Influence of Mushroom Polysaccharide, Nano-Copper, Copper Loaded Chitosan, and Lysozyme on Intestinal Barrier and Immunity of LPS-mediated Yellow-Feathered Chickens.

Xiajing Lin,Long Li,Qiuli Fan,Jinling Ye,Shouqun Jiang,Zhongyong Gou,Yibing Wang,K F M Abouelezz

doi:10.3390/ani10040594

Abstract

Simple SummaryRecently, there has been an increasing worldwide interest in limiting or banning the use of synthesized antibiotic growth promoters used in animal production, so as to avoid the development of the drug resistance of human pathogens. This is accelerating the efforts of scientists to present new, natural and safe antibiotic alternatives that are adequate for animal and poultry production. This study contributes by evaluating some potent antibiotic alternatives in growing yellow feathered chicks, including mushroom polysaccharides, nano-copper, copper loaded chitosan, and lysozyme, versus a common antibiotic (Aureomycin). The dietary addition of the tested substances has demonstrated several beneficial effects, particularly in the case of polysaccharides (100 mg/kg) and lysozyme (500 mg/kg), on jejunal barrier, and immunity of yellow-feathered chicks aged 4–24 days, with comparable effects to the antibiotic treatment.This study investigated the influence of dietary supplementation with some antibiotic alternatives on growth performance, intestinal barrier, and immunity of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenged chicks. Wenshi females, aged 4 days, were allocated randomly into eight groups, each with six replicates of 20 birds (n = 120/treatment), which received a basal diet supplemented with 0 (control), 0 (LPS), 200 mg/kg aureomycin, 50 mg/kg mushroom polysaccharide, 100 mg/kg mushroom polysaccharide, 500 mg/kg nano-copper, 300 mg/kg copper loaded chitosan, and 500 mg/kg lysozyme for 21 days. On day 18 and 20, the control birds were injected with 0.5 mL saline solution, the other treatments were injected with 0.5 mL saline containing 500 µg LPS/kg body weight (BW). The results indicated that LPS treatment reduced the BW, average daily gain (ADG), and daily feed intake (ADFI) than the controls (p < 0.05), and the antibiotic and the tested alternatives could not retrieve the normal BW, ADG, and ADFI. The tested additives reduced several negative effects of LPS; they reduced diamine oxidase activity and inflammatory mediators in plasma, jejunal mucosa, spleen and thymus, increased content of immunoglobulin in plasma and jejunal mucosa, and decreased gene expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and Cyclooxygenase 2 in jejunal mucosa.

Highlights

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are the major elements of the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria; they are endotoxins, which cause a strong response in normal animal immune systems and have been used in inducing immune stress in animal models [1]
The growth performance traits body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), ADFI and feed conversion ratio (FCR) are the primary indices reflecting the economic value of livestock and poultry
Our results here revealed that the dietary supplementation with either mushroom polysaccharides, nano-copper, copper loaded chitosan, or lysozyme could not alleviate the reduction in BW, ADG, and ADFI caused by LPS

Summary

Introduction

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are the major elements of the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria; they are endotoxins, which cause a strong response in normal animal immune systems and have been used in inducing immune stress in animal models [1]. Most synthesized antibiotics are potentially unsafe because they may increase drug resistance in human pathogens [10]. To avoid this negative influence, much legislation has been adopted in Europe and most countries worldwide to ban or restrict the use of chemically synthesized antibiotics in animal feed (such as growth promoters), which has triggered a need to find effective, safe and natural alternatives to antibiotics [11,12,13]

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