Influence of dietary supplementation with new Lactobacillus strains on hematology, serum biochemistry, nutritional status, digestibility, enzyme activities, and immunity in dogs

Vet World Vol.16 April-2023 Article-22

Research Article

Veterinary World, 16(4): 834-843

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2023.834-843

Kamonporn Panja^1,2, Sathita Areerat¹, Pipatpong Chundang³, Pornsucha Palaseweenun³, Nattaphong Akrimajirachoote³, Jaruwan Sitdhipo⁴, Punnathorn Thaveethaptaikul⁴, Pennapa Chonpathompikunlert^4,5, Kanidta Niwasabutra⁴, Pongsathon Phapugrangkul⁴, and Attawit Kovitvadhi³

1. Graduate Student in Animal Health and Biomedical Science Program, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
2. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok, Bangpra, Chonburi 20110, Thailand.
3. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
4. Biodiversity Research Center, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
5. Expert Center of Innovative Health Food, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.

Background and Aim: The use of antibiotics is associated with many side effects, with the development of bacterial resistance being particularly important. It has been found that dogs and their owners host similar resistant bacteria. This contributes to increased concurrent bacterial resistance and a possible trend of increased bacterial resistance in humans. Thus, using probiotics in dogs is an alternative option for preventing and reducing the transmission of bacterial resistance from dogs to humans. Probiotics are characterized by their potential to endure low pH levels and high concentrations of bile acids in the gastrointestinal tract. Lactobacilli are more acid-tolerant and resistant to bile acid, so they are ideal probiotics to be added to the canine diet. According to the previous studies, the benefits of Lactobacillus are a stable nutritional status and greater digestibility, along with improved fecal scores and reduced ammonia in dogs. However, no studies have been conducted with Lactobacillus plantarum CM20-8 (TISTR 2676), Lactobacillus acidophilus Im10 (TISTR 2734), Lactobacillus rhamnosus L12-2 (TISTR 2716), Lactobacillus paracasei KT-5 (TISTR 2688), and Lactobacillus fermentum CM14-8 (TISTR 2720), or their use in combination. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the possible effects of the aforementioned Lactobacillus on hematological indices, nutritional status, digestibility, enzyme activities, and immunity in dogs. From the results, a new and safe strain of Lactobacillus may emerge for use as a probiotic in the future.

Materials and Methods: In this study, 35 dogs were allocated equally into seven groups: Group 1 received a basal diet (control), while Groups 2–7 received the same diet further supplemented with L. plantarum CM20-8 (TISTR 2676), L. acidophilus Im10 (TISTR 2734), L. rhamnosus L12-2 (TISTR 2716), L. paracasei KT-5 (TISTR 2688), L. fermentum CM14-8 (TISTR 2720), or a mixture of probiotics (L. plantarum, L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus, L. paracasei, and L. fermentum), respectively. All probiotics were administered at a dose of 109 colony-forming unit/dog for 28 days. Nutritional status, hematology, serum biochemistry, digestibility, enzyme activities, and immunity parameters were assessed.

Results: There were no differences among the groups in body weight, feed intake, body condition score, fecal score, and fecal dry matter on the different sampling days. The hematology and serum biochemical analyses showed a difference only in creatinine activity (p < 0.001), with higher values in group L. fermentum CM14-8 (TISTR 2720) and lower values in group L. paracasei KT-5 (TISTR 2688) than in controls. However, all measurements were within the normal laboratory reference ranges. Fecal characteristics (fecal ammonia and fecal pH), fecal digestive enzyme activities, serum immunoglobulin (IgG), and fecal IgA did not differ significantly among the groups (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Lactobacillus plantarum CM20-8 (TISTR 2676), L. acidophilus Im10 (TISTR 2734), L. rhamnosus L12-2 (TISTR 2716), L. paracasei KT-5 (TISTR 2688), and L. fermentum CM14-8 (TISTR 2720), along with their mixture are safe and non-pathogenic additives for use as new probiotic strains of Lactobacillus in dogs. Although the new Lactobacillus strains had no effect on hematology, serum biochemistry, nutritional status, digestive enzyme activities, immunity, body weight, feed intake, or body condition scores in dogs, further studies should investigate the intestinal microbiota and the development of clinical treatments. Keywords: digestibility, Lactobacillus, nutritional status, probiotics.

Keywords: digestibility, Lactobacillus, nutritional status, probiotics.

How to cite this article: Panja K, Areerat S, Chundang P, Palaseweenun P, Akrimajirachoote N, Sitdhipol J, Thaveethaptaikul P, Chonpathompikunlert P, Niwasabutra K, Phapugrangkul P, and Kovitvadhi A (2023) Influence of dietary supplementation with new

Received: 21-12-2022 Accepted: 06-03-2023 Published online: 21-04-2023

Corresponding author: E-mail: fvetawk@ku.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.834-843

Copyright: Panja, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.