Page 19 - Read Online

Son et al. Microbiome Res Rep. 2025;4:29 Microbiome Research
DOI: 10.20517/mrr.2025.14
Reports

Review Open Access

+
Post-weaning diarrhea caused by F18 Escherichia
coli and its impact on mucosa-associated microbiota

and immune responses in the jejunum of nursery
pigs

Jeonghyeon Son, Sung Woo Kim

Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Correspondence to: Dr. Sung Woo Kim, Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, 116 Polk Hall, 120 W
Broughton Dr, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. E-mail: sungwoo_kim@ncsu.edu
+
How to cite this article: Son J, Kim SW. Post-weaning diarrhea caused by F18 Escherichia coli and its impact on mucosa-
associated microbiota and immune responses in the jejunum of nursery pigs. Microbiome Res Rep. 2025;4:29. https://dx.doi.org/
10.20517/mrr.2025.14

Received: 23 Mar 2025 First Decision: 11 Jul 2025 Revised: 21 Jul 2025 Accepted: 28 Jul 2025 Published: 30 Jul 2025

Academic Editors: Marco Ventura, Jie Yin Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor: Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
+
This review examines the impacts of F18 Escherichia coli (E. coli) on the mucosa-associated microbiota, mucosal
+
immune responses, oxidative stress, and intestinal morphology in the jejunum of nursery pigs. F18 E. coli is a major
cause of post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in nursery pigs, mainly due to the production of enterotoxins that disrupt
electrolyte balance in the intestinal lumen, leading to diarrhea, growth retardation, increased mortality, and
+
economic losses. Experimental F18 E. coli challenge models have shown an increased incidence of diarrhea
(28.3%), along with reductions in average daily gain (24.1%), average daily feed intake (12.5%), and gain-to-feed
ratio (14.9%). These adverse effects are largely attributed to microbial dysbiosis and heightened mucosal immune
+
responses in the jejunum. The F18 E. coli challenge also increases the abundance of harmful bacteria while
reducing beneficial bacteria in the jejunal mucosa. Research using this challenge model has demonstrated elevated
levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (14.9%), interleukin-8 (10.9%), immunoglobulin A (9.2%), immunoglobulin G
(19.7%), malondialdehyde (50.7%), and protein carbonyls (32.3%). These immune and oxidative responses are
associated with reductions in villus height (VH) (10.2%) and VH-to-crypt depth ratio (10.7%), as well as an
+
+
increase in Ki-67 proliferative cells (35.4%) in the jejunum. In conclusion, F18 E. coli induces PWD and
compromises intestinal health in nursery pigs through dysbiosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, and morphological
changes, ultimately impairing growth.
+
Keywords: F18 Escherichia coli, intestinal health, jejunum, nursery pigs, post-weaning diarrhea

© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
indicate if changes were made.

www.oaepublish.com/mrr