Abstract
Ferroptosis is a newly discovered form of cell death due to iron-dependent lipid peroxidation. In animal breeding, many environmental factors could lead to oxidative stress, which in turn reduce animal immunity and production performance. Polysaccharide of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz (PAMK) has antioxidation, immunomodulatory, and inflammatory modulating effects. For investigating the effect of PAMK on splenic ferroptosis in gosling caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), 40 one-day-old Magang goslings were randomly divided into 4 groups (CON group, LPS group, PAMK group, and LPS+PAMK group). The protein expression of the ferroptosis marker Glutathione Peroxidase 4 (GPX4), the relative mRNA expression of ferroptosis-related genes and cytokines, and the oxidative stress and iron content of spleen tissues were examined. The correlation between ferroptosis and inflammatory factors was further analyzed by principal component analysis. The results showed that, compared with CON group, LPS caused alterations in the expression of the ferroptosis pathway genes and cytokines, which could upregulate levels of ferroptosis and inflammation. However, after treated with PAMK, the inflammation and ferroptosis was alleviated. Meanwhile, PAMK restored the expression and distribution of GPX4. In addition, PAMK alleviated the oxidative stress caused by LPS and reduced the iron content in spleen. Principal component analysis showed that cytokines were more closely related to antioxidant indexes. The CON, PAMK and LPS+PAMK groups had similar effects on the four components, with the LPS and PAMK groups showing the furthest difference in results. The result indicated that PAMK could reduce the level of oxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines in spleen of gosling caused by LPS, and jointly alleviate ferroptosis by regulating genes related to the ferroptosis pathway.