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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #281465
Title: Improved resistance to Eimeria acervulina infection in chickens due to dietary supplementation with garlic metabolites

Author
item Kim, Duk Kyung
item Lillehoj, Hyun
item Lee, Sung
item LILLEHOJ, ERIK - University Of Maryland
item BRAVO, DAVID - Pancosma Sa

Submitted to: British Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/12/2012
Publication Date: 6/26/2012
Citation: Kim, D., Lillehoj, H.S., Lee, S.H., Lillehoj, E., Bravo, D. 2012. Improved resistance to Eimeria acervulina infection in chickens due to dietary supplementation with garlic metabolites. British Journal of Nutrition. p. 1-13.

Interpretive Summary: With increasing regulatory restriction on the use of growth promoting antibiotics in poultry production, there is an urgent need to develop alternative strategies to control poultry infectious diseases where effective vaccines are not available. In this paper, ARS scientists describes a novel strategy to enhance gut health of poultry using phytochemicals in collaboration with scientists from Pancosma company in Switzerland. ARS research found that propyl thiosulfinate (PTS) and propyl thiosulfinatate oxide (PTSO), secondary metabolites of garlic (Allium sativum) stimulate innate immunity in vitro and reduce the severity of disease after challenging with coccidia parasites in commercial broiler chickens. Furthermore, PTS and PTSO killed Eimeria parasites in vitro and dietary feeding of young birds with diets which are supplemented with PTS and PTSO reduced the gut lesions and improved body weight gains following challenge infection with avian coccidiosis. Genomic analysis of intestinal tissues from chickens fed PTS/PTSO-supplemented diet showed significant immunologic and genomic changes that are relevant to protective immunity during avian coccidiosis. These results show the first scientific evidence that secondary metabolites of garlic such as PTS and PTSO are excellent dietary alternatives to antibiotics.

Technical Abstract: The effects of a compound including secondary metabolites of garlic, propyl thiosulfinate (PTS) and propyl thiosulfinatate oxide (PTSO), on in vitro and in vivo parameters of chicken gut immunity during experimental Eimeria acervulina infection were evaluated. In in vitro assays, the compound of PTSO (67%) and PTS (33%) dose-dependently killed invasive E. acervulina sporozoites and stimulated higher spleen cell proliferation. Broiler chickens continuously fed from hatch with PTSO/PTS compound supplemented diet and orally challenged with live E. acervulina oocysts had increased body weight gain, decreased fecal oocyst excretion, and greater E. acervulina profilin antibody responses compared with chickens fed a non-supplemented diet. Differential gene expression by microarray hybridization identified 1,227 transcripts whose levels were significantly altered in intestinal lymphocytes of PTSO/PTS-fed birds compared with non-supplemented controls (552 up-regulated, 675 down-regulated). Biological pathway analysis identified the altered transcripts as belonging to the categories of "Disease and Disorder" and "Physiological System Development and Function." In the former category, the most significant function identified was "Inflammatory Response," while the most significant function in the latter category was "Cardiovascular System Development and Function." This new information documents the immunologic and genomic changes that occur in chickens following PTSO/PTS dietary supplementation that are relevant to protective immunity during avian coccidiosis.