Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of monobutyrin, monovalerin, or their combinations on cortisol and haptoglobin in serum, and gene expression in ileal mucosa of weanling pigs infected with F4 and F18 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). A total of 176 pigs (7.14 ± 1.12 kg, 88 gilts and 88 barrows, 21 to 24 days old) were housed individually and randomly allotted into 11 treatments (n = 16) in a randomized complete block design with group and sex as blocks. The treatments included a negative control (NC) without ETEC infection, a positive control (PC) with ETEC, and nine additional groups supplemented with 50 mg/kg carbadox, 2,500 mg/kg zinc oxide (ZnO), 0.10% sodium butyrate, 0.10% or 0.15% monobutyrin, 0.10% or 0.15% monovalerin, a low dose combination (0.05% monobutyrin and 0.05% monovalerin), and a high dose combination (0.075% monobutyrin and 0.075% monovalerin), respectively. The experiment lasted for 28 days, including 7 days of adaptation and 21 days of post-inoculation (PI). After the adaptation, all piglets except those in the NC group were orally inoculated with a 3 mL dose containing equal amounts of 5 × 109 CFU F4 and 5 × 109 CFU F18 ETEC for three consecutive days. Serum samples were collected on day 0 before ETEC inoculation and on day 2, 4, and 21 PI to analyze cortisol and haptoglobin by ELISA. Ileal mucosa samples (n = 6) were collected on day 5 PI to extract RNA for analyzing the expression of genes related to immunity and gut integrity by qPCR. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using SAS with a randomized complete block design and pig as the experimental unit. Pigs in PC had greater (P 0.05) serum haptoglobin on day 2 and 4 PI, compared with NC. Compared with PC, pigs supplemented with carbadox or 0.15% monovalerin had lower (P 0.05) serum haptoglobin on day 2 PI, and pigs supplemented with 0.10% monobutyrin had less (P 0.05) serum haptoglobin on day 4 PI. Compared with PC, pigs supplemented with sodium butyrate, 0.10% monobutyrin, and high dose combination of monobutyrin and monovalerin had lower (P 0.05) serum cortisol on both day 2 and 4 PI. Supplementing sodium butyrate, 0.15% monovalerin, or low dose combination tended to increase (P 0.10) the expression of GPR43, GPR109A, and SLC5A8 in ileal mucosa compared with NC. Pigs in all supplemented groups tended to have lower (P 0.10) expression of IL8 than PC, except 0.15% monovalerin and low combination groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of monobutyrin, monovalerin, or their combination may reduce stress biomarkers and modulate ileal mucosal gene expression in weaning pigs infected with ETEC F4 and F18.
Sun et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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