Table 6.
Effect of treatment1 on markers of gut integrity and intestinal morphology
| Diet2 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | LF | HF | HF + XY | HF + AX | Pooled SEM |
P-value |
| Plasma LBP, μg/mL | 20.6 | 22.5 | 20.8 | 21.7 | 1.7 | 0.846 |
| Intestinal morphology | ||||||
| Villus height, µm | 432.0a | 403.1b | 401.1b | 395.2b | 4.4 | <0.001 |
| Crypt depth, µm | 278.7a | 303.3b | 269.3c | 268.2c | 4.7 | <0.001 |
| Villi height: crypt depth | 1.6a | 1.3b | 1.5c | 1.5c | 0.02 | <0.001 |
| Gene expression | ||||||
| Claudin 3 | 1.41 | 0.93 | 2.08 | 0.65 | 0.56 | 0.693 |
| Claudin 4 | 0.64a | 0.52a | 1.85b | 0.53a | 0.36 | 0.027 |
| Occuldin | 0.52a | 0.76a | 1.27b | 0.71a | 0.23 | 0.047 |
| Zonula occludens-1 | 0.81 | 1.06 | 1.21 | 1.03 | 0.19 | 0.087 |
1 n = 15 pigs per treatment fed experimental diets for a 36-d adaptation period followed by a 10-d metabolism crate study.
2LF, low-fiber control; HF, high-fiber control; HF+XY, high-fiber control containing 100 mg xylanase/kg; HF+AX, high-fiber control containing 50 mg arabinoxylanoligosaccharide/kg.
a–cWithin a row, means without a common superscript differ (P ≤ 0.05).