Dietary supplementation of sulfur amino acids improves intestinal immunity to Eimeria in broilers treated with anti-interleukin-10 antibody

• Published in: Animal Nutrition Vol. 10; pp. 382 - 389
• Main Authors: Ren, Zhouzheng, Yan, Jiakun, Whelan, Rose, Liao, Xujie, Bütz, Daniel E., Arendt, Maria K., Cook, Mark E., Yang, Xiaojun, Crenshaw, Thomas D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Elsevier B.V 01.09.2022; KeAi Publishing; KeAi Communications Co., Ltd
• Subjects: Chicken; Coccidiosis; Egg yolk antibody; Interleukin-10; Original; Sulfur amino acid; Chicken; Interleukin-10; Coccidiosis; Sulfur amino acid; Egg yolk antibody
• ISSN: 2405-6545; 2405-6383; 2405-6383
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aninu.2022.06.008

Oral antibody to interleukin-10 (anti-IL-10) enhances the intestinal immune defense against Eimeria. The sulfur amino acids methionine and cysteine (M+C) play essential roles in inducing and maintaining protective immune responses during intestinal infections. Hence, increased dietary M+C may support the anti-IL-10-induced intestinal immunity to Eimeria. Broilers (n = 640) were arranged in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design with 2 levels of each of the 3 main factors: dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) M+C levels (0.6% or 0.8%), dietary anti-IL-10 supplementation (with or without), and coccidiosis challenge (control or challenge). Briefly, the broilers were supplied with either 0.6% or 0.8% SID M+C, each with or without anti-IL-10 (300 μg/kg), from d 10 to 21. On d 14, broilers from each diet were gavaged with either PBS or Eimeria. The resulting Eimeria infection induced fecal oocyst shedding and intestinal lesions. Broilers fed 0.8% SID M+C (main effects, P ≤ 0.05) had decreased feed-to-gain ratio, increased duodenum and cecum luminal anti-Eimeria IgA titers, and decreased fecal oocyst counts, when compared to 0.6% SID M+C. The supplementation of anti-IL-10 (main effects, P ≤ 0.05) increased cecum luminal total IgA concentration and decreased cecum lesions. Interactions (P ≤ 0.05) were detected for growth performance and cecum luminal IFN-γ. Briefly, the highest body weight gain and feed intake were reached in PBS-gavaged broilers fed 0.8% SID M+C with no anti-IL-10 and in Eimeria-challenged broilers fed 0.8% SID M+C with anti-IL-10. In Eimeria-infected broilers, anti-IL-10 increased intestinal luminal IFN-γ and body weight gain only at 0.8% SID M+C. Collectively, anti-IL-10 increased intestinal luminal IFN-γ levels, decreased cecum lesions and restored growth only when fed with adequate amounts of sulfur amino acids. Our findings underscore the importance of providing sufficient essential nutrients to support the anti-IL-10 induced immunity against coccidiosis.