Fig. 7

Supplemental C. butyricum could effectively improve lipid disorders of IUGR suckling piglets. C. butyricum treatment modulated the gut microbiota to reduce the relative abundance of opportunistic pathogens in IUGR piglets. Therein, Streptococcus and Enterococcus are BSH-producing microbes, so that some conjugated BAs function as signaling molecules were increased in the ileum. Via enterohepatic circulation, these signaling molecules could be transported to the liver to activate LXRα and FXR. The activation of LXRα could promote the synthesis of FAs and the transformation of cholesterol to BAs, and the activation of FXR could increase the β-oxidation of FAs and the excretion of BAs.