Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary resveratrol supplementation on innate immunity and inflammatory responses in the spleen of yellow-feather broilers under heat stress. A total of 288 yellow-feather broilers of 28-day-old were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups with 6 replicates. A thermo-neutral group (TN) (24 ± 2°C) received a basal diet and another 2 heat-stressed groups (37 ± 2°C for 8 h/D and 24 ± 2°C for the remaining time) were fed the basal diet (HT) or basal diet with 500 mg/kg resveratrol (HT+Res) for 14 consecutive days. The results showed that heat stress decreased (P < 0.05) the growth index of thymus, spleen, and bursa of Fabricius, reduced (P < 0.05) the levels of complement C3 and C4 in serum. Heat stress also caused activation of inflammatory immune responses evidenced by increased (P < 0.05) the mRNA abundance of HSP (heat shock protein) 70, toll-like receptor (TLR)1, TLR4, TLR5, myeloid differentiation factor-88 (MyD88), nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 1 (NOD1), Dectin-1, transforming growth factor-β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), interleukin (IL)-1, IL-4, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, but decreased the mRNA abundance of interferon (IFN)-γ, activated nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), and phosphoinositide-3 kinases-protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathways. Dietary supplementation with resveratrol improved (P < 0.05) the growth index of thymus, spleen and bursa Fabricius, and increased (P < 0.05) the serum level of complement C3 under heat stress. In addition, resveratrol reduced (P < 0.05) the mRNA abundance of HSP70, TLR4, TLR5, NOD1, Dectin-1, and TAK1, and inhibited the NF-κB, MAPK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway via down-regulated the phosphorylation of p65, extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2, c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase and AKT, as well as decreased the inflammatory cytokines expression, including IL-1, IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α in the spleen under heat stress. Collectively, dietary resveratrol could have beneficial effects to regulate innate immunity and inflammatory response, via inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, MAPK, and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways induced by heat stress in the spleen.