Dietary Copper Level Affects Copper Metabolism During Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Immunological Stress in Chicks

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of dietary Cu level on Cu metabolism during the acute phase response in broiler chicks with adequate (Experiment 1) or deficient (Experiment 2) Cu. Diets based on cornstarch and isolated soybean protein were used to formulate a basal diet, and basal diet plus either 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg additional Cu as either CuO or CuSO4. Each diet was fed to six pens of five chicks per pen (Experiment 1) or eight pens of five chicks (Experiment 2). Half of the chicks on each diet were injected with Salmonella typhymurium lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on alternate days. In Experiment 1, LPS significantly decreased daily gain, feed intake, and feed efficiency (P < 0.01) and increased the concentration of Cu in blood plasma (P < 0.01). In the uninjected birds, adding 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg Cu as CuO or 15 mg/kg Cu as CuSO4 increased the rate of gain over that of chicks fed the basal diet. In the birds challenged with LPS, 10 mg/kg Cu as CuO increased the rate of gain and efficiency compared to those of chicks fed the basal diet. Addition of CuSO4 to the diet of chicks challenged with LPS did not affect gain, intake, or feed efficiency compared to those of chicks fed the basal diet. Ceruloplasmin levels were higher in chicks challenged with LPS than in control chicks (P = 0.03), and this difference tended to be greater in chickens fed CuO than in chickens fed CuSO4 (P = 0.07). In chicks challenged with LPS, feeding CuO at all levels and feeding CuSO4 to give 10 or 15 mg/kg Cu increased ceruloplasmin levels above that of chicks fed the basal diet. Hepatic Mn superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Cu/Zn SOD were not influenced by dietary Cu level or source or LPS. Results of Experiment 2 were similar to those of Experiment 1 except that supplemental CuSO4 and CuO gave similar increases in gain and CuSO4 was more effective at increasing ceruloplasmin levels. Chicks given supplemental Cu had higher ceruloplasmin levels following challenge with LPS than Cu-deficient chicks fed the basal diet. Apparently, Cu requirements are higher for chicks experiencing an acute phase response than for healthy chicks.

On oxidation resistance and meat quality of broilers challenged with lipopolysaccharide

“…These data are in agreement with other investigations that found a reduction in growth and BW (Koh et al 1996;Xie et al 2000;Mireles et al 2005) in birds treated with LPS. In contrast, Parmentier et al (1998) and Cheng et al (2004) demonstrated that the effect of LPS injection on BW gain is strain-and timedependent.…”

The effect of LPS injections on non-specific immune response in affected pigeons

“…A protective function of this protein is associated with a transport of about 95% of copper plasma pool (Butler and Curtis 1977) which increased content was observed in our study in pigeon sera and in plasma of other birds following the LPS injection (Johnson et al 1993). This α2 globulin (Butler and Curtis 1977) is responsible for cellular membrane stabilization (Koh et al 1996), protection from excessive accumulation of activated oxygen radicals in phagocytic cells (Butler and Curtis 1977) and reversion a hypoferremia accompanying APR (Piercy 1979). In the last mechanism a significant role is played by iron-binding glycoprotein -Tf.…”

“…This rise was observed in our study following the first LPS injection in pigeons (endotoxin fever) what is a proof of the activation of important humoral compound of non-specific immune mechanisms (Gołąb et al 2002). Some cytokines are responsible for the stimulation of APP production in birds (Amrani et al 1986, Klasing et al 1987, Klasing and Johnstone 1991, Koh et al 1996. A depression of the cytokine production observed in response to repeated LPS injections could affect a fall in APP concentrations in conditions of pyrogenic tolerance in pigeons.…”

“…APP production is mediated by some cytokines, such as IL-1 (Klasing et al 1987), IL-6 (Amrani et al 1986) and TNF-α (Koh et al 1996) and under a control of glycocorticoids (Amrani et al 1986) and microelements such as iron, zinc and copper (Klasing and Johnstone 1991) constituting compounds of many enzymes taking a part in this process. Moreover, the mentioned trace elements are very important for bacteria proliferation during the infection.…”

Níveis nutricionais de cobre para frangos de corte machos e fêmeas na fase inicial

“…Entre elas, encontra-se a ceruloplasmina, secretada no fígado e considerada a principal proteína carreadora de Cu no soro (Koh et al, 1996), e a citocromo oxidase, uma metaloenzima fundamental para a transferência de elétrons para o oxigênio, uma etapa muito importante na respiração celular (Lehninger et al, 1995). O Cu induz a síntese da thionein no fígado, que consiste em uma seqüência de aminoácidos que varia conforme a espécie.…”