ArticleScientific reports2021
Supplementation of Lactobacillus early in life alters attention bias to threat in piglets.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role of Swine Gut Microbiota and Its Metabolites in Maintaining Intestinal Barrier Integrity and Mitigating Stress via the Gut-Brain Axis.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Review: Gut Microbiota-A Powerful Tool for Improving Pig Welfare by Influencing Behavior Through the Gut-Brain Axis.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Gut Microbiota and Behavioural Issues in Production, Performance, and Companion Animals: A Systematic Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Improving young pig welfare on-farm: The Five Domains Model.Journal of animal science · 2022Review
- Assessing the Effectiveness of Providing Live Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Once bitten, twice shy: Aggressive and defeated pigs begin agonistic encounters with more negative emotions.Applied animal behaviour science · 2021Article
- Early Influences of Microbiota on White Matter Development in Germ-Free Piglets.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Gut microbes play an important role in regulating brain processes and influence behaviour, cognition and emotional states in humans and rodents. Nevertheless, it is not known how ingestion of beneficial microbes modulates emotional states in piglets and whether it can improve welfare. Here we use an attention bias task to assess the effects of Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC-PTA-6475 and Lactobacillus plantarum L1-6 supplementation early in life on emotional states in 33 piglets compared to 31 placebo supplemented piglets. We hypothesized that Lactobacillus supplementation would reduce vigilance behaviour (head at shoulder height or higher) and attention (head oriented towards the threat) in response to an auditory threat. The results showed that the control group increased vigilance behaviour in response to the threat, but there was no increase in the probiotics group. Despite the increased vigilance, the control group paid less attention to the threat. One explanation may be that control piglets avoided looking in the direction of the threat just because they perceived it as more threatening, but further research is necessary to confirm this. In conclusion, Lactobacillus supplementation may be a suitable tool to reduce anxiety, promote a more appropriate response to a challenge and so improve welfare.
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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 Socratic graph.