Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Vet Res. 2018 Sep 10;49(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s13567-018-0581-3.
Lawsonia intracellularis is among the most important enteric pathogens of swine and antibiotic alternatives are needed to help mitigate the negative effects of infection. Zinc is an essential trace mineral known to be crucial for maintaining intestinal barrier function and proper immune response. In this study, we investigated the porcine host response to L. intracellularis infection when supplemented with a zinc-amino acid complex, a form of zinc that can lead to greater bioavailability when compared to traditional inorganic forms of zinc. Our results show that a zinc-amino acid complex supplementation with a final concentration of 125 ppm of zinc in feed significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the number of animals with lesions and severity of lesions caused by L. intracellularis. Animals supplemented with the zinc-amino acid complex also exhibited a significantly (p < 0.05) earlier onset of seroconversion as well as an increased number of T cells in infected and non-infected intestinal tissue. This study demonstrated that this zinc-amino acid complex aids the host in responding to L. intracellularis infection and may be a new approach to help minimize negative effects of disease.
空肠弯曲菌是猪最重要的肠道病原体之一，需要抗生素替代品来帮助减轻感染的负面影响。锌是一种必需的痕量矿物质，已知对维持肠道屏障功能和适当的免疫反应至关重要。在这项研究中，我们研究了补充锌-氨基酸复合物时猪宿主对空肠弯曲菌感染的反应，锌-氨基酸复合物是一种比传统无机形式的锌具有更高生物利用度的锌形式。我们的结果表明，在饲料中添加终浓度为 125ppm 的锌-氨基酸复合物可显著（p<0.05）降低因空肠弯曲菌感染而出现病变的动物数量和病变严重程度。补充锌-氨基酸复合物的动物也表现出明显（p<0.05）更早的血清转化，以及感染和未感染肠道组织中 T 细胞数量的增加。这项研究表明，这种锌-氨基酸复合物有助于宿主对空肠弯曲菌感染的反应，可能是帮助减轻疾病负面影响的一种新方法。
