• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.87-95
• /
• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of associating calcium butyrate with tannin extract, compared to an antimicrobial on the growth performance, incidence of diarrhea, intestinal histology, immune-expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in piglets. Methods: Seventy-two piglets (36 barrows and 36 gilts) weaned at 28±2 d and initial body weight of 7.17±1.07 kg were allocated to 3 treatments in a randomized complete block design with 8 replicates per treatment and 3 animals per experimental unit. Treatments were composed of NC, negative control: basal diet without additives; PC, positive control: basal diet + 40 mg/kg of colistin sulfate; or BT, basal diet + calcium butyrate + tannin extract. The butyrate and tannin inclusion levels were 0.15% in the pre-starter phase and 0.075% in the starter phase. Incidence of diarrhea was monitored daily, and on d 14 and 35 of experiment, 1 animal from each experimental unit was slaughtered to collect intestinal samples. Results: No significant differences were observed for growth performance. The butyrate-and tannin-based additive resulted in reduced (p<0.05) incidence of diarrhea in piglets during d 1 to 14 and d 1 to 35 in comparison with the other treatments. Piglets that consumed the diet containing the calcium-butyrate and tannin showed a lower (p<0.05) crypt depth in the duodenum than those receiving the NC treatment at 14 d of experimentation. The BT treatment provided a lower (p<0.05) immune-expression of COX-2 at 14 d and TNF-α at 35 d in the duodenum. Conclusion: Association between calcium butyrate and tannin extract resulted in a significant decrease in the incidence of diarrhea and inflammatory process in the duodenum of piglets. Therefore, calcium-butyrate combined with tannin could be a part of an alternative program to reduce the use of antimicrobials in the diet of weaned piglets.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.902-915
• /
• 2022

Objective: Diet acidification supplementation is known to influence intestinal morphology, gut microbiota, and on phosphorus (P) utilization of broilers. Alterations in intestinal barrier and microbiota have been associated with systemic inflammation and thus regulating bone turnover. Hence the effect of acidifier addition to drinking water on tibia mass and the linkages between intestinal integrity and bone were studied. Methods: One-d-old male broilers were randomly assigned to normal water (control) or continuous supply of acidified water (2% the blend of 2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid, lactic, and phosphoric acid) group with 5 replicates of 10 chicks per replicate for 42 d. Results: Acidification of drinking water improved the ash percentage and calcium content of tibia at 42 d. Broilers receiving acidified water had increased serum P concentration compared to control birds. The acidified group showed improved intestinal barrier, evidenced by increased wall thickness, villus height, the villus height to crypt depth ratio, and upregulated mucin-2 expression in ileum. Broilers receiving drinking water containing mixed organic acids had a higher proportion of Firmicutes and the ratio of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, as well as a lower population of Proteobacteria. Meanwhile, the addition of acidifier to drinking water resulted in declined ileal and serum proinflammatory factors level and increased immunoglobulin concentrations in serum. Concerning bone remodeling, acidifier addition was linked to a decrease in serum C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase reflecting bone resorption, whereas it did not apparently change serum alkaline phosphatase activity that is a bone formation marker. Conclusion: Acidified drinking water increased tibia mineral deposition of broilers, which was probably linked with higher P utilization and decreased bone resorption through improved intestinal integrity and gut microbiota and through decreased systemic inflammation.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.916-926
• /
• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of medium chain triglycerides (MCT) with organic acids (OA) on growth performance, fecal score, blood profiles, intestinal morphology, and nutrient digestibility in weaning pigs. Methods: A total of 120 weaning pigs ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc) with an average body weight (BW) of 8.00±0.87 kg were assigned in five treatments considering sex and initial BW in 3 replications with 8 pigs per pen in a randomized complete block design. The experimental diets included a corn-soybean meal based basal diet with or without 0.1% or 0.2% MCT and 0.1% OA. The pigs were fed the diets for 5 weeks (phase 1, 0 to 2 weeks; phase 2, 3 to 5 weeks). A total of 15 barrows with an average BW of 12.48±0.37 kg were used to evaluate the nutrient digestibility by total collection method. The BW and feed intake were measured at the end of each phase. Blood samples and small intestine samples were collected at the end of each phase, too. Results: Supplementing 0.1% MCT with 0.1% OA showed greater BW for week 5 and average daily gain (ADG) for overall period than control diet. Supplementing 0.1% MCT increased (p<0.05) ADG and improved (p<0.05) gain:feed ratio for phase 1. Dietary MCT and OA did not affect the fecal score and blood concentration of cortisol, immunoglobulin G, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and IL-10 in weaning pigs. Pigs fed the diets with 0.1% MCT had greater (p<0.05) villus height of duodenum and ileum for phase 1. Also, pigs fed the diet with 0.1% OA showed greater (p<0.05) villus height and villus height to crypt depth ratio of duodenum for phase 2. There was no significant difference in nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention of pigs. Conclusion: Addition of 0.1% MCT with 0.1% OA in weaning pig's diet improved growth performance partly by enhancing intestinal morphology in weaning pigs.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.55 no.12
• /
• pp.609-614
• /
• 2022

Mutation of the gene for adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), as seen in Apc^Min/+ mice, leads to intestinal adenomas and carcinomas via stabilization of β-catenin. Transmembrane 4 L six family member 5 (TM4SF5) is involved in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, fibrosis, and cancer. However, the functional linkage between TM4SF5 and APC or β-catenin has not been investigated for pathological outcomes. After interbreeding Apc^Min/+ with TM4SF5-overexpressing transgenic (Tg^TM4SF5) mice, we explored pathological outcomes in the intestines and livers of the offspring. The intestines of 26-week-old dual-transgenic mice (Apc^Min/+:Tg^TM4SF5) had intramucosal adenocarcinomas beyond the single-crypt adenomas in Apc^Min/+ mice. Additional TM4SF5 overexpression increased the stabilization of β-catenin via reduced glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) phosphorylation on Ser9. Additionally, the livers of the dualtransgenic mice showed distinct sinusoidal dilatation and features of hepatic portal hypertension associated with fibrosis, more than did the relatively normal livers in Apc^Min/+ mice. Interestingly, TM4SF5 overexpression in the liver was positively linked to increased GSK3β phosphorylation (opposite to that seen in the colon), β-catenin level, and extracellular matrix (ECM) protein expression, indicating fibrotic phenotypes. Consistent with these results, 78-week-old Tg^TM4SF5 mice similarly had sinusoidal dilatation, immune cell infiltration, and fibrosis. Altogether, systemic overexpression of TM4SF5 aggravates pathological abnormalities in both the colon and the liver.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.65 no.1
• /
• pp.69-95
• /
• 2023

In order to evaluate the effects of ARG sources (arginine [ARG] and Guanidinoacetic acid [GAA]) and phenylalanine (PHE) supplementation on performance, susceptibility to ascites, intestinal morphology, and nutrient digestibility in the cold-stressed broilers fed a canola meal (CM)-based diet, a 2×2 factorial experiment with four treatments was conducted. The dietary treatments included CM-based diet + 2.57 g/kg ARG, CM-based diet + 2.57 g/kg ARG + 1.5 g/kg PHE, CM-based diet + 1.8 g/kg GAA and CM-based diet + 1.8 g/kg GAA + 1.5 g/kg PHE. The corn-CM diet without supplementation was used as a negative control (NC) group in the fifth treatment that excluded the factorial arrangement. The results showed that adding ARG to diets without PHE supplement increased (p < 0.05) feed intake. Also, birds fed diets containing ARG had higher (p < 0.05) body weight gain (BWG) compared to those fed GAA added diets. Supplementation of PHE improved (p < 0.05) the FCR compared to groups fed diets without added PHE. Further, ARG addition increased (p < 0.05) plasma nitric oxide (NO) concentration, carcass, breast and leg yields, duodenal, jejunal, and ileal villus height (VH) to crypt depth (CD, and dry matter digestibility, while decreasing (p < 0.05) ascites mortality and right ventricle (RV) to total ventricle (TV) ratio compared to GAA added groups. Supplementation of PHE also declined susceptibility to ascites by reducing (p < 0.01) RV to TV ratio while increasing (p < 0.05) plasma NO level. The digestibility of ether extract also increased (p < 0.05) in broilers fed GAA supplemented diets versus those fed ARG added diets. The findings suggested that ARG may improve BWG and lower ascites incidence in broilers fed a diet based on CM under cold stress because of its antihypertensive effects. Moreover, the findings of this study demonstrated the importance of including PHE formulation in ARG-deficient diets to attenuate the adverse effects of cold stress on broilers. It was also concluded that GAA could be efficaciously used in cold-stressed broilers fed an ARG-deficient diet.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.36 no.5
• /
• pp.761-767
• /
• 2023

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether dietary supplementation with a functional fatty acid blend (FA) that contains 31.4% butyric acid and 4.99% medium-chain FA improve growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immunity status, and anti-inflammatory ability in weaned piglets. Methods: One hundred and forty-four healthy piglets (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) with an average body weight (BW) of 7.98±3.43 kg were randomly divided into three groups with six replicate pens and eight piglets per pen: Normal control (NC): a corn-soybean basal diet; FA1: a basal diet supplemented with 1,000 mg/kg of a functional FA; FA2: a basal diet supplemented with 2,000 mg/kg of a functional FA. The experiment lasted for 28 d. On d 14 and 28, one piglet in each pen from NC and FA2 groups was randomly selected for antioxidative index and immunoglobulins. On d 28, one piglet in each pen from NC and FA2 groups was randomly selected for intestinal morphology and inflammatory factor. Results: We observed that FA supplementation linearly increased (p<0.05) average daily gain and the final BW. There was higher (p<0.05) catalase on d 14, and immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgM on d 28 in piglets supplemented with FA2 than in the NC group. Moreover, dietary FA2 reduced (p<0.05) crypt depth of ileum in piglets. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-8, and IL-10 in jejunum were lower (p<0.05) in the FA2 group compared with the NC group. Conclusion: Therefore, the overall results suggests that the FA may help to improve gut health, antioxidant status, and immune parameters resulting in the improvement of growth performance.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.36 no.8
• /
• pp.1241-1251
• /
• 2023

Objective: Egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) is an antibiotic alternative to prevent and fight intestinal pathogenic infections. This study aimed to investigate the effects of sodium alginate/chitosan/sodium alginate IgY microcapsules on the growth performance, serum parameters, and intestinal health of broiler chickens. Methods: One-day-old broilers (Ross 308) were divided into five treatments, each with 10 replicates of five chickens. The dietary treatments were maintained for 28 days and consisted of a basal diet (NC), basal diet + 500 mg chlortetracycline/kg diet (CH), basal diet + 50 mg non-microencapsulated IgY/kg diet (NM), basal diet + 600 mg low levels microencapsulated IgY/kg diet (LM), and basal diet + 700 mg high levels microencapsulated IgY/kg diet (HM). Results: Throughout the 28-day trial period, the NM, LM, HM, and CH groups increased average daily gain compared with the NC group (p<0.05), and the HM group reduced feed conversion ratio compared with the CH group (p<0.05). The LM and HM groups increased relative organ weights of thymus and spleen compared with the CH and NM groups (p<0.05). The HM group improved the duodenal, jejunal and ileum villi height (VH) and villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH:CD) compared with the CH and NM groups (p<0.05). Compared with the CH group, the HM group increased serum immunoglobulin (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), superoxide dismutase, total antioxidant capacity, and glutathione peroxidase levels (p<0.05), and decreased serum malondialdehyde levels (p<0.05). Compared with the NC group, the NM, LM, HM, and CH groups reduced colonic Escherichia coli and Salmonella levels (p<0.05). and the HM group promoted the levels of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria compared with the CH group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Microencapsulation could be considered as a way to improve the efficiency of IgY. The 700 mg high levels microencapsulated IgY/kg diet could potentially be used as an alternative to antibiotics to improve the immune performance and intestinal health, leading to better performance of broiler chickens.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.10
• /
• pp.1575-1584
• /
• 2022

Objective: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of partially replacing soybean meal (SBM) with sunflower meal (SFM) with added exogenous multienzymes (MEs) on various biological parameters in broilers. Methods: One week-old, 400 broiler chicks were randomly divided into four treatments (control, 3SFM, 6SFM, and 9SFM) with 5 replicates/treatment (20 chicks/replicate). Control diet was without SFM and MEs, while diets of 3SFM, 6SFM, and 9SFM treatments were prepared by replacing SBM with SFM at levels of 3%, 6%, and 9%, respectively, and were supplemented with MEs (100 mg/kg). Feeding trial was divided into grower (8 to 21 day) and finisher phases (22 to 35 day). External marker method was used to measure the nutrient digestibility. At the end of trial, twenty birds (one birds per replicate) with similar body weight were slaughtered for samples collection. Results: No significant effect of dietary treatments was found on all parameters of growth performance and carcass characteristics, except relative weight of bursa. Weight (25.0 g) and length (15.80 cm) of duodenum were significantly (p<0.05) higher in 3SFM than control. Lowest (p<0.05) villus height/crypt depth ratio was found in 3SFM and 9SFM than control. Most of meat quality parameters remained unaffected, however, highest pH of breast meat (6.16) and thigh meat (6.44) were observed in 9SFM and 3SFM, respectively. Lowest (p<0.05) cook loss of thigh meat was found in 6SFM (31.76%). Ileal digestibility of crude protein was significantly (p<0.05) higher in 3SFM (72.35%) than control (69.46%). In addition, amylase (16.87 U/mg) and protease (85.18 U/mg) activities were significantly (p<0.05) higher in 3SFM than control. However, cecal microbial count remained unaffected. Conclusion: Partial replacement (up to 9%) of SBM with SFM, with added MEs can help to improve the nutrient digestibility, intestinal morphology, and digestive enzyme activities without affecting cecal microbial count and growth performance in broilers.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.65 no.6
• /
• pp.1226-1241
• /
• 2023

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace mineral that plays an important role in physiological processes by regulating the antioxidant defense system and enhancing immunity. Chromium is an essential mineral involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism and also plays a role in maintaining normal insulin function. Based on these advantages, we hypothesized that the addition of selenomethionine (SeMet) and organic chromium (OC) to broiler diets would increase Se deposition, antioxidant capacity and immune response in meat. Therefore, this study analyzed the effects of OC and SeMet on growh performance, nutrients digestibility, blood profiles, intestinal morphology, meat quality characteristics, and taxonomic analysis of broilers. A total of 168 one-day-old broiler chicken (Arbor Acres) were randomly allotted to 3 groups based on the initial body weight of 37.33 ± 0.24 g with 7 replicate per 8 birds (mixed sex). The experiments period was 28 days. Dietary treatments were folloewd: Basal diets based on corn-soybean meal (CON), basal diet supplemented with 0.2 ppm OC and 0.2 ppm SeMet (CS4), and basal diet supplemented with 0.4 ppm OC and 0.4 ppm SeMet (CS8). Supplementation of OC and SeMet did not affect on growth performance, nutrient digestibility. However, CS8 supplementation increased in duodenum villus height and villus height : crypt depth, and increased in breast meat Se deposition. In addition, CS8 group showed higher uric acid and total antioxidant status than CON group. Taxonomic analysis at phylum level revealed that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes of CS4 and CS8 were lower than CON group. In genus level, the relative abundance of fecal Lactobacillus and Enterococcus of CS4 and CS8 groups were higher than CON group. In short, 0.4 ppm OC and 0.4 ppm SeMet supplementation to broiler diet supporitng positive gut microbiome change, also enhancing antioxidant capacity, and Se deposition in breast meat.

• Anatomy and Cell Biology
• /
• v.57 no.3
• /
• pp.384-391
• /
• 2024

Morphological evaluation of the small intestine mucosa and apoptosis activity (caspase-3) is necessary to assess the severity of damage to the small intestine. At the same time, proliferative index based on Ki-67 can be used to assess the regenerative potential of the small intestine. Fragments of small intestine of Wistar rats (n=60) of three groups: I) control (n=20); II) experimental group (n=20; local single electron irradiation at a dose of 2 Gy), III) experimental group (n=20; local single electron irradiation at a dose of 8 Gy) were studied by light microscopy using hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemical reactions with antibodies to Ki-67 and caspase-3. In all samples of the experimental groups, a decrease in all morphometric indices was observed on day 1 with a tendency to recover on day 3. Small intestinal electron irradiation led to disturbances in the histoarchitecture of varying severity, and an increase in cell apoptosis was observed (increased expression of caspase-3 and decrease in Ki-67). In addition, modulation of the PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways was detected. The most pronounced destructive changes were observed in the group of 8 Gy single electron irradiation. Local irradiation of the small intestine with electrons at a dose of 2 and 8 Gy results in a decrease in the number of enterocytes, mainly stem cells of the intestinal crypts.