ArticleBMC veterinary research2014
Effects of orally administered galacto-oligosaccharides on immunological parameters in foals: a pilot study.
Article in BMC veterinary research, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut Microbiota Manipulation in Foals-Naturopathic Diarrhea Management, or Unsubstantiated Folly?Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Characterizing microbiota-independent effects of oligosaccharides on intestinal epithelial cells: insight into the role of structure and size : Structure-activity relationships of non-digestible oligosaccharides.European journal of nutrition · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn the first phase of life, in which the immune system is primed and the bacterial colonization of epithelial surfaces takes place, foals are highly susceptible to bacterial infections. Next to strategies to optimize maternally acquired immunity in individual foals, current research explores other options to modulate immune responses in foals. During the past decades, oligosaccharide supplements were developed to mimic beneficial properties of the oligosaccharides, which are present in colostrum and milk. In human infants and laboratory animal species, dietary supplementation with galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) has been shown to result in prebiotic and immunomodulating effects, with long-term beneficial consequences for both defensive and allergic immune responses. As yet, no studies are published concerning the in vivo effects of GOS in horses. The current study was designed as a pilot study to investigate the effects of an orally applied, commercially available GOS product in a group of pony foals. The treatment and the control group consisted of six and four foals, respectively. Foals were treated during the first four weeks of life and subsequently followed up for another ten weeks.
resultsIn peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from GOS-treated foals at day 28, a standardized lipopolysaccharide challenge resulted in significantly lower relative mRNA expression levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ and interleukin-6 compared with PBMCs of control foals. In the 98-day period of investigation, no significant effects of the GOS supplement were observed on clinical and blood parameters for immunity and general health in these foals.
conclusionsBased on these first results, we can conclude that this dose regimen of GOS was well accepted by the foals and did not result in any detectable undesirable side effects. More clinical trials are required to confirm the attenuating effects of GOS treatment on equine pro-inflammatory immune responses and to implement this into practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.