Lycopene alleviates zearalenone-induced testicular damage in chickens by inhibiting oxidative stress, necroptosis, and inflammation

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a common mycotoxin that can cause toxic damage to the testes of male animals. Although existing studies have demonstrated that lycopene (LYC) can antagonize the toxicity of zearalenone (ZEN), how LYC alleviates ZEN-induced testicular damage in chickens by affecting oxidative stress (OS), necroptosis, and inflammatory pathways remains unclear. This study established a chicken testicular toxicity model. Seventy-five 7-day-old male chickens were randomly divided into three groups: the control group (basal diet), the ZEN group (basal diet + 0.5 mg/kg ZEN), and the ZEN-LYC group (basal diet + 0.5 mg/kg ZEN + 5 mg/kg LYC). After 60 days of feeding, euthanasia was performed on all chickens. Samples of testicular tissue and blood were obtained to undergo subsequent experimental analysis. Histological observations revealed that the addition of LYC could alleviate testicular tissue damage resulting from ZEN. LYC markedly attenuated the rising trend of MDA, H₂O₂, and ROS levels caused by ZEN, while simultaneously enhancing the activities of CAT, GSH-PX, and T-AOC. LYC supplementation markedly alleviated the reduction in Caspase-8, IL-10, and TGF-β expression caused by ZEN in chicken testicular tissues, and effectively inhibited the ZEN-induced overexpression of RIPK1, RIPK3, MLKL, FADD, IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6. Furthermore, immunofluorescence analysis demonstrated that LYC could significantly attenuate the ZEN-triggered increasing trend of MLKL and IL-1β fluorescence intensity. Altogether, LYC played a significant protective role in mitigating ZEN-induced inflammation and toxic damage in chicken testes by inhibiting the necroptosis pathway mediated by oxidative stress.