A low level of C-reactive protein (CRP) as a potential marker for lower inflammation in laying hens

Published: September 4, 2019

By: Alireza Khadem ¹,², Markella Al-Saifi², Milena Sevastiyanova² and Christos Gougoulias ². 1Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium. ² Innovad, Belgium. Corresponding author: Alireza Khadem.

Introduction

Earlier, it was hypothesized that growth promoting effects of Antimicrobial Growth Promoters (AGPs) in poultry feed are attributed to their non-antibiotic anti-inflammatory properties.
Inflammation causes a reduction in growth (through inappetence and muscle catabolism), birds without any inflammation can reach 100 % of their genetic growth potential.
Among the proposed anti-inflammatory alternatives is Lumance® (a commercial blend of SCFA, MCFA, Essential oil and Plant extract) with anti-inflammatory activities (Innovad NV/SA, Belgium).
Recently the use of acute phase proteins such as C-reactive protein (CRP), as a nonspecific clinical markers of health problems and inflammation has received considerable attention.
This study aimed to confirm the anti-inflammatory properties of (Lumance®) in an in-vitro model of inflammation and correlate it with in-vivo growth promotion in laying hens using plasma CRP as a potential marker of inflammation.

Materials and Methods

In-vitro

Anti-inflammatory activity of Lumance® was tested using the RAW 264.7 assay, as described by Wu et al (2003).

In-vivo

Sixty Hisex Brown laying hens at the age of 30 weeks were divided into five dietary treatments (Lumance® at 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 Kg/ton) with three replicates of four birds each.
At weeks 38, three laying hens from each treatment were euthanized and plasma level of C-reactive protein (CRP) was determined with a commercial ELISA kit

Results

We have reported previously the beneficial effects of Lumance® on production and egg quality of these laying hens (Kliseviciute, et al, 2013).

Conclusion

Change in the concentration of plasma CRP, is one of the major hallmarks of inflammation, which are associated with growth performance and several economically important parameters.
These results suggest that Lumance® can reduce the inflammation and consequently can improve the production and egg quality of laying hens.
A combination of different ingredients with anti-inflammatory effect hold the promising approach to replace AGPs.