Indian Journal of Animal Research
SCOPUSWeb of Science
  • Year: 2024
  • Volume: 58
  • Issue: 12

Expression profiling of cytokine-related genes in the small intestine of healthy pre and post-weaned piglets administered orally with probiotic and zinc

  • Author:
  • Arup Kalita1, Manmath Talukdar2, Pranab Chandra Kalita1, Nagendra Nath Barman3, Parimal Roychoudhury4, Om Prakash Choudhary1,*, Probal Jyoti Doley1
  • Total Page Count: 7
  • Page Number: 2170 to 2176

1Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University (I), Selesih, Aizawl-796 015, Mizoram, India

2Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati-781 022, Assam, India

3Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati-781 022, Assam, India

4Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University (I), Selesih, Aizawl-796 015, Mizoram, India

*Corresponding Author: Om Prakash Choudhary, Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University (I), Selesih, Aizawl-796 015, Mizoram, India, Email: dr.om.choudhary@gmail.com

Online published on 17 June, 2025.

Abstract

The present study was designed to evaluate alterations in the immunological status of the small intestine after dietary inclusion of probiotic and zinc in pre and post-weaned piglets.

For the present study, 18 healthy Large White Yorkshire (LWY) piglets, irrespective of sex, were divided into three different age groups [pre-weaning (20 days old, n = 3), weaning (30 days old, n = 3) and post-weaning (60 days old, n = 3)]. The piglets were weaned at 28 days of age. They were divided into control group (C) fed with basal diet and treatment group (T) fed with combined probiotic and zinc oral supplement along with the basal diet. A probiotic mixture consisted of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium longum (1.25×109cfu/d for 10 days) along with zinc supplement (ZnO @ 2000 ppm/d for 10 days) administered orally to the treatment group of piglets.

The relative expression of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 genes was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the treatment group of piglets as compared to the control group. However, the expression of IL-8, IL-12p40 and IL-18 genes were significantly lower (P<0.05) after oral administration of probiotic and zinc to the piglets.

Keywords

Cytokine gene, Piglet, Probiotic, Small intestine, Zinc