Abstract: This study aimed to explore the immunomodulatory mechanism of Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) on HD11 in chicken macrophages by analyzing the effects of APS on the transcriptomes and metabolomes of HD11. A blank control group (CONT group) and an APS treatment group (A50 group) were set up, in which HD11 cells of the A50 group was treated with complete culture medium contain 50 μg·mL^-1 APS for 12 h; and HD11 cells of the CONT group were cultured in complete culture medium for 12 h. Metabolomics and transcriptomic techniques were used to analyze the differential genes and differential metabolites in CONT and A50 treated cells, and the combined analysis of the two omics was performed. Results:A total of 845 differential genes were detected in the transcriptome analysis between the A50 treatment group and the CONT group, including 415 up-regulated genes and 430 down-regulated genes. Differentially expressed genes were mainly concentrated in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, toll-like receptor signaling pathway, phagosome and AGE-RAGE signaling pathways, among which cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and toll-like receptor signaling pathways were the most significant. In the metabolome analysis and comparison between the A50 treatment group and the CONT group, a total of 89 differential metabolites were screened, of which 70 were down-regulated and 19 were up-regulated. In the combined analysis of transcription and metabolism of the A50 treatment group and the CONT group, the top ten trusted pathways were purine metabolism, carbon metabolism, pentose phosphate pathway, glutathione metabolism, histidine metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, α-homolenic acid metabolism, ABC transporter, iron death and tyrosine metabolism. APS may exert immunomodulatory effects on HD11 cells through the metabolic reprogramming of toll-like receptor signaling pathway, glycolysis and pentose phosphate pathway.

Key words: astragalus polysaccharide, macrophage, transcription, metabolism