Effects of a lipid-encapsulated zinc oxide supplement on growth performance and intestinal morphology and digestive enzyme activities in weanling pigs

Abstract

This study compared the effects of varying lipid content and dietary concentration of a lipid-encapsulated (LE) ZnO product to those of native ZnO and thereby to find insights into optimal lipid coating and dosage of the Zn supplement. A total of 192 21-d-old weanling pigs were allotted to 48 pens, after which each six pens received a ZnO-free basal diet supplemented with 125 ppm ZnO (100 ppm Zn; BASAL), 2,500 ppm Zn as native ZnO (HIGH), or 100 or 200 ppm Zn as LE ZnO (LE-100 or LE-250) containing 8%, 10%, or 12% lipid [LE-8%, LE-10%, or LE-12%, respectively; 2 × 3 factorial arrangement within the LE-ZnO diets (LE-ALL)] for 14 d. Forty pigs were killed at the end for histological and biochemical examinations. None of ADG, ADFI, gain:feed, and fecal consistency score differed between the LE-ALL and either of the BASAL and HIGH groups. Hepatic and serum Zn concentrations were greater (p <0.05) in the HIGH vs. LE-ALL group, but did not differ between LE-ALL and BASAL, between LE-100 and -250, or among LE-8%, -10%, and -12% groups. Villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), and the VH:CD ratio in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum did not differ between the LE-ALL and either of the BASAL and HIGH groups, except for a greater CD in the duodenum in the LE-ALL vs. HIGH group. Additionally, VH and CD in the duodenum and VH:CD in the jejunum were greater in the LE-250 vs. LE-100 group. Specific activities of sucrase, maltase, and leucine aminopeptidase in these intestinal regions and those of amylase and trypsin in the pancreas were not influenced by the lipid content or dietary concentration of LE ZnO and also did not differ between the LE-ALL and either of the BASAL and HIGH groups, except for a greater pancreatic amylase activity in the former vs. HIGH group. In conclusion, the present results indicate that the LE ZnO, regardless of its lipid percentage or supplementation level examined in this study, has no significant effect on growth performance, fecal consistency, or digestive enzyme activities of weanling pigs under the experimental conditions.

Effects of dietary supplementation of bacteriophages against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88 on clinical symptoms of post‐weaning pigs challenged with the ETEC pathogen

“…The animals were allotted randomly to three groups in three 1‐m 2 pens, with eight animals per group/pen, each of which was equipped with a feeder and a nipple waterer. Two groups were fed ad libitum an anti‐microbial additive‐free basal nursery diet, the composition of which had been reported previously (Jang et al., ; Kwon et al., ); the remaining group were fed ad libitum the same diet supplemented with 1.0 × 10 7 plaque forming units of the ETEC K88‐selective phage per kg. On day 0 of the experiment after 7 days of adaptation to the designated diet, two groups on the basal diet and the phage‐supplemented diet, respectively, were challenged orally with 3.0 × 10 10 colony forming units of ETEC K88 in 3 ml of phosphate‐buffered saline, with the remaining eight animals on the basal diet given the same volume of vehicle.…”

“…Lytic bacteriophages or simply phages, which replicate and lyse the bacterial host cell immediately after infection without entering into the non-lytic lysogenic cycle, have lately received renewed attention as alternatives to antibiotics (Joerger, 2003;Matsuzaki et al, 2005;Johnson et al, 2008). However, only limited information is available as to the therapeutic or prophylactic effects for phages in porcine colibacillosis, although it has been reported that in-feed phages alleviated the severity of experimental ETEC diarrhoea in newborn (Smith and Huggins, 1983) and post-weaning (Jamalludeen et al, 2009;Cha et al, 2012) piglets and also in naive piglets (Yoo et al, 2013).…”

Lipid-coated ZnO nanoparticles synthesis, characterization and cytotoxicity studies in cancer cell

“…More specific data, such as morphology and chemical modification, should be compiled for predicting the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles [28,29]. Only a few studies have compared the toxicities of ZnO NPs of different morphologies, and even fewer toxicity studies have been published on lipidcoated ZnO NPs [30,31].…”

The effect of ZnO nanoparticles on liver function in rats

“…13,14 Because of these concerns, encapsulated formulations of ZnO and ZnO nanoparticles have been created to reduce the total amount of ZnO added to a diet. 15 Although these special formulations increase costs to the feed manufacturing industry, ZnO nanoparticles have been widely used in People's Republic of China in order to reduce environmental pollution created by the manufacture and use of animal feeds. While greater attention should be given to environmental pollution caused by ZnO usage, the toxic effects of ZnO nanoparticles on animals and humans also remain unclear and should be more thoroughly investigated.…”