Effect of Citral on Endotoxin-induced Oxidative Stress in Gut Epithelial Cells

Maintaining a healthy gut is important in animal production as it directly affects nutrient utilization. Gastrointestinal infections can lead to oxidative stress in the gut and impair production performances. Citral, an essential oil, has recently received attention as a potential antibiotic alternative to be used in monogastric animals to control pathogenic infections. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), an endotoxin produced by gram-negative bacteria is used to induce oxidative stressin gut epithelial cells (Caco-2 cells), following the preincubation with citral. Biochemical assays were used to measure oxidative stress related parameters while the t-test was used in statistical analysis. Lipopolysaccharides caused a significant increased in oxidative stress biomarker lipid peroxidation (MDA) and a reduction of endogenous antioxidants (SOD and GSH). Such an effect was time and dose dependent. Preincubation of cells with citral (25μM) significantly attenuated LPS-induced lipid peroxidation and restored SOD and GSH levels. These results have demonstrated that citral has a protective effect on LPS-mediated oxidative stress in gut epithelial cells through the down regulation of lipid peroxidation and improving the endogenous antioxidant system. Supplementation of citral in feed may exert a beneficial effect on oxidative stress-induced gut injury during infection.

Keywords: animals, citral, gut health, lipopolysaccharides, oxidative stress.

Published in the proceedings of the Animal Nutrition Conference of Canada 2020. For information on the event, past and future editions, check out https://animalnutritionconference.ca/.