Protective effects of probiotics against tannin-induced immunosuppression in broiler chickens

Amany Ramah; Masahiro Yasuda; Yuki Ohashi; Shoichiro Imatake; Noriko Imaizumi; Tetsuo Kida; Tenya Yanagita; Ryoko Uemura; Mahmoud Baakhtari; Hatem H Bakry; Nabila M Abdelaleem; Elham A El-Shewy

doi:10.12938/bmfh.2021-058

Protective effects of probiotics against tannin-induced immunosuppression in broiler chickens

Biosci Microbiota Food Health. 2022;41(4):168-176. doi: 10.12938/bmfh.2021-058. Epub 2022 May 27.

Authors

Amany Ramah^{1

2

3}, Masahiro Yasuda^{1

2}, Yuki Ohashi¹, Shoichiro Imatake¹, Noriko Imaizumi², Tetsuo Kida², Tenya Yanagita², Ryoko Uemura⁴, Mahmoud Baakhtari^{1

5}, Hatem H Bakry³, Nabila M Abdelaleem³, Elham A El-Shewy³

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan.
² Laboratory of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan.
³ Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, Qalyubia 13518, Egypt.
⁴ Laboratory of Animal Health, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen Kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan.
⁵ Faculty of Veterinary Science, Balkh University, Balkh 1702, Afghanistan.

Abstract

Tannins (TAs) are an anti-nutritional substance commonly used as a natural feed additive for livestock. However, our previous study described the dose-dependent adverse effects of TA on immune responses and growth in chickens. In this study, we evaluated the protective effects of a probiotic preparation (BT) consisting of three different bacteria (Bacillus mesenteric, Clostridium butyricum, and Streptococcus faecalis) against TA-induced immunosuppression in chickens. Forty chicks were divided into 4 groups as follows: the CON group (basal diet), BT group supplemented with 3 g BT/kg diet, tannic acid (TA) group supplemented with 30 g TA/kg diet, and BT+TA group supplemented with 3 g BT/kg diet + 30 g TA/kg diet. The feeding trial lasted for 35 days. Lymphocyte subset, macrophage phagocytosis, cytokine mRNA expression, and primary and secondary IgY immune responses were evaluated. BT supplementation significantly improved TA-induced reductions in final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, and relative weights of lymphoid organs compared with the TA group. Furthermore, in the spleen and cecal tonsil (CT), the relative populations of CD4⁺, CD8⁺, and CD4⁺CD8⁺ cells in the BT+TA group were significantly ameliorated compared with the TA group. Additionally, comparison with the TA group showed that the chickens in the BT+TA group had an improved relative population of B cells in the CT and that macrophage phagocytosis in the spleen was significantly increased. Chickens in the BT+TA group showed significant increases in IFN-γ and IL-4 mRNA expression in the spleen compared with the TA group. The primary and secondary IgY responses were significantly improved. These results revealed that supplementation with BT protects against TA-induced immunosuppression in chickens.

Keywords: chicken; growth performance; immunity; probiotics; tannin.