The gut-brain axis interactions during heat stress and avian necrotic enteritis

Author(s)

Calefi, Atilio Sersun ^[1] ; da Silva Fonseca, Juliana Garcia ^[1] ; Hamada Cohn, Daniel Wagner ^[1] ; Bueno Honda, Bruno Takashi ^[1] ; Costola-de-Souza, Carolina ^[1] ; Tsugiyama, Lucila Emiko ^[2] ; Quinteiro-Filho, Wanderley Moreno ^[1] ; Piantino Ferreira, Antonio J. ^[1] ; Palermo-Neto, Joao ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Vet Med & Anim Sci, Dept Pathol, Neuroimmunomodulat Res Grp, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Physiol & Biophys, Lab Physiol Behav, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: POULTRY SCIENCE; v. 95, n. 5, p. 1005-1014, MAY 2016.
• Web of Science Citations: 7

Abstract

The gut-brain axis is known to modulate behavioral and immune responses in animals; evidence supporting this modulation in chickens, however, is elusive. Here, we analyzed the effects of heat stress and/or Clostridium perfringens (CP) infection on behavior, intestinal morphology, brain activity, and corticosterone serum levels in chickens. Broilers were randomly divided into 5 equal groups: a naive group (N), a thioglycolate group (T), a thioglycolate heat-stressed group (T/HS35), an infected group (I), and an infected/stressed (I/HS35) group. Broilers in the I and I/HS35 groups were experimentally infected with Clostridium perfringens from the 15th to the 19th day of life. Heat stress (35 +/- 1 degrees C) was constantly applied to the broilers in the stressed groups from the 14th to the 19th day of life. Our data showed that heat stress and C. perfringens infection produced significant differential responses in the chickens' behavior and in c-fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), nucleus taenia of the amygdala (Tn), medial preoptic area (POM), and globus pallidus (GP) of the chickens. Heat stress ameliorated some of the intestinal lesions and the neuroendocrine changes induced by C. perfringens in the birds. Our results suggest the existence of clear relationships between the degree of intestinal lesions, the chickens' behavioral outcomes, brain activity, and serum levels of corticosterone. Together, they reinforce the importance of neuroimmunomodulation and especially of brain-gut axis interactions. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/03103-2 - Evaluation of heat stress on the development of necrotic enteritis due to Clostridium perfringens in broilers
• Grantee: Atilio Sersun Calefi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 13/17408-2 - Effects of heat stress on immunity of broilers in an experimental model of avian necrotic enteritis
• Grantee: Atilio Sersun Calefi
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 09/51886-3 - Neuroimmunomodulation: drugs, stress and cytokines on nervous, endocrine and immune systems relationships
• Grantee: João Palermo Neto
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants