Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

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Browsing Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences by Subject "Animal Science"

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    Development of novel microparticles for effective delivery of thymol and lauric acid to pig intestinal tract
    (2018-08-24) Omonijo, Faith; Kim, Seungil; Guo, Tracy; Wang, Qi; Gong, Joshua; Lahaye, Ludovic; Bodin, Jean-Christophe; Nyachoti, Martin; Liu, Song; Yang, Chengbo
    Antibiotics have been widely supplemented in feeds at sub-therapeutic concentrations to prevent post-weaning diarrhea and increase the overall productivity of pigs. However, the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria worldwide has made it urgent to minimize the use of in-feed antibiotics. The development of promising alternatives to in-feed antibiotics is crucial for maintaining the suitability of swine production. Both medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) and essential oils exhibit great potential to post-weaning diarrhea; however; their direct inclusion has compromised efficacy because of several factors including low stability, poor palatability and low availability in the lower gut. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop a formulation of microparticles to deliver a model of essential oil (thymol) and MCFA (lauric acid). The composite microparticles were produced by the incorporation of starch and alginate through a melt-granulation process. The release of thymol and lauric acid from the microparticles was in vitro determined using simulated salivary fluid (SSF), simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF), consecutively. The microparticles prepared with 2% alginate solution displayed a slow release of thymol and lauric acid in the SSF (21.2 ± 2.3%; 36 ± 1.1%), SGF (73.7 ± 6.9%; 54.8 ± 1.7%) and SIF (99.1 ± 1.2%; 99.1 ± 0.6%), respectively, whereas, the microparticles without alginate showed a rapid release of thymol and lauric acid from the SSF (79.9 ± 11.8%; 84.9 ± 9.4%), SGF (92.5 ± 3.5%; 75.8 ± 5.9%) and SIF (93.3 ± 9.4%; 93.3 ±4.6%), respectively. The thymol and lauric acid in the developed microparticles with or without alginate both exhibited excellent stabilities (> 90%) during being stored at 4˚C for 12 weeks and after being stored at room temperature for 2 weeks. These results evidenced that the approach developed in the present study could be potentially employed to deliver thymol and lauric acid to the lower gut of pigs, although, further in vivo investigations are necessary to validate the efficacy of the microparticles.
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    Open Access
    Effects of a microencapsulated formula of organic acids and essential oils on nutrient absorption, immunity, gut barrier function, and abundance of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F4 (ETEC F4) in weaned piglets challenged with ETEC F4
    (2020-08) Choi, Janghan; Wang, Lucy; Liu, Shangxi; Lu, Peng; Zhao, Xiaoya; Liu, Haoming; Lahaya, Ludovic; Santin, Elizabeth; Liu, Song; Nyachoti, Martin; Yang, Chengbo
    Abstract: The objective was to study the effects of microencapsulated organic acids (OA) and essential oils (EO) on growth performance, immune system, gut barrier function, nutrient digestion and absorption, and abundance of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F4 (ETEC F4) in the weaned piglets challenged with ETEC F4. Twenty-four ETEC F4 susceptible weaned piglets were randomly distributed to four treatments including (1) sham-challenged control (SSC; piglets fed a control diet and challenged with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)); (2) challenged control (CC; piglets fed a control diet and challenged with ETEC F4); (3) antibiotic growth promoters (AGP; CC + 55 mg·kg-1 of Aureomycin); and (4) microencapsulated OA and EO [P(OA+EO); (CC + 2 g·kg-1 of microencapsulated OA and EO]. The ETEC F4 infection significantly induced diarrhea at 8, 28, 34, and 40 hours post-inoculation (hpi) (P < 0.05) in the CC piglets. At 28 days post-inoculation (dpi), piglets fed P(OA+EO) had a lower (P < 0.05) diarrhea score compared to those fed CC, but the P(OA+EO) piglets had a lower (P < 0.05) diarrhea score compared to those fed the AGP diets at 40 dpi. The ETEC F4 infection tended to increase in vivo gut permeability measured by the oral gavaging fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran 70 kDa (FITC-D70) assay in the CC piglets compared to the SCC piglets (P = 0.09). The AGP piglets had higher FITC-D70 flux than P(OA+EO) piglets (P < 0.05). The ETEC F4 infection decreased mid-jejunal VH in the CC piglets compared to the SCC piglets (P < 0.05). The P(OA+EO) piglets had higher (P < 0.05) VH in the mid-jejunum than the CC piglets. The relative mRNA abundance of SGLT1 and B0AT1 was reduced (P < 0.05) by ETEC F4 inoculation when compared to the SCC piglets. The AGP piglets had a greater relative mRNA abundance of B0AT1 than the CC piglets (P < 0.05). The ETEC F4 inoculation increased the protein abundance of OCLN (P < 0.05), and the AGP piglets had the lowest relative protein abundance of OCLN among the challenged groups (P < 0.05). The supplementation of microencapsulated OA and EO enhanced intestinal morphology and showed anti-diarrhea effects at a one-time point in weaned piglets challenged with ETEC F4. Even if more future studies can be required for further validation, this study brings evidence that microencapsulated OA and EO combination can be useful within the tools to be implemented in strategies for alternatives to antibiotics in swine production.
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    Thymol improves barrier function and attenuates inflammatory responses in porcine intestinal epithelial cells during lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation
    (2018-12-19) Omonijo, Faith; Liu, Shangxi; Hui, Qianru; Zhang, Hua; Lahaye, Ludovic; Bodin, Jean-Christophe; Nyachoti, Martin; Yang, Chengbo
    It is well known that essential oil thymol exhibits anti-bacterial activity. The protective effects of thymol on pig intestine during inflammation is yet to be investigated. In this study, an in vitro (LPS)-induced inflammation model using IPEC-J2 cells was established. Cells were pre-treated with thymol for 1 h and then exposed to LPS for various assays. Interleukin 8 (IL-8) secretion, the mRNA abundance of cytokines, ROS, nutrient transporters, and tight junction proteins was measured. The results showed that LPS stimulation increased IL-8 secretion, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) mRNA abundance (P < 0.05), but the mRNA abundance of sodium-dependent glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1), excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAC1) and H+/peptide cotransporter 1 (PepT1) were decreased (P < 0.05). Thymol blocked ROS production (P < 0.05) and tended to decrease the production of LPS-induced IL-8 secretion (P = 0.0766). The mRNA abundance of IL-8 and TNF-α was reduced by thymol pre-treatment (P < 0.05), but thymol was unable to improve the gene expression of nutrient transporters (P > 0.05). The transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) was reduced and cell permeability increased by LPS treatment (P < 0.05), but these effects were attenuated by thymol (P < 0.05). Moreover, thymol increased zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and actin staining in the cells. However, the mRNA abundance of ZO-1 and occludin-3 was not affected by either LPS or thymol treatments. These results indicated that thymol can enhance barrier function and reduce ROS production and pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression in the epithelial cells during inflammation. The regulation of barrier function by thymol and LPS may be at post-transcriptional or post-translational levels.