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N-Acetylcysteine improves intestinal function in lipopolysaccharides-challenged piglets through multiple signaling
Dan Yi1, Yongqing Hou2, Hang Xiao1
1Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Animal Nutrition and Feed Safety, Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan, 430023, China.
Amino Acids
|March 9, 2017
Summary
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) supplementation improved piglet intestinal function following a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. NAC mitigated LPS-induced dysfunction by modulating key signaling pathways, offering protective effects against inflammation.
Area of Science:
- Animal Science
- Biochemistry
- Immunology
Background:
- Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induce intestinal dysfunction and inflammation.
- N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant with potential therapeutic benefits.
- Understanding NAC's impact on specific signaling pathways is crucial for its application.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if N-acetylcysteine (NAC) improves intestinal function in piglets challenged with lipopolysaccharides (LPS).
- To investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms, including PI3K/Akt/mTOR, EGFR, TLR4/NF-κB, AMPK, and type I IFN signaling pathways.
- To evaluate NAC's effect on intestinal barrier function, enzyme activity, and inflammatory markers.
Main Methods:
- A 2x2 factorial study design with 32 piglets, using diets with or without 500 mg/kg NAC and LPS or saline injection.
- Intraperitoneal LPS injection to induce intestinal dysfunction.
- Analysis of blood and intestinal mucosa for glutathione, D-xylose, diamine oxidase, MMP3 mRNA, caspase-3, and disaccharidase activities.
Main Results:
- LPS challenge impaired intestinal function, reducing glutathione and D-xylose levels while increasing diamine oxidase and caspase-3.
- LPS challenge also reduced intestinal maltase, sucrase, and lactase activities.
- NAC supplementation mitigated these adverse effects of LPS, improving intestinal function and redox status.
Conclusions:
- Dietary NAC effectively mitigated LPS-induced intestinal dysfunction and inflammation in piglets.
- NAC's protective effects are mediated through the modulation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR, EGFR, TLR4/NF-κB, AMPK, and type I IFN signaling pathways.
- NAC demonstrates significant potential for protecting the animal intestine from inflammatory damage.
