Prebiotic properties of pine pollen in piglets used as animal model

Chinese pine pollen is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as food additive to stabilize intestinal functions. The prebiotic properties of Chinese Pine pollen are investigated in the present study using 48 piglets as animal model for the situation of stressed intestinal health. Each 12 animals are fed diets fortified either no addition (negative control) or with pine pollen at concentrations of 1.5 or 3 %, or with wheat bran at doses equivalent in total dietary fiber to 3 % of pine pollen (positive control). After 4 weeks of different feeding the animals are sacrificed and gut contents as well as gut tissues are retrieved for analysis of nutrient digestibility, intestinal germ counts, metabolites of microbial fermentation (VFA, biogenic amines), mRNA expression levels of immune factors, and morphology of different cell types of the intestine.