ProbiVit-E

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host animal by boosting the gut flora and preventing diarrhoea (National Research Council, 2007). Feeding animals, probiotic products can lead to improved growth promotion, reduced incidence of disease, and gut functional benefits (Berge et al., 2017).

Enterococcus faecium is one of the most critical lactic acid-producing bacterial species used in probiotics and has been shown to protect animals from various gut-active pathogenic microorganisms (Cui et al., 2019).

• This bacterium can provide several benefits to animals, including aiding digestion and helping to maintain a healthy mix of bacteria in the gut, which is beneficial after stress, infection, or antibiotic treatment (Ohashi et al., 2017).
• These lactic-acids–producing bacteria decrease the gut pH and create a more favourable environment for the growth of beneficial commensal microorganisms (Kovacs et al., 2019). Furthermore,
• Enterococcus faecium can produce and release natural antibiotics called bacteriocins in the gut lumen, which can inhibit the growth of pathogens and out-compete them for nutrients or adhesion sites, thereby decreasing the risk of pathogen establishment and infection (Borges et al., 2014).

Research on animal models has indicated that Enterococcus faecium spp can boost immune cell function (Zhong et al., 2021). Furthermore, these bacterial-based probiotics have been shown to directly interact with the host, modulating the gut immune response, leading to increased mucin production by goblet cells, enhancing gut barrier function by increasing tight junctions and promoting regulation of the inflammatory response. In addition, the probiotic Enterococcus faecium has been reported to possess immune-regulatory characteristics and can prevent diarrhoea and promote weight gain (Ohashi et al., 2017).

• Studies have shown that adding Enterococcus faecium to animal feed modifies the composition of the intestinal bacterial community by increasing the prevalence of beneficial bacteria and reducing the pathogenic bacterial load (Liu et al., 2019). In addition, enterococcus faecium can affect trans-epithelial electrical resistance and epithelial permeability while modulating tight junctions lining the gut wall (Kovacs et al., 2019).
• When Enterococcus faecium binds to sites on the surface of cells in the gut, it sets up a protective barrier around the gut (Cui et al., 2019). Also, by competing for these sites, harmful microbes can bind less and infect the gut. In short, the proposed mechanisms for the probiotic Enterococcus faecium can be divided into three main categories: (1) direct beneficial interaction with host cells in the gut, (2) inhibition of gut pathogen growth, and (3) modulation of the host immune responses (Borges et al., 2014).