ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (9): 1912-1919.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.09.020

• CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Effect of High Dietary Copper on Oxidative Damage and Expression of Nrf2 Signaling Pathway Related Genes in the Kidneys of Broilers

PEI Ruonan1, YANG Fan1,2, LIAO Jianzhao1, MA Feiyang1, MA Xinyan1, LIN Yuyin1, YAO Qifa1, TANG Zhaoxin1*, LIANG Zhaoping1*   

  1. 1. College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China;
    2. Institute of Animal Population Disease Surveillance and Prevention & Control, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
  • Received:2019-03-05 Online:2019-09-23 Published:2019-09-23

Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of high dietary copper on oxidative damage and expression of Nrf2 signaling pathway related genes in the kidneys of broilers, 48 one-day-old healthy white feather broilers were randomly divided into 4 groups with 12 each in this study. The birds were fed with basal diets (Cu 11 mg·kg-1, the control group), and high-copper diets (Cu 110 mg·kg-1, the high-copper group Ⅰ; Cu 220 mg·kg-1, the high-copper group Ⅱ; Cu 330 mg·kg-1, the high-copper group Ⅲ, respectively). On day 49, the kidneys were collected for histopathology examination. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC); and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected. Additionally, mRNA levels of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), glutamate cysteine ligase modifier subunit (GCLM), hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1), and NAD (P) H quinone oxidoreducetase 1 (NQO1) were measured using real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The results showed that widen renal interstitial and exfoliated renal tubular epithelial cells were observed in the high-copper groups. Additionally, the activities of SOD, GR, and T-AOC in the high-copper group Ⅲ were significantly decreased compared to those in the control group, but there was no significant change in the content of MDA. Moreover, mRNA levels of Nrf2 and GCLC in the high-copper group Ⅱ and the high-copper group Ⅲ were markedly higher than those in the control group, and mRNA levels of GCLM and HO-1 up-regulated with the increase of dietary copper, but NQO1 mRNA level did not significantly changed. The results suggest that high dietary copper can induce oxidative damage and the expression of Nrf2 signaling pathway related genes in the kidneys of broilers.

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