Anti-inflammatory properties of fructo-oligosaccharides in a calf lung infection model and in mannheimia haemolytica-infected airway epithelial cells

Yang Cai, Myrthe S. Gilbert, Walter J.J. Gerrits, Gert Folkerts, Saskia Braber*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Emerging antimicrobial-resistant pathogens highlight the importance of developing novel interventions. Here, we investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) in calf lung infections and in airway epithelial cells stimulated with pathogens, and/or bacterial components. During a natural exposure, 100 male calves were fed milk replacer with or without FOS for 8 weeks. Then, immune parameters and cytokine/chemokine levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and blood were measured, and clinical scores were investigated. Calf primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs) and human airway epithelial cells (A549) were treated with Mann-heimia haemolytica, lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and/or flagellin, with or without FOS pretreatment. Thereafter, the cytokine/chemokine levels and epithelial barrier function were examined. Relative to the control (naturally occurring lung infections), FOS-fed calves had greater macrophage num-bers in BALF and lower interleukin (IL)-8, IL-6, and IL-1β concentrations in the BALF and blood. However, FOS did not affect the clinical scores. At slaughter, FOS-fed calves had a lower severity of lung lesions compared to the control. Ex vivo, FOS prevented M. haemolytica-induced epithelial barrier dysfunction. Moreover, FOS reduced M. haemolytica-and flagellin-induced (but not LPS-induced) IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-6 release in PBECs and A549 cells. Overall, FOS had anti-inflamma-tory properties during the natural incidence of lung infections but had no effects on clinical symp-toms.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3514
Pages (from-to)1-19
Number of pages19
JournalNutrients
Volume13
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This research was performed in the public–private partnership ‘CarboKinetics’ coordinated by the Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC, www.cccresearch.nl, accessed on 12 August 2021). CarboKinetics is financed by participating industrial partners: Agrifirm Innovation Center B.V., Cooperatie AVEBE U.A., DSM Food Specialties B.V., FrieslandCampina Nederland B.V., Nutrition Sciences N.V., VanDrie Holding N.V. and Sensus B.V., and allowances of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; No. ALWCC.2015.4). Research grant funding (No. 201608320245) was received from the China Scholarship Council for Y. Cai.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Funding

Funding: This research was performed in the public–private partnership ‘CarboKinetics’ coordinated by the Carbohydrate Competence Center (CCC, www.cccresearch.nl, accessed on 12 August 2021). CarboKinetics is financed by participating industrial partners: Agrifirm Innovation Center B.V., Cooperatie AVEBE U.A., DSM Food Specialties B.V., FrieslandCampina Nederland B.V., Nutrition Sciences N.V., VanDrie Holding N.V. and Sensus B.V., and allowances of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; No. ALWCC.2015.4). Research grant funding (No. 201608320245) was received from the China Scholarship Council for Y. Cai.

Keywords

  • Airway inflammation
  • Animal model
  • Non-digestible oligosaccharides
  • Nutrition
  • Pneumonia
  • Respiratory diseases

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