Penthorum Chinense Pursh Extract Alleviates Aflatoxin B1-Induced Liver Injury and Oxidative Stress Through Mitochondrial Pathways in Broilers

Abstract

Aflatoxin is an important toxicant of the fungal origin and poses a threat to the poultry industry. This study was designed to reveal the underlying mechanism and protective methods against aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced liver injury, oxidative stress, and apoptosis using a Traditional Chinese medicine, Penthorum chinense Pursh extract (PCPE), in broilers. A total of 164 (day-old) broilers were equally allocated to the control, AFB1 (3 mg/kg feed), positive drug (Yin-Chen-Hao Tang extract, 10 ml/kg feed), PCPE (2 g PCPE/kg), and PCPE low, medium, and high dose groups (1 g, 2 g, 3 g PCPE/kg feed, respectively). AFB1 significantly decreased the growth performance and serum immunoglobulin level, altered normal serum biochemical parameters and antioxidant activities, and induced histopathological lesions in the liver as compared to control group. Additionally, AFB1 significantly up-regulated the mRNA expression levels of apoptosis-related genes such as Bax, Bak, caspase-9, caspase-3, and p53, whereas it down-regulated the expression levels of BCL2 in the liver of broilers. The supplementation of different doses of PCPE to AFB1-affected birds significantly eased AFB1 negative effects by improving growth performance, immunoglobulin level, and oxidative capacity, and reversed oxidative stress and pathological lesions in liver. Furthermore, supplementation of PCPE to the AFB1 group reversed apoptosis by significantly down-regulating the mRNA expression levels of Bax, Bak, caspase-9, caspase-3, and p53 and up-regulating the expression levels of BCL2 in the liver of broilers. Based on these results, we conclude that supplementation of PCPE is protective and safe against oxidative stress, is anti-apoptotic, and reverses the liver damage caused by AFB1 in broilers.

Keywords: aflatoxin B1; apoptosis; broilers; liver; penthorum chinense pursh extract.

Figure 1

Effect of PCPE on serum biochemistry of broilers feed containing AFB1 and PCPE low, medium, and high dose (1 g, 2 g, 3 g PCPE/kg feed, respectively). Values are represented as the mean ± SD. (A) ALT; (B) AST; (C) ALP; (D) TP; (E) ALB; (F) TBIL. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.

Figure 2

Histopathological analysis of liver from different groups on day 14 and 28 in different groups of the experiment. (a) intrahepatic hemorrhages, (b) inflammatory cells infiltration and fatty degenerations, (c) bile duct hyperplasia.

Figure 3

Effect of PCPE on serum antioxidant parameters. Values are represented as mean ± SD. Mean values were significantly different (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01), ns, non-significant. (A) MDA (B) SOD (C) CAT (D) GSH (E) GSH-Px.

Figure 4

Effect of PCPE on mRNA expressions of apoptosis-genes in liver of Broilers. The mRNA expressions levels of apoptosis-genes were identified by real-time PCR. All data were expressed as mean ± SD. Asterisk means significant difference (p < 0.05) compared to the control and AFB1 group. (A) Bcl-2; (B) Caspase-3; (C) Caspase-9; (D) P53; (E) Bak; (F) Bax.

Figure 5

Analysis of serum immunoglobulins on 14^th and 28^th day of experiment. Asterisk means significant difference (p < 0.05) compared to the control and AFB1 group (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01, ns, non-significant). (A) IgA (B) IgG (C) IgM.

Figure 6

Effect of PCPE on average final weight gain, growth performance of broilers whose feed diet contained AFB1 and PCPE low, medium, and high doses. The average weekly body weight of each group. **P < 0.01.