The protective effect of procyanidin against LPS-induced acute gut injury by the regulations of oxidative state

Background: A 2 x 4 factorial arrangement of treatments was used to investigate the protective effect of procyanidin (PCA) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute gut injury by the regulations of oxidative state for a 21-days feeding trial. Methods: A total of 384 1-days-old broiler chicks were assigned to 8 treatments with 8 replicate of 6 broiler chickens per pen. Broiler chickens fed diets based on 4 levels of dietary PCA (0, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1 % of the requirements). Half of the birds from each treatment group were challenged with 0.9 % NaCl solution or LPS (250 mu g/kg body weight, injection administered) at 16, 18 and 21 days of age. Results: The results indicated that, prior to LPS challenge, there was no dietary effect on bird growth performance (P > 0.05). The injection of LPS were also not associated with any significant changes in poultry performance (P > 0.05). But LPS injection increased serum diamine oxidase (DAO) level and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content of intestinal mucosa (P < 0.05), cause adverse effects to the morphology of the small intestine (P < 0.05), decreased the glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of intestinal mucosa (P < 0.05). When LPS-challenged birds were pretreated with PCA, serum DAO concentration and MDA activity in jejunal and ileal mucosa were dramatically attenuated, and improved the morphology of the small intestine as well (P < 0.05). Conclusion: In conclusion, PCA is able to prevent LPS-induced oxidative stress response in vivo, improved the morphology of the small intestine. The beneficial effect of PCA may depend on increasing the activity of body's antioxidant enzymes and scavenging free radical activity.