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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 #292029
Title: Expression of digestive enzymes and nutrient transporters in the small intestine of Eimeria acervulina-infected chickens

Author
item SU, S - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University
item Miska, Kate
item Fetterer, Raymond
item Jenkins, Mark
item WONG, ERIC - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University

Submitted to: Poultry Science Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/20/2013
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Coccidiosis is a major disease of poultry caused by the intestinal protozoa Eimeria. Eimeria acervulina mainly infects the duodenum, causing lesions in epithelial tissue. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of E. acervulina infection on the expression of 18 nutrient transporters and digestive enzymes and an antimicrobial peptide in the duodenum (primary site of infection), jejunum, and ileum. Layers (Sexsals) were infected orally with 200,000 E. acervulina oocysts/bird at d 21. Intestinal segments were collected 7 days after infection (n=5). As seen previously with E. maxima infected chickens, expression of the antimicrobial peptide LEAP-2 was downregulated. In this study, LEAP-2 was reduced to 17% of uninfected controls in the duodenum (the primary site of infection) and increased 2.8-fold in the ileum of E. acervulina-infected chickens. Expression of amino acid transporters bo,+AT, BOAT, rBAT and EAAT3 was decreased to 35%, 20%, 28% and 19% of control, respectively, in the duodenum and 52%, 48%, 48% and 38% of control, respectively, in the jejunum of E. acervulina-infected chickens. Sugar transporter GLUT2 was decreased to 28% and 42% of control in the duodenum and jejunum, respectively of E. acervulina-infected chickens. Digestive enzyme APN was decreased to 47% of control in the duodenum and increased 1.6-fold in the ileum of E. acervulina-infected chickens. The other 12 genes investigated were unaffected or showed less than a 2-fold change in gene expression. These results show that upon infection with E. acervulina, expression of LEAP2 is downregulated. In addition, there is a decrease in expression of the brushborder transporters EAAT3 and bo,+AT/rBAT, which would result in a decrease in the uptake of glutamate, the energy source for intestinal epithelia, and the essential amino acids arginine and lysine. This may lead to cell death and inhibition of Eimeria replication. Eimeria acervulina, nutrient transporters, LEAP-2