Xiaochaihu Decoction Treatment of Chicken Colibacillosis by Improving Pulmonary Inflammation and Systemic Inflammation

Abstract

Chicken colibacillosis—the most common disease of poultry, is caused mainly by avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC). It has a major impact on the poultry industry worldwide. The present study was conducted to investigate the therapeutic effects of Xiaochaihu Decoction (XCHD) supplementation on clinical manifestation, organ index, bacterial load in organ and inflammatory mediators in a chicken model challenged with APEC. The results showed that all doses of XCHD significantly elevated the survival rate of infected chickens. XCHD improved the clinical signs of infected chickens, reduced the organ index, reduced the bacterial load of organs, and inhibited the secretion of serum and pulmonary inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF- α. Taken together, this study demonstrates that XCHD had protective effects on APEC-infected chickens. Its mechanism includes anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. These findings may contribute to the further study of the mechanism of the formula and the prevention or treatment of colibacillosis in poultry. The significance of this study is that it provides a certain theoretical basis for the replacement of antibiotics by XCHD.

A comprehensive study of colisepticaemia progression in layer chickens applying novel tools elucidates pathogenesis and transmission of Escherichia coli into eggs

“…During APEC infection, immune cells release cytokines in response to bacterial invasion, causing other immune cells to be activated and recruited to the infection site. The sequential development of inflammatory reaction over the course of colisepticaemia in this study coincided with a recently published work, which showed that APEC infection led to massive secretion of proinflammatory cytokines like IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α expression in the lung and serum 46 . Likewise, we also showed previously that IL-1β and IL-6 can be upregulated in lung and spleen at 3 dpi 10 .…”

Paeoniflorin protects chicken against APEC-induced acute lung injury by affecting the endocannabinoid system and inhibiting the PI3K/AKT and NF-κB signaling pathways

“…Bacterial load testing was based on previous reports ( Song, et al, 2022 ), in brief, bacterial DNA was extracted from 10 8 CFU/mL of APEC bacterial solution by tenfold dilution to 10 2 CFU/mL. 16S rRNA primer sequences (5′-3′): F-CACAATGGGCGAAAGCCTGA; R-GGCTGCTGGCACGTAGTTAG.…”