Protective influence of betaine on intestinal health by regulating inflammation and improving barrier function in broilers under heat stress

Abstract

This research was executed to study the impacts of adding betaine ( BT ) to broiler diets on intestinal inflammatory response and barrier integrity under heat stress ( HS ). At 21 d of age, 150 male broilers (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: control ( CON ) group, in which broilers were provided standard finisher feed under thermoneutral condition (22 ± 1°C); HS group and HS + BT group, in which broilers were given the standard feed supplied with 0 and 1,000 mg/kg BT, respectively, under cyclic HS condition (33 ± 1°C for 8 h from 08:00 to 16:00 h and the thermoneutral temperature for the residual hours). Each treatment was replicated ten times with 5 broilers per replicate. The HS group showed an elevation ( P < 0.05) in serum corticosterone ( CORT ) concentration, D-lactate acid ( D-LA ) content, and diamine oxidase ( DAO ) activity, mucosal interleukin-1β ( IL-1β ) level, and expression of heat shock protein 70 ( HSP70 ) gene, and a reduction ( P < 0.05) in mucosal interleukin-10 ( IL-10 ) level and secretory immunoglobulin A ( SIgA ) content and relative abundance of mRNA for occludin ( OCLN ), zonula occludens-1 ( ZO-1 ), claudin-1 ( CLDN1 ), and claudin-4 ( CLDN4 ). In contrast, broilers in the HS + BT group exhibited a raise ( P < 0.05) in mucosal IL-10 level and SIgA content and relative expression of OCLN and ZO-1 genes, and a decline ( P < 0.05) in serum CORT concentration and DAO activity, mucosal IL-1β level, and expression of HSP70 mRNA. These results indicate that supplemental BT can ameliorate intestinal injury in heat-challenged broilers by suppressing inflammatory responses and enhancing mucosal barrier function.

Polysaccharides From Abrus cantoniensis Hance Modulate Intestinal Microflora and Improve Intestinal Mucosal Barrier and Liver Oxidative Damage Induced by Heat Stress

“…Tight junctions are essential for intestinal barrier function and gastrointestinal permeability, with protein structures located in intercellular spaces between epithelial cells in the intestinal wall ( 52 , 53 ). Several studies on poultry have shown that HS impairs intestinal integrity and increases pro-inflammatory cytokines ( 11 , 54 , 55 ). Our results are consistent with this.…”

Effects of Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz. (dandelion) on growth performance, expression of genes coding for tight junction protein and mucin, microbiota composition and short chain fatty acids in ileum of broiler chickens

“…The reaction conditions were 95 °C for 30 s followed by 40 cycles of 95 °C for 5 s and 60 °C for 40 s. The specific sequences of primers for target genes (claudin, occludin-1, ZO-1 and mucin1) and endogenous reference gene (β-actin) are listed in Table 9 . The relative mRNA expression of the target genes was calculated using the 2 −△△CT method [ 47 ]. Data for each target transcript were normalized to the control birds (1.0).…”

Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of the Thermal Stress Response: Gallus gallus domesticus Show Low Immune Responses During Heat Stress

“…A total of 10 experiments from 10 studies (Honda et al, 2015;Calefi et al, 2016;Hosseini-Vashan et al, 2016;Attia and Hassan, 2017;Song et al, 2018;Chegini et al, 2019;Awad et al, 2020;Hirakawa et al, 2020;Alhotan et al, 2021;Hamidi et al, 2021) reported comparable immunoglobulin levels (IgA, IgG, and IgM) between Heat stress and Control groups. Significant heterogeneity was found and significant difference between the Heat stress and Control groups, indicating that the randomeffects model was applicable with I2 = 85%, 88%, and 86% (P < 0.01) for IgA, IgG, and IgM, respectively (Figures 4A-C).…”