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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1537604
This article is part of the Research Topic Natural Compounds/Products and Livestock Productivity: Enhancing Antioxidant Levels, Gut Health, Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Disease Control View all 20 articles

Dietary Fe-Gly supplementation attenuates enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)-induced inflammation response and intestinal barrier dysfunction in piglets

Provisionally accepted
Qing Gao Qing Gao 1Yilong Zhang Yilong Zhang 2Yabin Wu Yabin Wu 3Dianchao Gu Dianchao Gu 3Junzhou Chen Junzhou Chen 2Conghui Yin Conghui Yin 2Hao Wu Hao Wu 4Dan Zhu Dan Zhu 4Daiwen Chen Daiwen Chen 2*Aimin Wu Aimin Wu 2*
  • 1 College of Animal Science, Xichang College, Xichuang, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Resistance and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 3 Hunan Debon Biotechnology Co., LTD., Xinyuan Road, Shuikoushan Town, Changning City, Hunan Province, China
  • 4 Tongwei Agricultural Development Co., Ltd, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Iron in the animal gut that is not utilized by the host can be directly utilized by microorganisms, particularly harmful ones. Organic iron (such as Fe-Gly) has high digestive and absorption efficiency in the body. It is currently unclear whether it can reduce the utilization of iron by ETEC, thereby mitigating the harm caused by ETEC infections. This experiment mainly studies the effects of adding Fe-Gly to the diet on the growth performance, iron nutritional status, and intestinal morphology of weaned piglets infected with ETEC. The study found that adding 50 mg of Fe-Gly to the diet significantly increased ADFI and ADG by 30.6% and 35.3%, respectively (P＜0.05), and alleviated the issues of diarrhea and reduced growth performance caused by ETEC infection. The diarrhea rate decreased by 40% (from 31.25% to 18.75%). In addition to protecting the health of piglets, adding Fe-Gly can also increase the TIBC level in piglet serum (P＜0.05), enhancing their ability to bind and transport iron. From the gene expression results and tissue section results, adding Fe-Gly can also alleviate the damage to the jejunum caused by ETEC challenge to some extent(P＜0.05). In conclusion, adding 50 mg of Fe-Gly can meet the daily needs of piglets, improve iron utilization efficiency, and reduce the residual iron in the intestines. This decreases the iron available for pathogenic microorganisms in the gut, thereby inhibiting the proliferation of intestinal pathogens and ensuring the intestinal health of piglets.

    Keywords: Iron, piglets, Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Inflammation response, intestinal barrier

    Received: 01 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Zhang, Wu, Gu, Chen, Yin, Wu, Zhu, Chen and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Daiwen Chen, Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Resistance and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan Province, China
    Aimin Wu, Key Laboratory of Animal Disease Resistance and Nutrition, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.