Abstract
Due to their physicochemical and biological properties, silver nanoparticles (NanoAg) have a wide range of applications. In the present study, their roles as a carrier of nutrients and an immunomodulator were tested in chicken embryos. Cysteine (Cys)+NanoAg injected embryos had smaller livers but heavier breasts on the 19th day of embryogenesis. Cys injected embryos had lower oxygen consumption compared to threonine (Thr) or NanoAg injected embryos. The energy expenditure in Thr+NanoAg, or NanoAg injected embryos was higher than Cys or Cys+NanoAg but was not different from uninjected control embryos. Relative expression of the hepatic insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) gene was higher in Cys or NanoAg injected embryos after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induction. The gene expression of hepatic tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) did not differ among amino acids, NanoAg and uninjected controls in the non-LPS groups, but increased by many folds in the LPS treated NanoAg, Cys and Cys+NanoAg groups. In LPS treated spleens, TNF-α expression was also up-regulated by NanoAg, amino acids and their combinations, but interleukin-10 (IL-10) expression was down-regulated in Thr, Cys or Thr+NanoAg injected embryos. Toll like receptor-2 (TLR2) expression did not differ in NanoAg or amino acids injected embryos; however, toll like receptor-4 (TLR4) expression was higher in all treated embryos, except for Cys+NanoAg, than in uninjected control embryos. We concluded that NanoAg either alone or in combination with amino acids did not affect embryonic growth but improved immunocompetence, indicating that NanoAg and amino acid complexes can act as potential agents for the enhancement of innate and adaptive immunity in chicken.
Highlights
Embryonic life plays an important role in imparting good health to the newly hatched chick.In the early post-hatch period, chicks make the metabolic and physiological transition from egg nutrition to exogenous feed
We investigated the effect of NanoAg and the amino acids threonine (Thr) and cysteine (Cys), either separately or in combination, on the metabolic rate, growth and immune response at the molecular level through gene expression during embryogenesis
At the 16th and 19th day of embryogenesis (ED), significantly (p < 0.05) lower moisture loss was observed in NanoAg or placebo injected eggs than the uninjected control group, but there was no difference between amino acids (AA) and AA+NanoAg injected eggs
Summary
Embryonic life plays an important role in imparting good health to the newly hatched chick.In the early post-hatch period, chicks make the metabolic and physiological transition from egg nutrition (i.e., yolk) to exogenous feed. Egg yolk and albumen contain substantial amounts of protein for the developing embryo, but a large fraction of these proteins consist of antibodies, produced by the hen during egg laying [1]. These antibodies provide passive immunity until the neonate can mount an effective immune response [2]. In the modern poultry scenario, hatchlings have to spend a quite long time (24–36 h) without feed and water. This results in mobilisation of residual protein as an energy source for the survival of chicks. Efforts have been made to supplement eggs with critical nutrients (in ovo feeding/supplementation) for better post-hatch growth [3], gastro-intestinal tract development [4,5], and immunity [6]; this reduces the dependency of the embryo on the nutritional status of the laying birds
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