Carla de Andrade

Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase: Potential Roles in Promoting Gut Health in Weanling Piglets and Its Modulation by Feed Additives — A Review

The intestinal environment plays a critical role in maintaining swine health. Many factors such as diet, microbiota, and host intestinal immune response influence the intestinal environment. Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is an important apical brush border enzyme that is influenced by these factors. IAP dephosphorylates bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), unmethylated cytosine-guanosine dinucleotides, and flagellin, reducing bacterial toxicity and consequently regulating toll-like receptors (TLRs) activation and inflammation. It also desphosphorylates extracellular nucleotides such as uridine diphosphate and adenosine triphosphate, consequently reducing inflammation, modulating, and preserving the homeostasis of the intestinal microbiota. The apical localization of IAP on the epithelial surface reveals its role on LPS (from luminal bacteria) detoxification. As the expression of IAP is reported to be downregulated in piglets at weaning, LPS from commensal and pathogenic gram-negative bacteria could increase inflammatory processes by TLR-4 activation, increasing diarrhea events during this phase. Although some studies had reported potential IAP roles to promote gut health, investigations about exogenous IAP effects or feed additives modulating IAP expression and activity yet are necessary. However, we discussed in this paper that the critical assessment reported can suggest that exogenous IAP or feed additives that could increase its expression could show beneficial effects to reduce diarrhea events during the post weaning phase. Therefore, the main goals of this review are to discuss IAP’s role in intestinal inflammatory processes and present feed additives used as growth promoters that may modulate IAP expression and activity to promote gut health in piglets.

Composição e atividade antimicrobiana do óleo essencial da aroeira (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi) com vistas ao uso como antimicrobiano para leitões desmamados

O uso de antibioticos como melhoradores de desempenho nas racoes animais foi banido da Uniao Europeiaem 2006, possivelmente devido ao desenvolvimento de resistencia dos microrganismos aos antibioticose a possibilidade de resistencia cruzada no homem. A pressao para a remocao desses antibioticos das racoesde suinos tem aumentado a busca por produtos alternativos que garantam maximo crescimento dosanimais. Dentre os produtos alternativos destacam-se os oleos essenciais, os quais adicionados a dieta deleitoes podem apresentar atividade antimicrobiana, antioxidante e anti-inflamatoria, mediante o efeito doscomponentes quimicos de cada oleo essencial. Diante disso, objetivou-se avaliar a composicao quimica dooleo essencial da aroeira vermelha (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi), alem de investigar seu efeito antimicrobianocontra Salmonella Typhimurium, Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureuse Enterococcus faecalis, visando a possivel utilizacao do oleo essencial testado como aditivo na dieta deleitoes recem-desmamados. Utilizou-se um cromatografo a gas com detector de massas para determinar acomposicao quimica do fruto da aroeira vermelha e o metodo de difusao em disco para investigar o efeitoantimicrobiano do oleo essencial. Os compostos encontrados em maiores concentracoes no fruto da aroeiravermelha foram o δ–careno (41,01%), α-felandreno (14,40%), limoneno (12,36%) e α-pineno (10,36%). Ooleo essencial nao demonstrou efeito antimicrobiano para as cepas testadas, possivelmente devido as baixasconcentracoes do α-pineno encontradas. Entretanto, estudos in vivo e ex vivo devem ser desenvolvidos para avaliar a possivel atuacao do oleo essencial sobre a modulacao do sistema imune e promocao da saudeintestinal em leitoes recem-desmamados.