title: Effect of dietary lactoferrin on the immune functions and serum iron level of weanling piglets.
abstract: A total of 90 weanling female pigs (Duroc x Landrace x Yorkshire) were used in a 30-d growth experiment to investigate the effect of lactoferrin (LF) on growth performance, immune function, and serum iron concentrations. The pigs were allocated on the basis of BW and litter to 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. The dietary treatments were: control group (basal diet), antibiotics group (basal diet + 20 mg/kg of flavomycin + 110 mg/kg of aureomycin), and LF group (basal diet + 1.0 g/kg of LF). There were 3 replicate pens per treatment, and pigs were grouped with 10 pigs per pen. Six pigs, randomly selected from each treatment (2 pigs/pen), were slaughtered for serum and spleen samples on d 15 and 30. Supplementation with LF improved the phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated peripheral lymphocyte proliferation by 36% (P < 0.01), increased concanavalin A (ConA)- and PHA-induced spleen lymphocyte proliferation by 332% (P < 0.01) and 258% (P < 0.01), enhanced serum IgG by 20% (P < 0.05), IgA by 13% (P < 0.05), IgM by 15% (P < 0.05), complement 4 (C4) by 29% (P < 0.05), IL-2 by 12% (P < 0.01), and serum iron values by 22% (P < 0.05) on d 15 compared with the control. Lactoferrin supplementation increased PHA-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.01), serum IgG by 16% (P < 0.05), IgA by 17% (P < 0.05), C4 by 11% (P < 0.05), IL-2 by 14% (P < 0.05), and serum iron values by 23% (P < 0.01), and decreased the diarrhea ratio (P < 0.05) relative to the control on d 30. Compared with the controls, supplementation with antibiotic increased ConA- and PHA-induced spleen lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.05) on d 15, decreased the diarrhea ratio (P < 0.05), and increased the PHA-induced spleen lymphocyte proliferation (P < 0.05) and serum iron values (P < 0.01) on d 30. These results support the possible use LF as an immunostimulant to improve immune functions and strengthen host defenses and would seem to be a good method for defending weanling piglets from infections and weanling stress.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Feed Science, Zhejiang University, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Animal Nutrition, Ministry of Education, No. 164 Qiutao North Road, Hangzhou 310029, PR China.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001835:Body Weight; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000097:blood; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood*; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D011897:Random Allocation; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology; D014886:Weaning; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D016207:Cytokines; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D007501:Iron; D007781:Lactoferrin