Effect of Echinacea on gut microbiota of immunosuppressed ducks

Abstract

IntroductionImmunosuppression puts animals in a susceptible state and disrupts the balance of intestinal flora, which can increase the risk of disease and cause serious harm to the farm. Echinacea can exert its immunomodulatory effect in various ways, but its influence on intestinal flora is unclear.MethodsTherefore, we investigated the effect of Echinacea extract (EE) on gut microbiota in immunosuppressed ducks by 16s-RNA sequencing in this experiment.ResultsThe results showed that EE significantly improved the weight gain of immunosuppressed ducks (p<0.001). It also increased the immune organ index (p<0.01) and upregulated the levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ (p<0.05) as well as IL-2 in the serum. The lesions of the bursa were evident compared to the spleen and thymus. After treatment in the EE group, the lymphocyte count of the bursa returned to healthy levels and the lesions were significantly improved. The diversity analysis showed that neither of the alpha-diversity indices showed a significant difference (p>0.05). However, the EE group had a trend closer to the healthy group compared to the M group. β-diversity analysis revealed a high degree of sample separation between the healthy and immunosuppressed groups. The sequencing result showed a significantly higher relative abundance of Prevotella and Prevotella_UCG_001 in the dexamethasone-treated group, which could be potential biomarkers of dexamethasone-induced immunosuppression. EE increased the relative abundance of Akkermansia, Bacteroides, and Alistipes and significantly decreased the relative abundance of Megamonas, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus (p<0.05).ConclusionThe results showed that Echinacea extract improves the development of immunosuppressed ducks and modulates intestinal immune function by increasing the abundance of beneficial bacterial genera in the intestine.

Effects of Plant Polysaccharides Combined with Boric Acid on Digestive Function, Immune Function, Harmful Gas and Heavy Metal Contents in Faeces of Fatteners

“…Therefore, Echinacea can be considered a recommended alternative to antibiotics [ 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Moreover, Echinacea polysaccharides have been shown to improve immune indices and increase levels of INF-α, IFN-γ and IL-2 in sera [ 40 ], as well as an increase in the total levels of lgG and γ-interferon along with an increase of important cytokine genes expression in calves [ 41 ]. Similarly, feeding Astragalus polysaccharides to mice with lung cancer resulted in improvements in white blood cell count, thymus index, spleen index and cytokine levels, thus effectively regulating immune function [ 42 ].…”

Yeast culture repairs rumen epithelial injury by regulating microbial communities and metabolites in sheep

“…Based on the distance matrix obtained from the 1 http://www.biocloud.net/ 2 https://qiime2.org/ beta diversity analysis, principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) analysis was performed on the abundance matrix based on Brary-Curtis distance using R software package to further demonstrate the differences in species diversity among samples (Zhang et al, 2020). Next, Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) software 3 was used to make a LEfSe cluster diagram and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) diagram (Lin et al, 2022). The sequencing data was uploaded to the BioProject database (BioProject ID: PRJNA1023752).…”

Effects of Plant Polysaccharides Combined with Boric Acid on Digestive Function, Immune Function, and Harmful Gas and Heavy Metal Contents in Faeces of Finishing Pigs

“…Therefore, Echinacea can be considered a recommended alternative to antibiotics [38][39][40]. Moreover, Echinacea polysaccharides have been shown to improve immune indices and increase levels of INF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-2 in sera [41], as well as increasing total lgG and γ-interferon levels along with promoting increased expression of important cytokine genes in calves [42]. Similarly, feeding Astragalus polysaccharides to mice with lung cancer resulted in improvements in white blood cell count, thymus index, spleen index, and cytokine levels, thus effectively regulating immune function [43].…”