Prebiotic compounds, such as short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), have been shown to improve health, welfare, or both, in several species, but few studies have been conducted in horses, despite the sensitivity of their hindgut microflora. We hypothesized that prebiotic oligosaccharides, known to be able to stabilize the intestinal microflora in other species, would be of importance in ho...

The intestinal microbial community is playing an important role in health and production performance of chickens. To understand the effect on the intestinal microflora induced by various feeding strategies, feed additives, infections, and intestinal disorders, it is important to have methods for quantifying potentially important bacteria in the intestine. We describe a real-time quantitative as...

BACKGROUND Migration is an important virulence factor for intestinal bacteria. However, the role of bacterial mobility in the penetration of viscous mucus and their spatial organization within the colon is relatively unknown. METHODS Movements of fecal bacteria were assessed in gels of varying agarose concentrations and were compared with patterns of bacterial distribution observed in colons ...

It is now well established that the intestinal flora plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, whether bacteria serve as the sole target of the immune response in this process or whether they act indirectly by triggering an anti-self response is still unclear. We have previously shown that specific pathogen-free IL-10-deficient (IL-10 KO) mice dev...

AIM To study the role of intestinal flora in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). METHODS The spatial organization of intestinal flora was investigated in normal mice and in two models of murine colitis using fluorescence in situ hybridization. RESULTS The murine small intestine was nearly bacteria-free. The normal colonic flora was organized in three distinct compartments (crypt, interlaced, ...