Methylsulfonylmethane ( MSM ) is an organic, sulfur-containing compound widely used as a dietary supplement to improve joint health and treat arthritic pain. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of feeding 0.05% MSM to broilers exposed to diet-induced oxidative stress on tissue MSM distribution, growth performance, oxidative stress biomarkers, and immune responsivity. A total of 528 birds were allocated to 4 dietary treatments (fresh oil-no MSM, fresh oil-MSM, oxidized oil-no MSM, oxidized oil-MSM) as provided ad libitum to 11 replicate cages of 12 birds per treatment. Blood and tissue samples were collected to analyze MSM concentrations, and oxidative stress biomarkers including concentrations of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances ( TBARS ), total antioxidant capacity ( TAC ), total glutathione, and glutathione peroxidase ( GPx ) and reductase ( GR ) activities. Additionally, blood samples collected at day 25 were used to quantify T-cell ( TC ) populations using flow cytometry. Overall, MSM was quantified in all tissues and plasma samples of MSM-treated groups at all time points. Oxidized oil reduced ( P = 0.006) feed intake over the 21-d feeding period, but MSM did not affect growth equally across time points. No effects ( P > 0.2) of MSM or oil type were observed on TC populations. In the presence of oxidized oil, MSM reduced ( P = 0.013) plasma TBARS and increased ( P = 0.02) liver GPx at day 21, and increased ( P = 0.06) liver GR at day 7. Irrespective of dietary oil type, groups supplemented with MSM showed higher plasma TAC at day 7 ( P = 0.023), liver GPx activity at day 21 ( P = 0.003), and liver GR activity at day 7 ( P = 0.004) compared with groups not receiving MSM. In conclusion, 0.05% dietary MSM supplementation partially protected birds from oxidative stress but did not affect immune cell profiles.

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Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is the most prevalent disease of swine globally. Infection of weanling pigs with PRRSV leads to a complex immune response resulting in significant disease and decreased growth performance. Previous experimental evidence suggests that increasing concentrations of soybean meal in the diet of young pigs confer benefits in terms of growth performance and immune parameters. The objective of this experiment was to identify potential modes of action for this benefit, specifically the ability for soy-derived isoflavones (ISF) to confer immunological benefits to young pigs infected with PRRSV. Four dietary treatments differing in soy protein source (soy protein concentrate vs. enzyme-treated soybean meal) and ISF supplementation (none vs. 1,500 mg total ISF/kg) were fed; the control diet (CON) contained soy protein concentrate and no supplemental ISF. Weanling pigs (60 barrows, 21 d of age, 5.71 ± 0.44 kg) from a naturally Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mh)–infected source herd were individually housed in disease containment chambers and provided ad libitum access to experimental diets for 7 d before receiving either a sham inoculation or a 9.28 × 103 50% tissue culture infective dose of PRRSV at 28 d of age (0 d postinoculation). A total of 5 experimental treatments included an uninfected group receiving the CON diet, plus four infected groups each receiving a different dietary treatment. Growth performance and rectal temperatures were recorded throughout the study, and blood was collected for quantification of serum PRRSV load, presence of anti-PRRSV antibodies, differential complete blood counts, cytokine concentrations, and T-cell immunophenotyping. Data were analyzed as a 2-way or 3-way ANOVA for all treatments including PRRSV-infected pigs, in addition to a single degree of freedom contrast to compare uninfected and infected pigs receiving the CON diet. PRRSV-infection reduced growth rate and efficiency compared with noninfected controls with minimal influences by ISF. Supplemental ISF reduced PRRSV-induced band neutrophilia and improved cytotoxic-to-helper T-cell ratios. These results suggest that ISF contribute to activation of adaptive immune system pathways and could benefit recovery from and clearance of PRRSV infections.

Firefighting activities appear to increase the risk of acute and chronic lung disease, including malignancy. While self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) mitigate exposures to inhalable asphyxiates and carcinogens, firefighters frequently remove SCBA during overhaul when the firegrounds appear clear of visible smoke. Using a mouse model of overhaul without airway protection, the impact of fireground environment exposure on lung gene expression was assessed to identify transcripts potentially critical to firefighter-related chronic pulmonary illnesses. Lung tissue was collected 2 hrs post-overhaul and evaluated via whole genome transcriptomics by RNA-seq. Although gas metering showed that the fireground overhaul levels of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen cyanine (HCN), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and oxygen (O2) were within NIOSH ceiling recommendations, 3852 lung genes were differentially expressed when mice exposed to overhaul were compared to mice on the fireground but outside the overhaul environment. Importantly, overhaul exposure was associated with an up/down-regulation of 86 genes with a fold change of 1.5 or greater (p<0.5) including the immunomodulatory-linked genes S100a8 and Tnfsf9 (downregulation) and the cancer-linked genes, Capn11 and Rorc (upregulation). Taken together these findings indicate that, without respiratory protection, exposure to the fireground overhaul environment is associated with transcriptional changes impacting proteins potentially related to inflammation-associated lung disease and cancer.

Production of crystalline amino acids ( AA ) through microbial fermentation concomitantly provides an AA-enriched biomass that may serve as a cost-effective supplement for broiler chickens. We investigated the effects of feeding a fermentation biomass product containing approximately 62% Lys on growth performance, organ growth, and clinical outcomes of broilers. Beginning at 2 d post-hatch, a total of 360 Ross 308 chicks were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 treatments provided to 12 replicate cages of 6 birds. Practical corn-soybean meal-based dietary treatments included: negative control ( NC ; no supplementation of L-Lys, 1.01 and 0.86% standardized ileal digestible Lys in starter and grower phases, respectively), NC + 0.23% L-Lys HCl (positive control; PC ), and NC supplemented with 0.30, 0.90, or 1.50% Lys biomass ( LB ) in both phases. Feed and water were provided ad libitum throughout the study. Individual bird and feeder weights were recorded on study day 0, 10, 21, and 35. At study conclusion, birds from each treatment were randomly selected to collect blood and tissue samples. The PC and 0.30% LB diets elicited similar overall (day 0–35) body weight gain and birds were heavier ( P < 0.001) than the NC and other LB treatments. The PC, 0.30% LB, and 0.90% LB groups had better ( P < 0.001) overall feed conversion ratio than NC. Some LB-supplemented treatments elicited increased ( P < 0.001) relative spleen and ileum weight compared with NC and PC. Heterophils were increased ( P < 0.001) in LB treatments compared with PC and NC. Lymphocytes were decreased ( P < 0.001) in LB treatments compared with NC, and 1.50% LB was similar to PC. This resulted in an increased ( P < 0.001) heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in some LB treatments, which may have resulted from general AA supplementation or the LB product. Collectively, these results suggest that addition of up to 0.30% LB restored growth performance when added to a Lys-deficient practical diet and elicited results identical to the Lys-adequate PC diet with no negative clinical effects.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an economically important disease, and ingestion of soy isoflavones (ISF) may benefit PRRSV-infected pigs due to demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties. The objective of this experiment was to recreate immunological effects previously observed in young pigs infected with PRRSV receiving ISF and determine how those effects influence growth performance during the entire growth period from weaning to market. In total, 96 weaned barrows were group housed in a biosafety level-2 containment facility and allotted to 1 of 3 experimental treatments that were maintained throughout the study: noninfected pigs received an ISF-devoid control diet (NEG, n = 24), and infected pigs received either the control diet (POS, n = 36) or that supplemented with total ISF in excess of 1,600 mg/kg (ISF, n = 36). Following a 7-d adaptation, weanling pigs were inoculated intranasally with either a sham-control (PBS) or live PRRSV (1 × 105 TCID50/mL, strain NADC20). After inoculation, individual blood samples (n = 8 to 12/treatment) were routinely collected to monitor viral clearance and hematological parameters, including serum neutralizing anti-PRRSV antibody production. Pen-based oral fluids were used to monitor PRRSV clearance at later growth stages. A 1- or 2-way ANOVA was performed to compare experimental treatments depending on whether the outcome was repeatedly measured. In general, PRRSV infection decreased performance during early growth phases, resulting in 5.4% lower final BW for POS vs. NEG pigs (P &lt; 0.05). Dietary ISF elicited inconsistent effects on growth performance, increased (P &lt; 0.05) neutrophil cell counts and the relative proportion of memory T-cells, and decreased (P &lt; 0.05) the time to full PRRSV clearance from oral fluids. Dietary ISF also elicited earlier, more robust anti-PRRSV neutralizing antibody production when compared with POS pigs. Additionally, and most notably, POS pigs experienced ~50% greater infection-related mortality rate vs. ISF pigs (P &lt; 0.05), which may have significant economic implications for producers. Overall, dietary ISF ingestion supported immune responses and reduced mortality in PRRSV-infected pigs when fed to growing pigs though the biological mechanism of these effects remains unclear.

Attenuation of host IL-10 activity during Eimeria infection may elicit a robust Th1 response to eliminate the parasite from the gut epithelium. An experiment was conducted to study the effects of feeding IL-10 neutralizing antibody delivered via a dried egg product ( DEP ) on growth performance, immune responsivity, and gut health outcomes during a severe challenge with either Eimeria acervulina (study 1) or Eimeria tenella (study 2) following FDA CVM #217 protocol to test anticoccidial products. A total of 720 male Ross 308 chicks were used in each study, with 15 replicate cages of 12 birds and the following 4 treatments: sham-inoculated (uninfected) control diet ( UCON ), Eimeria -infected control diet ( ICON ), and Eimeria -infected control diet supplemented with DEP at 2 levels (165 [I-165] or 287 [I-287] U/tonne in study 1 and 143 [I-143] or 287 [I-287] U/tonne in study 2). Individual birds assigned to infected treatment groups received a single oral dose of either 200,000 E. acervulina (study 1) or 80,000 E. tenella (study 2) oocysts at 12 d of age (i.e., d post inoculation [ DPI ] 0), whereas uninfected birds were sham-inoculated with tap water. A one-way ANOVA was performed on outcomes including growth performance, hematology, serum chemistry profiles, immunophenotyping profiles, and intestinal lesion scores. In both studies, DPI 0 to 7 weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were worse ( P < 0.05) in all infected groups compared with the UCON group. Compared with ICON, DEP supplementation elicited no differences on overall growth performance. Histopathology and lesion scores revealed severe damage to the gut epithelium owing to the Eimeria challenge, yet DEP supplementation did not improve these outcomes or oocyst shedding, hematological measurements, or serum chemistry. However, DEP supplementation improved ( P < 0.05) the percentage of circulating CD3 + cells at 6 DPI in study 2. These results indicate that DEP does not appear to elicit a coccidiostatic effect during a severe infection with E. acervulina or E. tenella .

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