Gastric Infusion of Short-Chain Fatty Acids Improves Health via Enhance Liver and Intestinal Immune Response and Antioxidant Capacity in Goats

Abstract

In the present study, we comprehensively investigated the impacts of the infusion of three short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), sodium acetate (SA), propionate (SP), and butyrate (SB), to examine their respective roles in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) health and innate immunity of twenty adult Guanzhong milk goats of 1.5 years of age. Infusion of SCFAs resulted in upregulating the activity of certain antioxidant enzymes in comparison with the control group. The SA group significantly (p p p p p p p p p p < 0.05) increased the occludin level in the jejunum, claudin level in the ileum, and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) level in the colon and cecum. There are many positive associations among antioxidant, inflammatory cytokine, and tight-junction protein indexes in the liver and intestine. In conclusion, our results suggest that the gastric infusion of SA, SP, and SB might improve goat intestinal health through the positive influence on the antioxidant capacity, pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and tight-junction proteins.

Keywords

• antioxidant
• gastrointestinal tract
• immune
• short-chain fatty acids