Effects of Immune Stress on Performance Parameters, Intestinal Enzyme Activity and mRNA Expression of Intestinal Transporters in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

Immune stress is the loss of immune homeostasis caused by external forces. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effects of immune stress on the growth performance, small intestinal enzymes and peristalsis rate, and mRNA expression of nutrient transporters in broiler chickens. Four hundred and thirty-two 1-d-old broilers (Cobb500) were randomly assigned to four groups for treatment; each group included nine cages with 12 birds per cage. Group 1 = no vaccine (NV); Group 2 = conventional vaccine (CV); group 3 = lipopolysaccharide (LPS)+conventional vaccine (LPS); group 4 = cyclophosphamide (CYP)+conventional vaccine (CYP). The results demonstrated that immune stress by LPS and CYP reduced body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), small intestine peristalsis rate and sIgA content in small intestinal digesta (p<0.05). However, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) remained unchanged during the feeding period. LPS and CYP increased intestinal enzyme activity, relative expression of SGLT-1, CaBP-D28k and L-FABP mRNAs (p<0.05). LPS and CYP injection had a negative effect on the growth performance of healthy broiler chickens. The present study demonstrated that NV and CV could improve growth performance while enzyme activity in small intestine and relative expression of nutrient transporter mRNA of NV and CV were decreased in the conditions of a controlled rational feeding environment. It is generally recommended that broilers only need to be vaccinated for the diseases to which they might be exposed.

Effect of immune stress on growth performance and energy metabolism in broiler chickens

“…Etsumori (1991) reported that both cold-exposed rats and fasted rats showed a decreased amylase activity. Other studies, however, reported that thermal-stressed birds had a higher enzymatic activity (Feng et al, 2012;Routman, Yoshida, Frizzas De Lima, Macari, & Pizauro, 2003). The current research demonstrated that immune stress on chickens significantly decreased amylase activity in jejunum, which affected the energy utilisation negatively and resulted in depression on growth performance in broiler chickens.…”

“…199 Decuypere, & Buyse, 2004;Star, Kemp, van den Anker, & Parmentier, 2008;Virden et al, 2007). These decreases may be explained according to which immune stress is the immunomodulator and reallocates nutrients to immune response (Feng et al, 2012). However, effects of stress on FCR were reported inconsistently in poultry.…”

“…It has been reported that glucocorticoids released during stress periods induce the expression of glucocorticoid-regulated kinase, which enhances GLU transportation by increasing SGLT1 abundance in the cell membrane (Garriga et al, 2006). Besides, Hu et al (2011) andFeng et al (2012) showed that LPS and CPM upregulated intestinal relative expression of SGLT1 to compensate for the deficient nutrient. However, our results showed no significant effects on the relative expression of SGLT1 by LPS and CPM, reflecting that the immune stress does not affect the absorption of GLU.…”

Effects of dietary betaine on growth performance, fat deposition and serum lipids in broilers subjected to chronic heat stress

“…The cause was attributed to be heat stress which disturbs the balance of intestinal bacteria and hence, reduces nutrient digestibility and absorption (Feng et al . ). Contrarily, at the end of the experimental period, broilers fed on betaine‐supplemented diet had a higher growth performance and lower FGR, although the results of several other studies revealed minimal or no effect of betaine supplementation on animal performance (Zulkifli et al .…”

Requerimientos para la medición de indicadores de estrés invasivos y no invasivos en producción animal

“…Esto puede implicar incomodidad o incluso dolor para los animales, lo cual puede generar estrés y, por consiguiente, cambios comportamentales y fisiológicos que conllevan a la disminución de su bienestar (Mellor et El estrés es una respuesta inespecífica del organismo animal ante condiciones ambientales adversas que produce ajustes fisiológicos y metabólicos para mantener la homeostasis, genera efectos sobre el sistema nervioso central, el sistema neuroendocrino y el sistema inmune (Sordillo y Aitken, 2008;Feng et al, 2012). En la respuesta neuroendocrina al estrés, el hipotálamo libera el factor liberador de corticotropina, arginina vasopresina, péptidos derivados de la propiomelanocortina, β endorfinas y las hormonas catabólicas (catecoloaminas y glucocorticoides) que participan de forma adversa con las hormonas anabólicas (hormona de crecimiento y hormonas gonadales), activando respuestas adaptativas para la sobrevivencia (Charmandari et al, 2005).…”