Chinese Herbal Medicine Formula Guizhi Li-Zhong Tang as an Alternative to Antibiotic Feed Additives for Preventing Pneumonia in Piglets through Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Antiapoptotic Protection
Journal
Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Journal Volume
2021
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
Weanling piglets often develop respiratory diseases such as pneumonia because they encounter substantial environmental stress. This study investigated an alternative herbal feed additive, Guizhi Li-Zhong Tang (GLZ), for preventing pneumonia in weanling piglets. An in vitro experiment demonstrated that GLZ has high antioxidant capacity and low cytotoxicity toward Kupffer cells. In addition, GLZ treatment can alleviate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced damage in Kupffer cells. A total of 94 4-week-old piglets were randomly divided into three groups, which received sham treatment, 0.2% Tilmicosin antibiotic (TAB) treatment, or 0.2% GLZ treatment. Piglets receiving the GLZ treatment had a higher survival rate and higher immunoglobulin G levels but lower allergy-related eosinophil levels and cough incidence than did piglets receiving the sham or 0.2% TAB treatments. Through immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis, we discovered that piglets receiving the 0.2% GLZ treatment had significantly higher expression of antioxidant-related SOD2 and lower expression of oxidative-stress-related 3-NT (p<0.01), inflammation-related TNF-α (p<0.01) and NF-B (p<0.05), and apoptosis-related caspase-3 (p<0.01) in lung tissue than did piglets receiving the sham or 0.2% TAB treatment. Therefore, GLZ treatment is promising as an alternative to antibiotic medicine for weanling piglets because of its protective antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects in lung tissue. ? 2021 Che-Hsuan Wang et al.
Subjects
antibiotic agent
antiinflammatory agent
antioxidant
caspase 3
Chinese medicinal formula
food additive
Glycyrrhiza glabra root
guizhi li zhong tang
immunoglobulin enhancer binding protein
immunoglobulin G
keishi bukuryo gan
manganese superoxide dismutase
tilmicosin
tumor necrosis factor
unclassified drug
animal experiment
animal model
animal tissue
antiapoptotic activity
antiinflammatory activity
antioxidant activity
apoptosis
Article
Atractylodes macrocephala
Chinese medicine
controlled study
coughing
DPPH radical scavenging assay
eosinophil
ginger
ginseng
immunoglobulin blood level
immunohistochemistry
Kupffer cell
lung parenchyma
male
MTT assay
nonhuman
oxidative stress
piglet
pneumonia
protein expression
survival rate
Western blotting
SDGs
Type
journal article