Effects of Feed Contaminant Deoxynivalenol on Plasma Cytokines and mRNA Expression of Immune Genes in the Intestine of Broiler Chickens

PLOS ONE, Dec 2019

An experiment was conducted to investigate the individual and combined effects of dietary deoxynivalenol (DON) and a microbial feed additive on plasma cytokine level and on the expression of immune relevant genes in jejunal tissues of broilers. A total of 40 broiler chicks were obtained from a commercial hatchery and divided randomly into four groups (10 birds per group). Birds were reared in battery cages from one day old for 5 weeks. The dietary groups were 1) control birds fed basal diet; 2) DON group fed basal diet contaminated with 10 mg DON/ kg feed; 3) DON + Mycofix group fed basal diet contaminated with 10 mg DON/ kg feed and supplemented with a commercial feed additive, Mycofix® Select (MS) (2.5 kg/ton of feed); 4) Mycofix group fed basal diet supplemented with MS (2.5 kg/ton of feed). At 35 days, the plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) were quantified by ELISA test kits. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-8, IL-1β, interferon gamma (IFNγ), transforming growth factor beta receptor I (TGFBR1) and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells 1 (NF-κβ1) in jejunum were quantified by qRT-PCR. The results showed that the plasma TNF-α decreased in response to DON, while in combination with MS, the effect of DON was reduced. DON down-regulated the relative gene expression of IL-1β, TGFBR1 and IFN-γ, and addition of MS to the DON contaminated diet compensates these effects on IL-1β, TGFBR1 but not for IFN-γ. Furthermore, supplementation of MS to either DON contaminated or control diet up-regulated the mRNA expression of NF-κβ1. In conclusion, DON has the potential to provoke and modulate immunological reactions of broilers and subsequently could increase their susceptibility to disease. The additive seemed to have almost as much of an effect as DON, albeit on different genes.

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Effects of Feed Contaminant Deoxynivalenol on Plasma Cytokines and mRNA Expression of Immune Genes in the Intestine of Broiler Chickens

et al. (2013) Effects of Feed Contaminant Deoxynivalenol on Plasma Cytokines and mRNA Expression of Immune Genes in the Intestine of Broiler Chickens. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71492. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071492 Effects of Feed Contaminant Deoxynivalenol on Plasma Cytokines and mRNA Expression of Immune Genes in the Intestine of Broiler Chickens Josef Bo hm 0 Juliet Spencer, University of San Francisco, United States of America 0 1 Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine , Vienna , Austria , 2 Department of Animal Hygiene , Behaviour and Management , Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University , Qena, Egypt, 3 Clinic for Avian , Reptile and Fish Medicine, Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine , Vienna , Austria , 4 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Physiology , Pathophysiology and Biophysics , University of Veterinary Medicine , Vienna , Austria An experiment was conducted to investigate the individual and combined effects of dietary deoxynivalenol (DON) and a microbial feed additive on plasma cytokine level and on the expression of immune relevant genes in jejunal tissues of broilers. A total of 40 broiler chicks were obtained from a commercial hatchery and divided randomly into four groups (10 birds per group). Birds were reared in battery cages from one day old for 5 weeks. The dietary groups were 1) control birds fed basal diet; 2) DON group fed basal diet contaminated with 10 mg DON/ kg feed; 3) DON + Mycofix group fed basal diet contaminated with 10 mg DON/ kg feed and supplemented with a commercial feed additive, MycofixH Select (MS) (2.5 kg/ ton of feed); 4) Mycofix group fed basal diet supplemented with MS (2.5 kg/ton of feed). At 35 days, the plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) were quantified by ELISA test kits. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of TNF-a, IL-8, IL-1b, interferon gamma (IFNc), transforming growth factor beta receptor I (TGFBR1) and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells 1 (NF-kb1) in jejunum were quantified by qRT-PCR. The results showed that the plasma TNF-a decreased in response to DON, while in combination with MS, the effect of DON was reduced. DON down-regulated the relative gene expression of IL-1b, TGFBR1 and IFN-c, and addition of MS to the DON contaminated diet compensates these effects on IL-1b, TGFBR1 but not for IFN-c. Furthermore, supplementation of MS to either DON contaminated or control diet up-regulated the mRNA expression of NF-kb1. In conclusion, DON has the potential to provoke and modulate immunological reactions of broilers and subsequently could increase their susceptibility to disease. The additive seemed to have almost as much of an effect as DON, albeit on different genes. - Funding: This work received the financial support from Biomin GTI GmbH, Herzogenburg, Austria. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: This work received the financial support from Biomin GTI GmbH, Herzogenburg, Austria. This does not alter the authors adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. . These authors author contributed equally to this work. Deoxynivalenol (DON), or vomitoxin, is produced by Fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zea) and F. culmorum [1] and considered the most common contaminant in poultry feedstuffs. It has negative effects on growth, feed consumption and may induce intestinal alterations, neurological and reproductive problems [2]. However, immune impairment is considered the most important outcome of DON mycotoxicosis [3]. It was shown that DON has both immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive effects according to concentration, time and duration of exposure [2]. DON can be immunotoxic at low dietary concentrations even if there is no alteration of the productivity traits [3,4,5]. Unfortunately, limited information is available regarding the immunotoxicity of DON in poultry. In broiler chickens, DON was shown to suppress the vaccination response to infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) [6] and to Newcastle disease virus (NDV) [6,7]. Recently, DON was shown to suppress the antibody response to infectious bronchitis vaccine (IBV) in broiler chickens [8,9]. Furthermore, it was shown that the dietary inclusion of DON in diets of laying hens resulted in a reduction of white blood cell number and total lymphocyte number [10]. The ability of DON to affect cytokines is important because this can lead to dysregulation of immune functions. In domestic pigs, lower IL-1b and IL-8 expression occurred in blood and ileal tissue after feeding of low doses of DON [11]. Similarly, in broiler chickens, splenic mRNA expression of IFN-c was down-regulated as a result of chronic feeding of diets natu (...truncated)


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Khaled Ghareeb, Wageha A. Awad, Chimidtseren Soodoi, Soleman Sasgary, Alois Strasser, Josef Böhm. Effects of Feed Contaminant Deoxynivalenol on Plasma Cytokines and mRNA Expression of Immune Genes in the Intestine of Broiler Chickens, PLOS ONE, 2013, Volume 8, Issue 8, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071492