Effects of Acanthopanax senticosus Polysaccharide Supplementation on Growth Performance, Immunity, Blood Parameters and Expression of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines Genes in Challenged Weaned Piglets

To investigate the effect of dietary Acanthopanax senticosus polysaccharide (ASPS) on growth performance, immunity, blood parameters and mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in immunologically challenged piglets, an experiment employing 2×2 factorial arrangement concerning dietary ASPS treatment (0 or 800 mg/kg) and immunological challenge (lipopolysaccharide [LPS] or saline injection) was conducted with 64 crossbred piglets (weaned at 28 d of age, average initial body weight of 7.25±0.21 kg) assigned to two dietary ASPS treatments with 8 replicates of 4 pigs each. Half of the piglets of per dietary treatment were injected with LPS or saline on d 14. Blood samples were obtained at 3 h after immunological injection on d 14 and piglets were slaughtered to obtain spleen samples on d 21. Dietary ASPS did not affect average daily gain (ADG) (p = 0.634), average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p = 0.655), and gain:feed (p = 0.814) prior to LPS challenge. After LPS challenge, for LPS-challenged pigs those fed ASPS had higher ADG and ADFI than the non-supplemented group (p<0.05), and an interaction between LPS×ASPS was observed on the two indices (p<0.05). Dietary ASPS improved lymphocyte proliferation among saline-injected and LPS-injected pigs (p<0.05). Interaction between LPS×ASPS was also revealed on lymphocyte proliferation (p<0.05). Circulatory concentration of IgG was influenced neither by ASPS (p = 0.803) or LPS (p = 0.692), nor their interaction (p = 0.289). Plasma concentration and spleen mRNA expression of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were induced to increase (p<0.05) by LPS challenge, in contrast, these indices were decreased by dietary ASPS (p<0.05), and interactions were found on these cytokines (p<0.05). For LPS-challenged pigs, dietary ASPS also reduced the circulating concentration and spleen mRNA expression of IL-1β, IL-6 as well as TNF-α (p<0.05). The interaction between LPS×ASPS was also observed on the circulating concentration of insulin-like growth factor- I, α-acid glycoprotein (α-AGP), nonesterified fatty acid, and glucose (p<0.05). The results of this study demonstrate that dietary ASPS can modulate the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines during immunological challenge, which might enable piglets to achieve better growth performance.