Yeast culture supplementation of sow diets regulates the immune performance of their weaned piglets under lipopolysaccharide stress

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of sows with yeast cultures (XPC) during late gestation and lactation on the immune performance of their weaned offspring under lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stress. A total of 40 Landrace x Yorkshire sows (parity 3 to 7) with similar backfat thickness were selected and randomly divided into two treatment groups: a control group (basal diet) and a yeast culture group (basal diet + 2.0 g/kg XPC). The trial was conducted from day 90 of gestation to day 21 of lactation. At the end of the experiment, 12 piglets with similar weights were selected from each group and slaughtered 4 h after intraperitoneal injection with either saline or LPS. The results showed that the concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the thymus and tumor necrosis factor-& alpha; in the liver increased significantly (P < 0.05) in weaned piglets after LPS injection. Maternal dietary supplementation with XPC significantly reduced the concentration of inflammatory factors in the plasma and thymus of weaned piglets (P < 0.05). LPS injection significantly upregulated the expression of some tissue inflammation-related genes, significantly downregulated the expression of intestinal tight junction-related genes, and significantly elevated the protein expression of liver phospho-nuclear factor kappa B (p-NF-& kappa;B), the phospho-inhibitory subunit of NF-& kappa;B (p-I & kappa;B & alpha;), phospho-c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK), Nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-& kappa;B), and the inhibitory subunit of NF-& kappa;B (I & kappa;B & alpha;) in weaned piglets (P < 0.05). Maternal dietary supplementation with XPC significantly downregulated the gene expression of IL-6 and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the thymus and decreased the protein expression of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in the liver of weaned piglets (P < 0.05). In summary, injection of LPS induced an inflammatory response in weaned piglets and destroyed the intestinal barrier. Maternal dietary supplementation of XPC improved the immune performance of weaned piglets by inhibiting inflammatory responses. Yeast cultures are complex in composition, containing a variety of nutrients and unknown growth factors, and play an important role in maintaining intestinal health and improving immune function. This study showed that the addition of yeast cultures to the maternal feed could improve the immune status of their offspring through maternal transmission. Lay Summary Weaning older, more mature pigs helps prevent many of the adverse gastrointestinal effects associated with weaning stress, and maternal nutritional interventions can influence offspring gut health and growth performance. Therefore, it is important to explore the effects of maternal nutritional interventions on their offspring. Yeast cultures are a class of biological products consisting of metabolites produced during the anaerobic fermentation of yeast and some live yeast cells, and function to maintain the intestinal health of animals and improve production performance. The effect of sow dietary supplementation with yeast cultures on the immune performance of their weaned offspring under lipopolysaccharide stress has not so far been reported. This study provided a basis for understanding the effects of maternal transfer of yeast cultures to their offspring and provided data to support the application of yeast cultures in actual production.