Effect of dietary lactoferrin on the immune functions and serum iron level of weanling piglets

A total of 90 weanling female pigs (Duroc x Landrace x Yorkshire) were used in a 30-d growth experiment to investigate the effect of lactoferrin (LF) on growth performance, immune function, and serum iron concentrations. The pigs were allocated on the basis of BW and litter to 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were: control group (basal diet), antibiotics group (basal diet + 20 mg/kg of flavomycin + 110 mg/kg of aureomycin), and LF group (basal diet + 1.0 g/kg of LF). There were 3 replicate pens per treatment, and pigs were grouped with 10 pigs per pen. Six pigs, randomly selected from each treatment (2 pigs/pen), were slaughtered for serum and spleen samples on d 15 and 30. Supplementation with LF improved the phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated peripheral lymphocyte proliferation by 36% (P < 0.01), increased concanavalin A (ConA)- and PHA-induced spleen lymphocyte proliferation by 332% (P < 0.01) and 258% (P < 0.01), enhanced serum IgG by 20% (P < 0.05), IgA by 13% (P < 0.05), IgM by 15% (P < 0.05), complement 4 (C-4) by 29% (P < 0.05), IL-2 by 12% (P < 0.01), and serum iron values by 22% (P < 0.05) on d 15 compared with the control. Lactoferrin supplementation increased PHA-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.01), serum IgG by 16% (P < 0.05), IgA by 17% (P < 0.05), C-4 by 11% (P < 0.05), IL-2 by 14% (P < 0.05), and serum iron values by 23% (P < 0.01), and decreased the diarrhea ratio (P < 0.05) relative to the control on d 30. Compared with the controls, supplementation with antibiotic increased ConA- and PHA-induced spleen lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.05) on d 15, decreased the diarrhea ratio (P < 0.05), and increased the PHA-induced spleen lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.05) and serum iron values (P < 0.01) on d 30. These results support the possible use LF as an immunostimulant to improve immune functions and strengthen host defenses and would seem to be a good method for defending weanling piglets from infections and weanling stress.