Dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) causes intestinal histopathology and inflammatory changes consistent with increased gut leakiness in chickens

ABSTRACT

1. The clinical severity, histological changes, indicators of gut leakiness and inflammatory cytokine profiles were studied in chickens with dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal inflammation.

2. The experimental groups (1.25%, 1.5% and 2.5% DSS) showed clinical signs, such as loose stools and weight loss, which increased with additional treatment days and, as expected, the effects of DSS-induced intestinal inflammation were time and dose-dependent.

3. After 10 d, histological manifestations were evident, including goblet cell depletion, mucus layer loss, significantly shorter villi and a thinner total ileal mucosa.

4. The d(-)-lactate value, which was used as a gut leakiness indicator, was significantly increased in the 2.5% DSS group.

5. Expression of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1Beta, tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-10 in the serum significantly increased with DSS treatment.

6. This study indicates that the experimental intestinal inflammation induced by DSS is an ideal model to study the pathogenic mechanisms of intestinal inflammation in chickens and to test the efficacy of therapies.

KEYWORDS:

• Chicken
• clinical signs
• dextran sulphate sodium
• inflammatory mediators
• intestinal inflammation
• model

Acknowledgements

We thank Guangdong Public Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Nutrition, Key Laboratory of Poultry Genetics and Breeding and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 31601959, 31402067], the Pearl River Nova Program of Guangzhou [grant number 201506010017], the Scientific Research Project of Guangzhou [grant number 201504010017] and the Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System [grant number nycytx-41].