Eric Bobillier

Diet-related adaptation of the small intestine at weaning in pigs is functional rather than structural.

Background Incidence of diarrhea at weaning in commercial pigs is an important problem, and diet is thought to be a predisposing factor. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of switching from milk-based to cereal-based diets on the morphology and function of the small intestine of piglets using a model of delayed weaning to isolate the influence of the diet from that of environmental and social factors. Methods Forty-five piglets received a milk-based diet for 5 weeks after weaning. Thirty piglets were then switched from milk-based to wheat- or barley-based diets, mimicking the dietary change that occurs at weaning. The last 15 piglets remained on the milk-based diet. Piglets were killed 4 days after the dietary switch. Jejunal mucosa morphometry and enzyme activities were measured. Ussing chambers were used to measure intestinal permeability to macromolecules, basal electrical properties, glucose absorption, and induced chloride-secretion. Results Alkaline phosphatase– and sucrase-specific activities were higher in both groups of cereal-fed piglets than in milk-fed piglets. Dipeptidylpeptidase IV activity was higher in wheat-fed piglets than in the other groups. Na+-dependent glucose absorption was 1.7-fold higher in cereals-fed piglets than in milk-fed piglets. Serotonin-induced and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide–induced chloride secretion was doubled in cereals-fed piglets. Dietary transition did not influence the other parameters. Conclusions These results indicate that switching from milk to cereals increased some mucosal enzyme activities, intestinal Na+–dependent glucose absorption, and response to secretagogues. This supports the hypothesis that dietary factors could initiate diarrhea in the presence of other aggravating factors, such as pathogens or environmental stress.

ACTIVATION CENTRALE À LA SUITE D'UNE STIMULATION VAGALE CHRONIQUE CHEZ LE PORC : APPORTS DE L'IMAGERIE FONCTIONNELLE

Chronic vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), used to treat refractory epilepsy, has the potential to alter food intake in animals and humans. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of VNS on the feeding behaviour of pigs used as a human model, and to investigate the origin of its potential effects. Food intake was significantly decreased after five weeks of chronic VNS. This reduction was not due to stimulation of the vagus efferents as neither gastric compliance nor gastric emptying was altered. VNS triggered a reorganisation of brain activation, probably via subcortical structures involved in the reward mechanism. The activation of the olfactory bulb during VNS is probably one of the mechanisms responsible for the drastic changes in food preference in favour of lipids.

Effects of chronic abdominal vagal stimulation of small-diameter neurons on brain metabolism and food intake

BACKGROUND Abdominal bilateral vagal stimulation reduces food intake in animals. However, the classical square wave, mA range current generator is poorly effective to evoke action potentials on A∂ and C neurons that represent the majority of vagal neurons at the abdominal level. OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS METHODS: The current thresholds for pulsons (S2 & S3) and millisecond pulses (S1) required to trigger action potentials were calculated in 5 anaesthetized pigs using single fibre recording. Similar stimulation protocols were compared chronically to sham stimulation in 24 pigs. After two weeks of chronic stimulation, food intake and brain metabolism were investigated. The electrical characteristics and histology of the vagus nerve were also studied. RESULTS S3 stimulation required a lower amount of charges to trigger an action potential. Chronically applied S2 & S3 activated the dorsal vagal complex and increased the metabolism of its afferent cortical structures. They also reduced energy intake together with a reduced ingestion of high fat and high sugar diets. All these effects were not observed for the S1 group. The vagal histology for the S1, S2 and S3 groups was not different from that of the sham. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that pulsons applied bilaterally on the abdominal vagus reduced food intake as a consequence of the activation of the brainstem and higher-order brain areas.

fMRI-Based Brain Responses to Quinine and Sucrose Gustatory Stimulation for Nutrition Research in the Minipig Model: A Proof-of-Concept Study

The minipig model is of high interest for brain research in nutrition and associated pathologies considering the similarities to human nutritional physiology, brain structures, and functions. In the context of a gustatory stimulation paradigm, fMRI can provide crucial information about the sensory, cognitive, and hedonic integration of exteroceptive stimuli in healthy and pathological nutritional conditions. Our aims were (i) to validate the experimental setup, i.e., fMRI acquisition and SPM-based statistical analysis, with a visual stimulation; (ii) to implement the fMRI procedure in order to map the brain responses to different gustatory stimulations, i.e., sucrose (5%) and quinine (10 mM), and (ii) to investigate the differential effects of potentially aversive (quinine) and appetitive/pleasant (sucrose) oral stimulation on brain responses, especially in the limbic and reward circuits. Six Yucatan minipigs were imaged on an Avanto 1.5-T MRI under isoflurane anesthesia and mechanical ventilation. BOLD signal was recorded during visual or gustatory (artificial saliva, sucrose, or quinine) stimulation with a block paradigm. With the visual stimulation, brain responses were detected in the visual cortex, thus validating our experimental and statistical setup. Quinine and sucrose stimulation promoted different cerebral activation patterns that were concordant, to some extent, to results from human studies. The insular cortex (i.e., gustatory cortex) was activated with both sucrose and quinine, but other regions were specifically activated by one or the other stimulation. Gustatory stimulation combined with fMRI analysis in large animals such as minipigs is a promising approach to investigate the integration of gustatory stimulation in healthy or pathological conditions such as obesity, eating disorders, or dysgeusia. To date, this is the first intent to describe gustatory stimulation in minipigs using fMRI.