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This study aimed to investigate the impacts of dietary supplementation with Galla chinensis tannins (GCT) on the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, and lipid metabolism of young broilers. Overall, a total of 216 healthy 1 day-old broilers were randomly allocated to CON group and GCT group, and provided with a basal diet or a basal diet added with 300 mg/kg microencapsulated GCT, respectively, in a 21 days trial. Our findings indicated that dietary GCT addition had no significant effects (p > 0.05) on growth performance. However, GCT supplementation led to a significant reduction in the total cholesterol (TC) concentration in the serum and liver (p

Herein, Galla Chinensis tannin (GCT) was examined for its influence on preventing lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced liver damage in broiler chickens. Approximately 486 one-day-old healthy broilers were randomly allocated to 3 treatment groups (control, LPS, and LPS + GCT). The control and LPS groups were fed a basal diet and the LPS+GCT group was fed the basal diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg GCT. LPS was intraperitoneally injected (1 mg/kg body weight BW) in broilers in the LPS and LPS+GCT groups at 17, 19, and 21 days of age. The results manifested that dietary GCT addition attenuated LPS-induced deleterious effects on serum parameters and significantly increased serum immunoglobulin and complement C3 concentrations relative to the control and LPS groups. Dietary supplementation of GCT inhibited LPS-induced increase in broiler hepatic inflammatory cytokines, caspases activities, and TLR4/NF-κB pathway-related gene mRNA expression. Therefore, 300 mg/kg GCT addition to the diet improved the immune function of broilers and inhibit liver inflammation by blocking the TLR4/NF-κB pathway. Our findings provide support for the application of GCT in poultry production.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Galla Chinensis tannic acid (TA) on growth performance, immune function, and liver health status in broilers. A total of 288 1-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chickens were randomly divided into two groups in a 42-days study. The two groups were a basal diet (CON group) and a basal diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg Galla Chinensis tannic acid (TA group). The results showed that the TA group had significantly decreased feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) throughout the experiment (P < 0.05). The levels of total protein, albumin, low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, urea, total cholesterol, and glucose in the TA group were significantly higher than in the CON group (P < 0.05). In addition, the serum immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M, and complements (C3, C4) levels in the TA group were significantly higher than those in the CON group (P < 0.05). Compared with the CON group, the hepatic interleukin-6, interleukin-18, NLRs family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), caspase-1, and caspase-3 in the TA group were significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Besides, TA group had significantly lower mRNA expression levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and NLRP3 in liver (P < 0.05). The TA group had significantly higher the mRNA expression levels of Bcl-2 than CON group in liver (P < 0.05). Moreover, TA group tended to decrease Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in liver (P < 0.10). To sum up, dietary supplemented with microencapsulated TA from Galla Chinensis had beneficial effects on growth performance, immune function, and liver health status in broilers. The protective role of TA from Galla Chinensis in liver health of broilers might be related to the inhibition of hepatic apoptosis and pyroptosis via inactivation of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with Macleaya cordata extract (MCE) containing protopine and allotypotopine on the growth performance and liver health in broiler chickens. A total of 486 1-day-old male AA broiler chickens were randomly assigned to the following three groups: (1) control (CON) group, broiler chickens fed a basal diet; (2) AGP group (positive control), broiler chickens fed a basal diet supplemented with 50 mg/kg aureomycin; (3) MCE group, broiler chickens fed a basal diet supplemented with 0.6 mg/kg MCE including 0.4 mg/kg protopine and 0.2 mg/kg allotypotopine. The results showed that the MCE group had significantly higher final body weight and average daily gain from d 0 to 42 than the other groups (p < 0.05), and groups MCE and AGP both had significantly lower feed-to-gain ratio from d 0 to 42 than the CON group (p < 0.05). Serum total protein, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, glucose, immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin M, and complements (C3, C4) concentrations in the MCE group were significantly higher than in the CON group (p < 0.05). Dietary MCE or aureomycin supplementation significantly reduced the hepatic contents of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine, malondialdehyde, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, NLRs family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), and caspase-1 in the liver (p < 0.05). Moreover, MCE or aureomycin supplementation significantly inhibited mRNA expressions of Toll-like receptor 4, myeloid differentiation factor 88, nuclear factor-κB, and NLRP3, as well as the expression ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 mRNA (p < 0.05). Therefore, our study suggested that dietary supplementation with 0.6 mg/kg MCE containing protopine and allocryptopine improved growth performance and benefited liver health in broiler chickens possibly through inhibiting caspase-1-induced pyroptosis by inactivating TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling pathway, and provided support for the application of MCE containing protopine and allocryptopine as an alternative to antibiotics in the feed industry.

The current study aimed to explore the effects of supplementing paraformic acid (PFA) into broilers’ diet on growth performance, inflammatory responses, and liver protection. A total of 567 healthy one-day-old broilers were used in a 42-d study, and they were randomized into three groups. Broilers were fed a basal diet (CON group) or the basal diet supplemented with either 50 mg/kg aureomycin (AB group) or 1000 mg/kg PFA (PFA group). The results showed that the PFA and AB groups had a higher feed conversion rate than the CON group from day 21 to 42 (p < 0.05). Dietary PFA or aureomycin supplementation decreased serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10, alanine transaminase, diamine oxidase, and D-lactate, and significantly increased serum concentrations of immunoglobulin (Ig) A, IgM, and complement C4 (p < 0.05). Moreover, dietary PFA or aureomycin supplementation decreased hepatic levels of caspase-1, NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), tumor necrosis factor-alpha, IL-6, and IL-18, as well as NF-κB mRNA expression (p < 0.05). Above all, PFA supplementation into the broilers’ diet improved growth performance, inhibited inflammatory responses, and benefited liver protection. The protective effects of PFA on the liver might be related to inhibition of caspase-1-induced pyroptosis via inactivating the NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome axis in broiler chickens.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of adding tannic acid (TA) extracted from Galla chinensis to the diet of broiler chickens on intestinal development. A total of 324 healthy 1-day-old broilers were used in a 42 d study, and divided into two treatment groups at random (six replicates per group). Broilers were either received a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg microencapsulated TA extracted from Galla chinensis. The results showed that dietary supplemented with 300 mg/kg TA from Galla chinensis improved intestinal morphology, promoted intestinal mucosal barrier integrity, and elevated mucosal expressions of nutrients transporters and tight junction protein CLDN3 in broilers. Besides, 300 mg/kg TA from Galla chinensis supplementation decreased the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines in serum and intestinal mucosa and reduced the mRNA expression of NF-κB in intestinal mucosa. Above all, supplementation of 300 mg/kg microencapsulated TA extracted from Galla chinensis showed beneficial effects in improving intestinal development, which might be attributed to the suppression of inflammatory responses via blockage of NF-κB in broiler chickens. These findings will support the use of TA sourced from Galla chinensis in poultry industry.