Diet influences the colonisation of Campylobacter jejuni and distribution of mucin carbohydrates in the chick intestinal tract

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of diet on the colonisation by Campylobacter jejuni of the chick caeca, and to determine whether the viscosity of the intestinal contents and mucin carbohydrates were altered by the diet. The diets investigated were maize based, wheat-based or wheat-based supplemented with xylanase. The xylanase-supplemented diet reduced the viscosity and lowered the numbers of Camp. jejuni. Feeding the enzyme-supplemented diet increased the amount of neutral and sulphated mucins in the goblet cells of the small and large intestines and caecum. An abundance of sulphated and carboxylated mucins was seen in the surface goblet cells of the large intestine with the maize- and wheat-based diets. Both the diet supplemented with xylanase and the maize diets increased crypt-surface glycosylation of the sialic acid residues. The analysed data from the combined sites showed significant differences in the amount of neutral and acidic mucins when comparing the wheat and the wheat plus xylanase diets. However, no changes were shown in the staining intensity of sulphated mucins between the three diets. Significant differences in the glycosylation of sialic acid and in the N-acetylglucosamine residues were shown between dietary groups. These results provide evidence that the wheat diet supplemented with xylanase leads to greater changes in the mucin composition and carbohydrate expression of goblet cell glycoconjugates, which are associated with a reduction in intestinal viscosity and decreased numbers of Camp. jejuni.

Modulation of intestinal mucin composition and mucosal morphology by dietary phytogenic inclusion level in broilers

“…The latter was in line with the work of Gheri Bryk et al (1999) who studied mucin monosaccharide composition in newborn chicks using lectin histochemistry. In contrast, Sharma et al (1997) and Fernandez et al (2000) showed that Fuc and GalNac were absent in intestinal mucin of 5-week-old broilers, despite the fact that similar lectins to the ones used by Gheri Bryk et al (1999) were used. The Vh 5 villus height; Cd 5 crypt depth.…”

“…It is known that diet modulates the monosaccharide composition of mucin carbohydrate side chains (Sharma et al, 1997;Fernandez et al, 2000;Jamroz et al, 2006;Chee et al, 2010a and2010b). Research so far has examined the effect of dietary components such as amino acids, that is, threonine (Chee et al, 2010b), probiotics (Smirnov et al, 2005), prebiotics (Chee et al, 2010a and2010b) and antibiotics (Smirnov et al, 2005;Chee et al, 2010a) in intestinal mucin dynamics of poultry.…”

“…Except intestinal microflora, diet has been reported to affect gut mucin composition in broilers (Sharma et al, 1997;Fernandez et al, 2000;Smirnov et al, 2005 andJamroz et al, 2006;Chee et al, 2010a and2010b). Goblet cell staining (Sharma et al, 1997;Fernandez et al, 2000;Jamroz et al, 2006;Chee et al, 2010a and2010b), mucus layer thickness (Smirnov et al, 2005) and mucin gene expression (Smirnov et al, 2006;Chee et al, 2010a) are listed among key parameters studied in an attempt to generate information of dietary effects on intestinal mucin composition.…”

“…Goblet cell staining (Sharma et al, 1997;Fernandez et al, 2000;Jamroz et al, 2006;Chee et al, 2010a and2010b), mucus layer thickness (Smirnov et al, 2005) and mucin gene expression (Smirnov et al, 2006;Chee et al, 2010a) are listed among key parameters studied in an attempt to generate information of dietary effects on intestinal mucin composition.…”

Nutrition-based health in animal production

“…Lysophospholipid supplementation of pig diets significantly improved the digestibility of DM, crude protein and energy (Dierick & Decuypere, 2004). Xylanase supplementation of wheatbased broiler feed significantly reduced the Campylobacter counts in the caecum to about 10 000 colony-forming units/g but this was not sufficient to improve food safety (Fernandez et al 2000). Layer hens, which were experimentally infected with B. intermedia, showed reduced faecal excretion of the micro-organism when fed a wheat-based diet supplemented with a commercial enzyme product .…”