Effect of in ovo administration of inulin and Lactococcus lactis on immune-related gene expression in broiler chickens

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of in ovo administration of inulin and Lactococcus lactis on immune-related gene expression in broiler chickens. ANIMALS 45 Ross broilers. PROCEDURES On day 12 of embryonic development, 360 eggs were equally allocated among 3 treatment groups and injected with 0.2 mL of a solution that contained 1.76 mg of inulin (prebiotic group) or 1.76 mg of inulin enriched with 1,000 CFUs of L lactis subsp lactis 2955 (synbiotic group), or they were injected with 0.2 mL of saline (0.9% NaCl) solution (control). At 1, 14, and 35 days after hatching, 5 male birds from each group were euthanized, and the spleen and cecal tonsils were harvested for determination of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p40, IL-18, cluster of differentiation 80, interferon-β, and interferon-γ expression by means of a reverse transcription quantitative PCR assay. Gene expressions in the cecal tonsils and spleens of chickens in the prebiotic and synbiotic groups were compared with those of control chickens at each tissue collection time. RESULTS Compared with control birds, immune-related gene expression was downregulated in birds in the prebiotic and synbiotic groups, and the magnitude of that downregulation was more pronounced in the cecal tonsils than in the spleen and increased with age. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that in ovo administration of a prebiotic or synbiotic to broilers was associated with downregulation of immune-related gene expression in the cecal tonsils and spleen. The magnitude of that downregulation increased with age and was most likely caused by stabilization of the gastrointestinal microbiota.

Synbiotics for Broiler Chickens—In Vitro Design and Evaluation of the Influence on Host and Selected Microbiota Populations following In Ovo Delivery

“…To date, only a few studies on performance and immunomodulatory effects of synbiotics administered in ovo have been conducted [19,20]. Most of the studies on synbiotic administration examined the classical route of delivery, in-feed or in-water.…”

“…Alternatively, prebiotics, probiotics, or synbiotics can be delivered in ovo into the chicken embryo, which extends the effective time of action to the pre-hatching period. The in ovo method of delivery of microflora-promoting bioactive compounds, which was developed by our group, is based on a single dose of prebiotics or synbiotics injected into the air cell precisely on day 12 of egg incubation [18–20]. Downstream effects of in ovo injection depend on proper timing of administration as well as the type and dose of the bioactive compound; therefore, it is crucial to screen the biological properties of these compounds and validate their effectiveness for in ovo delivery [11,12,14,15].…”

Long-Term Transcriptomic Effects of Prebiotics and Synbiotics Delivered In Ovo in Broiler Chickens

“…However, it is noteworthy that such down-regulation of immune-related genes, in response to in ovo injections of prebiotics or synbiotics, does not happen instantly at hatching. In our previous studies we determined that cytokine gene expression decreases as chickens age and is most apparent in the oldest animals (in this case, 5-weeks-old broiler males) [29]. It led us to a conclusion that the maturation of the microbiome is a prerequisite for the exertion of observable effects on the host.…”

“…We also detected a down-regulation of immune-related gene expression in the S and CT of broiler chickens injected in ovo with inulin or galactooligosaccharides (GOS) combined with L . lactis subsp., which was more pronounced at the later stages post hatching [29]. These data suggest that the birds respond to the in ovo delivery of synbiotics by modulating gene expression levels in immune-related tissues at the later stages post hatching.…”

Influence of different prebiotics and mode of their administration on broiler chicken performance

“…This method has been successfully used for prebiotic Bednarczyk et al, 2011) or synbiotic (Maiorano et al, 2012;Slawinska et al, 2014a and2014b;Madej and Bednarczyk, 2016;Madej et al, 2015;Pruszynska-Oszmalek et al, 2015) in ovo delivery. As a consequence, in ovo delivery of prebiotics not only have improved performance traits, such as the growth rate, feed intake (FI), nutrient digestibility (Bednarczyk et al, 2011) and meat quality (Maiorano et al, 2012), but also significantly increased total activity of pancreatic enzymes (amylase, lipase and trypsin) (Pruszynska-Oszmalek et al, 2015) and influence immune system development and function (Slawinska et al, 2014b;Madej and Bednarczyk, 2016;Madej et al, 2015;Plowiec et al, 2015).…”