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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.

Sec. Metabolic Physiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1644738

From Wheat Bran to Equine Gut: The In Vitro Fermentation Dynamics of Aleurone

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Research Group of Comparative Physiology, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
  • 2Equine Hospital Wolvega, Oldeholtpade, Netherlands
  • 3Cargill European Food Innovation Center, Vilvoorde, Belgium
  • 4Equine Health and Performance Centre, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Adelaide, Australia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Aleurone, a bioactive wheat bran component, has been shown to modulate host metabolism and gut microbiota, but its effects across different compartments of the equine gastrointestinal (GI) tract remain unclear. This study aimed to characterize aleurone-derived metabolite profiles using an in vitro fermentation model with digesta from three equine GI compartments (jejunum, cecum, colon). Three substrates (control feed, aleurone containing feed, and pure aleurone) were fermented over 72 hours, and targeted metabolomics was performed on 38 metabolites. Significant substrate-and compartment-dependent effects were found for 21 metabolites. Aleurone containing feed increased asparagine and threonine levels while reducing lactic acid, particularly in the cecum. In contrast, control feed showed the highest overall metabolite abundance, suggesting greater microbial accessibility. Time-resolved analyses revealed dynamic production–utilization patterns; isoleucine, for example, displayed a distinct peak– decay pattern in the colon. Carnitine increased over time across compartments, showing local production, especially in the cecum. Artificial Intelligence-based classification models achieved >90% accuracy in distinguishing substrate types and revealed ferulic acid and indole acetic acid as key differentiators. The findings suggest that aleurone's structural matrix may influence metabolite release and microbial access, highlighting its functional role in modulating fermentation and overall host metabolism. This study demonstrates that aleurone alters microbial fermentation and metabolite output in a time-and compartment-specific manner. These insights enhance our understanding of aleurone as a functional feed component in horses and provide a foundation for future dietary strategies targeting metabolic and gut health.

Keywords: aleurone, Equine gastrointestinal tract, Metabolism, Metabolomics, Hindgutmicrobiota, Functional feed, Time-resolved metabolite profiling, Artificial intelligencemodeling

Received: 10 Jun 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Boshuizen, Willems, De Maré, Hosotani, De Oliveira, Horemans, Vidal Moreno De Vega, Verdegaal and Delesalle. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Berit Boshuizen, berit.boshuizen@ugent.be
Maarten Willems, maarten.willems@ugent.be
Cathérine Delesalle, catherine.delesalle@ugent.be

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