N-acetylcysteine modulates lipopolysaccharide-induced intestinal dysfunction

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 1004
• Main Authors: Lee, Sang In, Kang, Kyung Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 30-01-2019; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/39; 38/77; 38/91; 631/601/1737; 631/61/191/2018; Acetylcysteine; Acetylcysteine - pharmacology; Animals; Biomarkers - metabolism; Cell Line; Cytokines; Dietary Supplements; Enteritis - immunology; Enteritis - metabolism; Epithelial cells; Epithelial Cells - cytology; Epithelial Cells - metabolism; Epithelium; Feed additives; Gene expression; Humanities and Social Sciences; Immune response; Inflammation; Interleukin 6; Intestinal Mucosa - metabolism; Intestinal Mucosa - pathology; Intestine, Small - metabolism; Intestine, Small - pathology; Lipopolysaccharides; Livestock; Mucosa; multidisciplinary; NF-κB protein; Oxidation-reduction potential; Oxidative stress; Permeability; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Signal transduction; Small intestine; Swine - metabolism; Swine, Miniature - metabolism; Toll-like receptors; Tumor necrosis factor-α; Wound healing; γ-Interferon
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37296-x

The gastrointestinal epithelium functions in nutrient absorption and pathogens barrier and its dysfunction directly affects livestock performance. N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) improves mucosal function, but its effects on intestinal functions at the molecular level remain unclear. Here, we performed gene expression profiling of the pig small intestine after dietary NAC treatment under LPS challenge and investigated the effects of NAC on intestinal epithelial cells
in vitro
. Dietary NAC supplementation under LPS challenge altered the small intestine expression of 959 genes related to immune response, inflammatory response, oxidation-reduction process, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and the cytokine-mediated signalling, Toll-like receptor signalling pathway, Jak-STAT signalling pathway, and TNF signalling pathway. We then analysed the expression patterns of the top 10 altered genes, and found that NAC markedly stimulated
HMGCS3
and
LDHC
expression in IPEC-J2 cells.
In vitro
, NAC pre-treatment significantly reduced TNF-α and
NF-κB
,
TNF-α
,
IFN-γ
, and
IL-6
expression in LPS-induced IPEC-J2 cells. NAC treatment also significantly reduced oxidative stress in LPS-induced IPEC-J2 cells and alleviated intestinal barrier function and wound healing. Thus, NAC as a feed additive can enhance livestock intestinal health by modulating intestinal inflammation, permeability, and wound healing under LPS-induced dysfunction, improving our molecular understanding of the effects of NAC on the intestine.