Obesity Development and Signs of Metabolic Abnormalities in Young Göttingen Minipigs Consuming Energy Dense Diets Varying in Carbohydrate Quality

Modulation of Postprandial Plasma Concentrations of Digestive Hormones and Gut Microbiota by Foods Containing Oat ß-Glucans in Healthy Volunteers

Cereal β-glucans are beneficial health ingredients that reduce cholesterolemia and postprandial glycaemia. However, their impact on digestive hormones and gut microbiota is not yet fully established. Two randomized, double-blind, controlled studies were conducted. In the first study, 14 subjects ingested a breakfast with or without β-glucan from oats (5.2 g). Compared to the control, β-glucan increased orocecal transit time (p = 0.028) and decreased mean appetite score (p = 0.014) and postprandial plasma ghrelin (p = 0.030), C-peptide (p = 0.001), insulin (p = 0.06), and glucose (p = 0.0006). β-glucan increased plasma GIP (p = 0.035) and PP (p = 0.018) without affecting leptin, GLP-1, PYY, glucagon, amylin, or 7α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one, a biomarker of bile acid synthesis. In the second study, 32 subjects were distributed into 2 groups to ingest daily foods with (3 g/day) or without β-glucan for 3 weeks; stools were collected before/after treatment. No changes in fecal microbiota composition/diversity (deep sequencing) were detected with β-glucans. These results indicate that acute intake of 5 g β-glucan slows transit time and decreases hunger sensation and postprandial glycaemia without affecting bile-acid synthesis, these changes being associated with decreased plasma insulin, C-peptide, and ghrelin, and increased plasma GIP and PP. However, regular daily intake of 3 g β-glucan is not sufficient to have an effect on fecal microbiota composition.

High Prevalence of Recombinant Porcine Endogenous Retroviruses (PERV-A/Cs) in Minipigs: A Review on Origin and Presence

Minipigs play an important role in biomedical research and they have also been used as donor animals for preclinical xenotransplantations. Since zoonotic microorganisms including viruses can be transmitted when pig cells, tissues or organs are transplanted, virus safety is an important feature in xenotransplantation. Whereas most porcine viruses can be eliminated from pig herds by different strategies, this is not possible for porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs). PERVs are integrated in the genome of pigs and some of them release infectious particles able to infect human cells. Whereas PERV-A and PERV-B are present in all pigs and can infect cells from humans and other species, PERV-C is present in most, but not all pigs and infects only pig cells. Recombinant viruses between PERV-A and PERV-C have been found in some pigs; these recombinants infect human cells and are characterized by high replication rates. PERV-A/C recombinants have been found mainly in minipigs of different origin. The possible reasons of this high prevalence of PERV-A/C in minipigs, including inbreeding and higher numbers and expression of replication-competent PERV-C in these animals, are discussed in this review. Based on these data, it is highly recommended to use only pig donors in clinical xenotransplantation that are negative for PERV-C.