Changes of Intestinal Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Gene Expression in Neonatal Goats Suffering from a Cold

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Background Disease and disorders in young goats are serious threats to the animals’ health, and they influence the profitability of the goat industry. There is a need to better understand the potential biomarkers that can reflect the mortality and morbidity in young goats. Since gastrointestinal infection is probably the first ailment in young goats, the objective of this study was to explore the changes in oxidative stress, inflammation, and gene expression in the gastrointestinal tract of neonatal goats suffering from a cold. Results The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) was less (P &lt; 0.05) in the jejunum in neonatal goats suffering from a cold compared with healthy neonatal goats. However, the malondialdehyde (MDA) activities in the jejunum and ileum were higher (P &lt; 0.05) in neonatal goats suffering from a cold compared with healthy neonatal goats. There was no significant difference in the super-oxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity observed between the two groups (P &gt; 0.05). For the concentrations of intestinal interleukin-2 (IL2) and interleukin-6 (IL6), only the IL-2 in ileum in the neonatal goats suffering from a cold was higher than that from healthy neonatal goats. Real-time PCR results showed that the expression of most toll-like receptor-4-(TLR4) pathway-related genes was similar in the two groups. The transcriptomic analysis of the jejunum showed a total of 364 differential expression genes (DEGs) identified in neonatal goats suffering from a cold compared with healthy neonatal goats. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) functional enrichment analysis of up-regulated DEG was mainly related to the ECM−receptor interaction, pathways in cancer and axon guidance, and the down-regulated DEG mainly related to the arachidonic acid metabolism, complement, and coagulation cascades, and the Ras signaling pathway. Conclusions These results suggest that neonatal goats suffering from a cold experienced a higher intestinal oxidative stress compared with healthy neonatal goats. Thus, it is possible that the antioxidant capacity of young ruminants acts as an indicator of health status and the measurements of oxidation stress may be useful as diagnostic biomarkers, reflecting the mortality and morbidity in young goats.</jats:p>