Gut microbiota intervention alleviates pulmonary inflammation in broilers exposed to fine particulate matter from broiler house

Junze Liu; Yuan Li; Dan Shen; Xiaoqing Li; Kai Wang; Kentaro Nagaoka; Chunmei Li

doi:10.1128/aem.02174-23

Gut microbiota intervention alleviates pulmonary inflammation in broilers exposed to fine particulate matter from broiler house

Appl Environ Microbiol. 2024 Apr 24:e0217423. doi: 10.1128/aem.02174-23. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Junze Liu¹, Yuan Li¹, Dan Shen¹, Xiaoqing Li¹, Kai Wang¹, Kentaro Nagaoka², Chunmei Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Centre for Livestock Environmental Control and Smart Production, National Center for International Research on Animal Gut Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
² Laboratory of Veterinary Physiology, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan.

PMID: 38656183
DOI: 10.1128/aem.02174-23

Abstract

The gut microbiota of poultry is influenced by a variety of factors, including feed, drinking water, airborne dust, and footpads, among others. Gut microbiota can affect the immune reaction and inflammation in the lungs. To investigate the effect of gut microbiota variation on lung inflammation induced by PM_2.5 (fine particulate matter) in broilers, 36 Arbor Acres (AA) broilers were randomly assigned to three groups: control group (CON), PM_2.5 exposure group (PM), and PM_2.5 exposure plus oral antibiotics group (PMA). We used non-absorbable antibiotics (ABX: neomycin and amikacin) to modify the microbiota composition in the PMA group. The intervention was conducted from the 18th to the 28th day of age. Broilers in the PM and PMA groups were exposed to PM by a systemic exposure method from 21 to 28 days old, and the concentration of PM_2.5 was controlled at 2 mg/m³. At 28 days old, the lung injury score, relative mRNA expression of inflammatory factors, T-cell differentiation, and dendritic cell function were significantly increased in the PM group compared to the CON group, and those of the PMA group were significantly decreased compared to the PM group. There were significant differences in both α and β diversity of cecal microbiota among these three groups. Numerous bacterial genera showed significant differences in relative abundance among the three groups. In conclusion, gut microbiota could affect PM_2.5-induced lung inflammation in broilers by adjusting the capacity of antigen-presenting cells to activate T-cell differentiation.

Importance: Gut microbes can influence the development of lung inflammation, and fine particulate matter collected from broiler houses can lead to lung inflammation in broilers. In this study, we explored the effect of gut microbes modified by intestinal non-absorbable antibiotics on particulate matter-induced lung inflammation. The results showed that modification in the composition of gut microbiota could alleviate lung inflammation by attenuating the ability of dendritic cells to stimulate T-cell differentiation, which provides a new way to protect lung health in poultry farms.

Keywords: T cell; dendritic cell; gut microbiota; particulate matter; pulmonary inflammation.