Crosstalk between trace elements and T-cell immunity during early-life health in pigs

Lactobacillus johnsonii Improves Intestinal Barrier Function and Reduces Post-Weaning Diarrhea in Piglets: Involvement of the Endocannabinoid System

“…Early weaning strategies (referring to a weaning age earlier than 21 days) aimed at shortening the slaughter cycle of pigs and improving the reproductive performance of sows have been widely implemented in pig production [1]. However, early weaning often triggers weaning stress syndrome in piglets, leading to various intestinal health problems such as impaired intestinal development, a damaged intestinal barrier function, altered intestinal motility, and weakened intestinal immunity [2,3], posing significant challenges to the pig industry and causing significant economic losses [4,5]. Although antibiotics play a crucial role in preventing intestinal diseases in early weaned piglets, the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and antibiotic residues in food has become a serious problem, which forces us to ban antibiotics [6][7][8].…”

Effects of dietary methionine supplementation on the growth performance, immune responses, antioxidant capacity, and subsequent development of layer chicks

“…Throughout the life cycles of both humans and animals, the early years are crucial ( Lilburn and Loeffler, 2015 ; Taha-Abdelaziz et al, 2018 ; Liu et al, 2022 ; Xu et al, 2022 ). Importantly, early nutrition is closely associated with health and physical status in the later stages of life ( Ratsika et al, 2021 ; Abdel-Moneim et al, 2022 ; Haiden and Haschke, 2023 ; Jin et al, 2023 ). Amino acids play important roles in the regulation of food intake and nutrient metabolism ( Wu, 2009 ), as well as being the building blocks of proteins ( Wu, 2010 ; Wu et al, 2014 ).…”

Trace elements in nutrition and health: a deep dive into essentiality and mechanism of their biological roles

“…Certain pathogens have developed storage mechanisms for trace elements, allowing them to secure nutrients without competing for the host's trace elements, thus bypassing the host's nutritional immunity (Ben-Eghan et al, 2020). In mammals, trace elements are essential for the development of the immune system, specifically for T-cell proliferation and differentiation (Jin et al, 2023). Selenium, for instance, serves as an antioxidant, immunity booster, anticancer agent, and has detoxification functions.…”