d 2 of life, sow-suckled piglets had access to a low fibre diet (CON), a diet with a fermentable long-chain arabinoxylan (lc-AXOS), a diet with a largely non-fermentable purified cellulose (CELL), or a diet containing both fibres. During the initial 2 weeks, the control diet was a high-density milk replacer, followed by a dry and highly digestible creep meal. Upon weaning at 25 d, 15 piglets from each treatment group, identified as eaters and originating from six or seven litters, were sacrificed for post-mortem examination of GIT morphology, small intestinal permeability and metabolic profile of the digesta. The microbiota composition of the mid-colon was evaluated in a sub-set of ten piglets. Results: No major statistical interactions between the fibre sources were observed. Piglets consumed the fibre-containing milk supplements and creep diets well. Stomach size and small intestinal permeability was not affected. Large intestinal fill was increased with lc-AXOS only, while relative large intestinal weight was increased with both fibre sources (P < 0.050). Also, CELL decreased ileal pH and tended to increase ileal DM content compared to CON (P < 0.050). Moreover, the concentration of volatile fatty acids was increased in the caecum (P < 0.100) and mid-colon (P < 0.050) by addition of CELL. lc-AXOS only stimulated caecal propionate (P < 0.050). The microbiota composition showed a high individual variation and limited dietary impact. Nonetheless, CELL induced minor shifts in specific genera, with notable reductions of Escherichia-Shigella. Conclusions: Adding dietary fibres to the supplemental diet of suckling piglets altered large intestinal morphology but not small intestinal permeability. Moreover, dietary fibre showed effects on fermentation and modest changes of microbial populations in the hindgut, with more prominent effects from the low-fermentable cellulose

Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Brewers' Spent Grain Arabinoxylans

Brewers´ spent grain (BSG) is a by-product from beer industry that can be exploited as a source of arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides (AXOS) with prebiotic activity. In this study, microwave-assisted extractions were performed during 2 min at 140-210°Cin order to evaluate the feasibility of this extraction technology for quantitative extraction of the arabinoxylans (AX) or AXOS from BSG. The AX yield increasedwith the increase of the temperature in the range used. The best condition of extraction of the AXwas 210 ºC during 2 min, allowing the extraction of 43% of total AX. These AX showed structural variability which allow to define specific types of compounds for different applications and uses depending on the extraction conditions used

Application of Co-bioprocessing Techniques (Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Fermantation) for Improving the Nutritional Value of Wheat Bran as Food Functional Ingrediens

Last time the food industry pays the great attention to questions, connected with changing existing technologies for raising the efficacy of the raw materials complex processing and increasing the output of high-quality products and food ingredients with a minimal amount of waste. Cereal crops are the most reach source of functional ingredients and main component in the human food ration. The technological process of cereal crops processing at enterprises is closely connected with creating a great number of secondary raw material resources and its further utilization.For confirming the efficacy of using secondary products of grain processing as cheap raw material resources of dietary fiber and physiologically functional ingredients, there is characterized the accessibility of their biotransformation that gives a possibility to get biologically active substances of different chemical nature with a wide spectrum of physiological effects.Secondary products of cereal crops processing (bran) are multi-component substrates, formed of different histological layers of wheat grains after comminution, consisted of (external pericarp, internal pericarp, grain coat, hyaline and aleurone layer of a grain coat).Wheat bran is rich in dietary fiber, nutritive and phytochemical substances, that is why, it is most often used for feeding animals. But for today there are important proofs of using it in the food industry.The development of new innovative technologies, modern achievements in microbiology and biotechnology have an important value for secondary products of grain processing, because they allow to conduct directed technological processes at the qualitatively new level that provides using soft regimes of vegetable raw materials processing, allowing to preserve natural biologically active substances and nutrients.The modeling of the combined complex processing that includes enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation by microorganisms improves technological, sensor and also nutritive and physiologically functional properties of wheat bran at the expanse of: bioavailability increase of phenol compounds, vitamins and minerals, assimilability of proteins and decrease of the content of anti-nutritive compounds.Enzymatic preparations allow to use vegetable raw materials rationally, to intensify technological processes, in such a way increasing the output of biologically active substances and to widen the assortment of created products. The process of wheat bran formation results in increasing the nutritional value, enriching the biopolymeric complex with probiotic microorganisms and prebiotic substances.Based on the structural peculiarities and multicomponent composition of wheat bran, presented and studied in the article, it has been established, that the use of the directed modification allows to get functional ingredients and products with set properties that influence the human health favorably. So, wheat bran must be used not only in agriculture as a cattle fodder, but also in the food industry

Active Site Mapping of Xylan-Deconstructing Enzymes with Arabinoxylan Oligosaccharides Produced by Automated Glycan Assembly

Xylan-degrading enzymes are crucial for the deconstruction of hemicellulosic biomass, making the hydrolysis products available for various industrial applications such as the production of biofuel. To determine the substrate specificities of these enzymes, we prepared a collection of complex xylan oligosaccharides by automated glycan assembly. Seven differentially protected building blocks provided the basis for the modular assembly of 2-substituted, 3-substituted, and 2-/3-substituted arabino- and glucuronoxylan oligosaccharides. Elongation of the xylan backbone relied on iterative additions of C4-fluorenylmethoxylcarbonyl (Fmoc) protected xylose building blocks to a linker-functionalized resin. Arabinofuranose and glucuronic acid residues have been selectively attached to the backbone using fully orthogonal 2-(methyl)naphthyl (Nap) and 2-(azidomethyl)benzoyl (Azmb) protecting groups at the C2 and C3 hydroxyls of the xylose building blocks. The arabinoxylan oligosaccharides are excellent tools to map the active site of glycosyl hydrolases involved in xylan deconstruction. The substrate specificities of several xylanases and arabinofuranosidases were determined by analyzing the digestion products after incubation of the oligosaccharides with glycosyl hydrolases.Fil: Senf, Deborah. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; Alemania. Freie Universität; AlemaniaFil: Ruprecht, Colin. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; AlemaniaFil: de Kruijff, Goswinus H. M.. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; Alemania. Freie Universität; Alemania. University Mainz. Institute of Institute of Organic Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg; AlemaniaFil: Simonetti, Sebastián Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; Argentina. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; AlemaniaFil: Schuhmacher, Frank. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; Alemania. Freie Universität; AlemaniaFil: Seeberger, Peter H.. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; Alemania. Freie Universität; AlemaniaFil: Pfrengle, Fabian. Max Planck Institut für Kolloid und Grenzflächenforschung; Alemania. Freie Universität; Alemani

Extraction of arabinoxylans from wheat bran using hydrothermal processes assisted by heterogeneous catalysts

The extraction/hydrolysis process of arabinoxylans from destarched wheat bran was studied in this work using different mesoporous silica supports and the corresponding RuCl3-based catalysts. The effects of temperature, time, catalyst supports and ruthenium catalysts were investigated and discussed in terms of the arabinoxylans extraction yield and their polymerization degree. Relatively high temperatures (180 °C), short extraction times (10 min) and RuCl3 supported on Al-MCM-48 led to a high amount of extracted arabinoxylans (78%) with a low molecular weight (9 kDa). Finally, a relation between the operating conditions, the arabinoxylans extraction yield and the molecular weight was stablished based on the obtained results.CTQ2015-64892-R (MINECO/FEDER

The identification of wheat genetic resources with high dietary fiber content

The quality properties of different variety mixtures and composite cross populations were studied with the aim of identifying genotypes with high dietary fiber content and to cultivate and examine the effect of these components on the end-use quality. Based on the results of a Europe-wide trial, we could detect two populations and variety mixtures which had significantly higher total (TOTAX) and water extractable arabinoxylan (WEAX) content, than most of the studied genotypes, with positive effect on the human health. These populations/mixtures are promising dietary fiber resources and suitable not only for organic but also for conventional farming, especially in Central Europe. The seeds of the best population (Mv Elit CCP) was multiplied to supply it for interested farmers in Hungary in the frame of the European trial on organic heterogeneous materials

Delayed gastric emptying and reduced postprandial small bowel water content of equicaloric whole meal bread versus rice meals in healthy subjects: novel MRI insights

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Postprandial bloating is a common symptom in patients with functional gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Whole meal bread (WMB) often aggravates such symptoms though the mechanisms are unclear. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor the intragastric fate of a WMB meal (11% bran) compared to a rice pudding (RP) meal. SUBJECTS/METHODS: 12 healthy volunteers completed this randomised crossover study. They fasted overnight and after an initial MRI scan consumed a glass of orange juice with a 2267 kJ WMB or an equicaloric RP meal. Subjects underwent serial MRI scans every 45 min up to 270 min to assess gastric volumes and small bowel water content and completed a GI symptom questionnaire. RESULTS: The MRI intragastric appearance of the two meals was markedly different. The WMB meal formed a homogeneous dark bolus with brighter liquid signal surrounding it. The RP meal separated into an upper, liquid layer and a lower particulate layer allowing more rapid emptying of the liquid compared to solid phase (sieving). The WMB meal had longer gastric half emptying times (132±8 min) compared to the RP meal (104±7 min), P<0.008. The WMB meal was associated with markedly reduced MRI-visible small bowel free mobile water content compared to the RP meal, P<0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: WMB bread forms a homogeneous bolus in the stomach which inhibits gastric sieving and hence empties slower than the equicaloric rice meal. These properties may explain why wheat causes postprandial bloating and could be exploited to design foods which prolong satiation

Structural studies of a fucogalactoxyloglucan from pinus radiata primary cell walls : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biochemistry at Massey University

1. The changes in carbohydrate composition of elongating Pinus radiata primary cell walls were investigated. In the hemicellulose B extracts, a large increase in the percentage of non-starch, non-cellulosic, glucose was found to occur on cessation of cell-wall elongation. 2. By fractionation of the hemicellulose B extracts, with a variety of methods involving precipitation from an aqueous solution, a xyloglucan was purified. This xyloglucan was the major hemicellulose of the Pinus radiata hypocotyl cell wall. 3. Characterisation studies on the xyloglucan involved: quantitative analysis of the monosaccharides derived by nitric acid/urea hydrolysis; identification of the partial hydrolysis products derived by trifluoroacetic acid hydrolysis; quantitation of the sugar linkages using methylation by the Hakomori method; and analysis of the anomeric configuration of component sugars using chromium trioxide oxidation. 4. From the results a tentative structure has been suggested for the xyloglucan, consisting of a backbone of B-D-gluco-pyranose residues linked together by 1-4 glycosidic bonds, and with sidechains of single xylose residues linked through C-6 of the glucose units. Galacto and fuco-1,2- galacto sidechains are attached to some of the xylose residues, probably through the C-2 of the xylose

Grain Characteristics, Chemical Composition, and Functional Properties of Rye (Secale cereale L.) As Influenced by Genotype and Harvest Year

Grain characteristic, chemical composition, and functional properties of rye were measured in 19 different cultivars grown in one location in up to 3 years. The cultivars included 8 adapted hybrids, 7 adapted population cultivars, and 4 nonadapted population cultivars. The results showed a significant influence of both harvest year and genotype on grain characteristics, chemical composition, and functional properties of the grain. Multivariate data analysis confirmed that the variations in the data were explained by yearly and genotype differences. Calculations of variance components showed that the variations in plant height, harvest yield, and protein content were mainly due to genotype differences and to a lesser extent to differences among harvest years. The kernel weight, hardness index, and content of dietary fiber components, however, were more strongly influenced by the harvest year than by the genotype. Differences in starch properties measured by falling number (FN), amylograph peak viscosity, and temperature at peak viscosity were more strongly influenced by harvest year. The water absorption was strongly influenced by genotype effects, compared to yearly differences. FN and amylograph peak temperature were positively correlated (r = 0.94). No correlation was found between the water absorption and the relative proportion of water-extractable arabinoxylan (AX) compared to the total AX content. However, the degree of ferulic acid cross-linking showed a negative correlation (r = -0.70) with the water absorption

Prebiotics, faecal transplants and microbial network units to stimulate biodiversity of the human gut microbiome

Accumulating evidence demonstrates the intimate association between human hosts and the gut microbiome. Starting at birth, the sterile gut of the newborn acquires a diverse spectrum of microbes, needed for immunological priming. However, current practices (caesarean sections, use of formula milk) deprive newborns from being exposed to this broad spectrum of microbes. Unnecessary use of antibiotics and excessive hygienic precautions (e.g. natural versus chlorinated drinking water) together with the Western diet further contribute to a decreased microbial diversity in the adult gut. This has been correlated with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, inflammatory bowel diseases and obesity, among others. A healthy gut microbiome is thus characterized by a diverse network of metabolically interacting microbial members. In this context, we review several existing and novel approaches to manage the gut microbiome. First, prebiotic compounds should be re-defined in the sense that they should enhance the ecological biodiversity rather than stimulating single species. Recent studies highlight that structurally different polysaccharides require specific primary degraders but also enhance a similar network of secondary degraders that benefit from cross-feeding. A faecal transplantation is a second approach to restore biodiversity when the microbiota is severely dysbiosed, with promising results regarding C.difficile-associated disease and obesity-related metabolic syndromes. A final strategy is the introduction of key microbial network units, i.e. pre-organized microbial associations, which strengthen the overall microbial network of the gut microbiome that supports human health