Dietary supplementation with ovine serum immunoglobulin modulates correlations between mucin, microbiota and immunity proteins in the growing rat

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship among the number of bacteria, number of goblet cells, gut mucin gene expression, mucin protein and immunity protein levels of rats fed a diet containing freeze‐dried ovine Ig (FD). Sprague Dawley male rats were used in a 21‐days study and were fed a basal control diet (BD; no Ig) and a test diet containing freeze‐dried ovine Ig (FD). Diets were isocaloric and contained the same amount of the first limiting amino acids, methionine plus cysteine. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted on the data (stomach, ileum and colon) obtained from individual rats (n = 10) fed either casein‐based diet (BD) or ovine serum Ig (FD) to evaluate the relationship between number of bacteria, number of goblet cells, gut mucin gene expression and gut mucin protein levels. Pearson's correlation analysis was then conducted with the data from the FD fed rats to evaluate the relationship among the above said variables. In the stomach content, a significant (p