AUTHOR=Wu Tao , Zhang Qian , Xu Haiwang , Li Peng , Zhao Di , Wang Lei , Yi Dan , Hou Yongqing 

TITLE=Protective effects of α-terpineol and Bacillus coagulans on intestinal function in weaned piglets infected with a recombinant Escherichia coli expressing heat-stable enterotoxin STa

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1118957

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2023.1118957

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p>This study was to investigate the impact of α-terpineol (α-TPN) and <italic>Bacillus coagulans</italic> (<italic>B. coagulans</italic>) on weaned piglets infected with <italic>Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli</italic> (ETEC). Thirty-two weaned piglets were assigned into four treatments: Control group (basal diet), STa group (basal diet + 1 × 10<sup>10</sup> CFU ETEC), TPN+STa group (basal diet + 0.01% α-TPN + ETEC) and BC+STa group (basal diet + 2 × 10<sup>6</sup> CFU <italic>B. coagulans</italic> + ETEC). Result showed that both α-TPN and <italic>B. coagulans</italic> could alleviate diarrhea (decreased diarrhea rate), intestinal injury (improved intestinal morphology, decreased blood I-FABP concentration, increased protein expression level of Occludin), oxidative stress (increased GSH-Px activity and decreased MDA content) and inflammation (altered concentration of TNF-α, IL-1β in blood) induced by ETEC infection. Mechanism investigation further demonstrated that the beneficial effects of α-TPN and <italic>B. coagulans</italic> supplementation upon ETEC infection may be achieved by decreasing the protein expression levels of caspase-3, AQP4 and p-NF-κB and decreasing the gene expression levels of <italic>INSR</italic> and <italic>PCK1</italic>. Besides, α-TPN supplementation could specifically decreased expression level of gene <italic>b</italic><sup>0,+</sup><italic>AT</italic>, and <italic>B. coagulans</italic> supplementation could specifically decreased expression level of gene <italic>AQP10</italic> and protein HSP70 in ETEC-infected weaned piglets. These results suggested that α-TPN and <italic>B. coagulans</italic> can be used as antibiotic alternatives against ETEC infection in weaned piglets.</p>