ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (4): 752-760.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.04.019

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The Effects of Glutamine on the Immunity in the Intestinal Mucosa of Weaned Piglets with Lipopolysaccharide Challenge

HUANG Niu1, LI Huan1, HE Liu-qin2,3, TIAN Jun-quan2,3, CUI Zhi-jie4, YAO Kang1,2*   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center of Healthy Livestock, Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science in South-Central of Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China;
    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    4. Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China
  • Received:2016-10-14 Online:2017-04-23 Published:2017-04-23

Abstract:

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary glutamine (Gln) supplementation on the immunity in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged weaned piglets. A total of twenty-four healthy piglets were weaned at 28 days, and randomly assigned into three treatment groups (8 pigs per treatment): (1)control group (basal diet); (2) LPS group (basal diet); (3)Gln group (basal diet+1.0% glutamine).The experiment lasted for 30 days. On day 22, 25, 28 and 30 of the trial, piglets in the LPS and Gln groups were administered intraperitoneally with LPS (100 μg·kg-1 body weight), whereas pigs in the control group were injected intraperitoneally with the same volume of sterile saline. After the whole feeding period, blood samples were taken from jugular vein, then pigs were bled by exsanguination to collect samples, which were used to determine the immune parameters. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the concentration of serum IgM in the Gln and LPS groups remarkably increased by 40.00% and 62.86% (P<0.05), respectively. After LPS challenge, the concentration of serum interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the LPS group was significantly decreased by 7.11% (P<0.05), but there was no difference between the Gln group and control group (P>0.05). No matter with LPS challenge or not, Gln supplementation was remarkably increased serum interleukin-17 (IL-17) content(P<0.05).Compared with the control group, in the duodenum, the mRNA expression of IL-8 in LPS group and Gln group was remarkably decreased by 35.06% (P<0.05) and 44.16% (P<0.05). The mRNA expression of IL-12β in the jejunum and ileum of Gln group were higher than that in the LPS group (P>0.05). In the duodenum and jejunum, there were differences in the mRNA expression of IL-17α among the three groups (P<0.05), and the expression of IL-17α in the Gln group was the greatest in the duodenum and ileum; in the jejunum, the mRNA expression of IL-17α in LPS group and Gln group was remarkably decreased by 58.16% (P<0.05) and 56.07% (P<0.05). Collectively, dietary supplemented with 1% Gln could improve the immunity of weaned piglets challenged with LPS to some degree, thereby alleviating immunological stress.

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