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Effects of dietary l-tryptophan supplementation on intestinal response to chronic unpredictable stress in broilers

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Abstract

Stress has been recognized as a critical risk factor for gastrointestinal diseases in both humans and animals. However, nutritional strategies to attenuate stress-induced intestinal barrier function and underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that l-tryptophan enhanced intestinal barrier function by regulating mucosal serotonin metabolism in chronic unpredictable stress-exposed broilers. One-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acres) were fed a basal diet supplemented with or without l-tryptophan in the absence or presence of chronic unpredictable stress. Feed intake, body weight gain, plasma corticosterone and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), intestinal permeability, mucosal secretory IgA (sIgA), and mRNA levels for tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, protein abundance for claudin-1, occludin, and ZO-1 were determined. Stress exposure led to elevated plasma corticosterone (P < 0.05), increased intestinal permeability (P < 0.05), reduced growth performance (P < 0.05), and decreased sIgA secretion compared with the controls. These effects were largely reversed (P < 0.05) by l-tryptophan supplementation. Western blot analysis showed that stress exposure resulted in decreased protein abundance for occludin, claudin-1, and ZO-1, which was attenuated by l-tryptophan. mRNA levels for IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α were increased, but those for IL-10 were decreased, in the jejunal tissue of broilers subjected to stress. This effect of stress on cytokine expression was abolished by l-tryptophan treatment. The effects of stress were associated with decreased plasma concentration of 5-HT (P < 0.05), and reduced (P < 0.05) mRNA levels for TPH1. l-Tryptophan supplementation markedly attenuated stress-induced alterations in 5-HT and TPH1 mRNA level in jejunal tissues of broilers. Collectively, these results indicate that l-tryptophan supplementation alleviates chronic unpredictable stress-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction by regulating 5-HT metabolism in broilers.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Guoyao Wu for helpful discussion and suggestion on the manuscript. This work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31572423, 31372327).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China

    Yunshuang Yue, Yuming Guo & Ying Yang

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  1. Yunshuang Yue
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Correspondence to Ying Yang.

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The use of animals for this research was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of China Agricultural University.

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Yue, Y., Guo, Y. & Yang, Y. Effects of dietary l-tryptophan supplementation on intestinal response to chronic unpredictable stress in broilers. Amino Acids 49, 1227–1236 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-017-2424-3

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