A 15-day pilot biodiversity intervention with horses in a farm system leads to gut microbiome rewilding in 10 urban Italian children.

ABSTRACT: To provide some glimpses on the possibility of shaping the human gut microbiome (GM) through probiotic exchange with natural ecosystems, here we explored the impact of 15 days of daily interaction with horses on the GM of 10 urban-living Italian children. Specifically, the children were in close contact with the horses in an "educational farm", where they spent almost 10 h/day interacting with the animals. The children's GM was assessed before and after the horse interaction using metabarcoding sequencing and shotgun metagenomics, along with the horses' skin, oral and fecal microbiomes. Targeted metabolomic analysis for GM-produced beneficial metabolites (i.e., short-chain fatty acids) in the children's feces was also performed. Interaction with horses facilitated the acquisition of health

SUBMITTER: Scicchitano D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11470462 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature