RESEARCH PAPER

Effects of Thymol and Rosmarinic Acid Combination on Growth Performance, Inflammatory Response and Intestinal Health of Lipopolysaccharide-Challenged Rats

  • LI Runlin ,
  • ZHAO Daoyuan ,
  • LI Panpan ,
  • LEI Mingkang ,
  • WU Jiaqing ,
  • WU Jianmin ,
  • WANG Jing ,
  • ZHU Weiyun
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  • 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, National Center for International Research on Animal Gut Nutrition, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China;
    2. College of Science, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China

Received date: 2021-08-23

  Online published: 2022-03-14

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of thymol and rosmarinic acid combination on the growth performance, inflammatory response and intestinal health of rats challenged by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and provide a reference for the development and utilization of the thymol and rosmarinic acid combination in animal production. The experiment selected forty 21-day-old SD rats and randomly divided them into 4 groups, they were control group (Con group), thymol group (Thy group), rosmarinic acid group (Ros-A group), thymol×rosmarinic acid group (Thy×Ros-A group), and 10 rats (half male and half female) in each group. The rats in the Thy group, Ros-A group and Thy×Ros-A group were gavaged at the dose of 20 mg/kg BW Thy, 20 mg/kg BW Ros-A and 10 mg/kg BW Thy+10 mg/kg BW Ros-A, respectively. The Con group rats were gavaged with the same amount of normal saline every day. The rats were continuously gavaged for 14 days. On the 13th day of the experiment, the rats in each group were intraperitoneally injected with 500 μg/kg BW LPS solution to establish acute intestinal inflammation model. The results showed as follows:compared with the Con group, the average daily gain of rats in the Thy×Ros-A group was significantly increased (P<0.05), the jejunum villi height and villus-to-crypt ratio of rats were significantly increased (P<0.05), the crypt depth was significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the mRNA relative expression levels of tight junction proteins such as zonula occluden-1 (ZO-1), Occludin and Claudin-1 in jejunal mucosa were significantly increased (P<0.05). The result of 16S rRNA sequence indicated that the thymol and rosmarinic acid combination significantly increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes, significantly reduced the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, significantly increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus, and significantly reduced the relative abundances of Streptococcus, Rodettibater and Rothia compared with the Con group (P<0.05). In addition, compared with the Con group, the thymol and rosmarinic acid combination significantly increased the concentrations of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and total short chain fatty acids in jejunal chyme (P<0.05), and the thymol and rosmarinic acid combination also significantly increased the total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity and interleukin-10 (IL-10) content (P<0.05), and significantly reduced the myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and interleukin-6 (IL-6) content in jejunal mucosa (P<0.05). In conclusion, the combination of thymol and rosmarinic acid can improve the growth performance, prevent and relieve the intestinal inflammation and barrier damage caused by LPS challenge, and improve the intestinal health of rats. In addition, the effect of the thymol and rosmarinic acid combination is better than that of the thymol or that of the rosmarinic acid.

Cite this article

LI Runlin , ZHAO Daoyuan , LI Panpan , LEI Mingkang , WU Jiaqing , WU Jianmin , WANG Jing , ZHU Weiyun . Effects of Thymol and Rosmarinic Acid Combination on Growth Performance, Inflammatory Response and Intestinal Health of Lipopolysaccharide-Challenged Rats[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2022 , 34(3) : 2009 -2022 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2022.03.059

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