N-Acetylcysteine supplementation alleviates intestinal injury in piglets infected by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus

Abstract

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infects the intestine of young pigs, but effective measures for prevention and treatment are lacking. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) has been shown to reduce endotoxin-induced intestinal dysfunction. This study was conducted with the PEDV-infected neonatal piglet model to determine the effect of NAC supplementation on intestinal function. Thirty-two 7-day-old piglets were randomly allocated to one of four treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design consisting of two liquid diets (0 or 50 mg/kg BW NAC supplementation) and oral administration of 0 or 10 TCID (50% tissue culture infectious dose) PEDV. On day 7 of the trial, half of the pigs (n = 8) in each dietary treatment received either sterile saline or PEDV (Yunnan province strain) solution at 10 TCID per pig. On day 10 of the trial, D-xylose (0.1 g/kg BW) was orally administrated to all pigs. One hour later, jugular vein blood samples were collected, and then all pigs were killed to obtain the small intestine. PEDV infection increased diarrhea incidence, while reducing ADG. PEDV infection also decreased plasma D-xylose concentration, small intestinal villus height, mucosal I-FABP and villin mRNA levels but increased mucosal MX1 and GCNT3 mRNA levels (P < 0.05). Dietary NAC supplementation ameliorated the PEDV-induced abnormal changes in all the measured variables. Moreover, NAC reduced oxidative stress, as indicated by decreases in plasma and mucosal HO levels. Collectively, these novel results indicate that dietary supplementation with NAC alleviates intestinal mucosal damage and improves the absorptive function of the small intestine in PEDV-infected piglets.

Effects of corn processing on piglet performance and intestinal parameters

“…Although the performance of piglets fed the ground corn and the extruded corn diets were similar, pigs fed extruded corn diets had significantly improved duodenum and jejunum villus height and villus:crypt ratio. Greater villus height and villus:crypt ratio are indicative of higher surface area and cell ability to produce digestive enzymes and increased absorptive capabilities (Pluske et al, 1996;Wang et al, 2017). Thus, our findings reinforce that extrusion improves digestion and absorption of the nutrients (Medel et al, 1999;Liu et al, 2014), even when compared with ground ingredients with similar particle sizes.…”

Quantitative Proteomic Analysis Reveals Antiviral and Anti-inflammatory Effects of Puerarin in Piglets Infected With Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus

“…All samples were rapidly frozen in liquid nitrogen and then stored at−80 • C until analysis. The protocols of PEDV infection and sample collection were described previously (27). The intestinal pathomorphology was observed as described previously (28).…”

Functions and Signaling Pathways of Amino Acids in Intestinal Inflammation

“…Cys exerts protective functions in the intestinal barrier that involves anti-inflammation and antioxidation by suppressing the NF- κ B pathway and activating the Nrf2 signaling pathway [ 25 ]. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) protects intestinal barrier in piglets induced by LPS via mTOR, NF- κ B, and MAPK signaling pathway [ 95 , 96 ]. Accumulating evidence indicates that Gly enhances intestinal mucosal barrier and inhibits oxidative stress via suppressing the activation of NF- κ B and the production of TNF- α , IL-1, and IL-6 [ 97 – 101 ].…”