The Influence of Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Chicken Injurious Behavior: Perspective in Human Neuropsychiatric Research.

Numerous studies have evidenced that neuropsychiatric disorders (mental illness and emotional disturbances) with aggression (or violence) pose a significant challenge to public health and contribute to a substantial economic burden worldwide. Especially, social disorganization (or social inequality) associated with childhood adversity has long-lasting effects on mental health, increasing the risk of developing neuropsychiatric disorders. Intestinal bacteria, functionally as an endocrine organ and a second brain, release various immunomodulators and bioactive compounds directly or indirectly regulating a host's physiological and behavioral homeostasis.

The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens.

Injurious behaviors (i.e., aggressive pecking, feather pecking, and cannibalism) in laying hens are a critical issue facing the egg industry due to increased social stress and related health and welfare issues as well as economic losses.

Daylight exposure and circadian clocks in broilers: part I-photoperiod effect on broiler behavior, skeletal health, and fear response.

The aim of this study was to examine effects of various daylight exposure during the 24-h light-dark (L-D) cycle on growth performance, skeletal health, and welfare state in broilers. Environmental photoperiod and related circadian clock, the 24-h L-D cycle, are important factors in maintaining productive performance, pathophysiological homeostasis, and psychological reaction in humans and animals. Currently, various lighting programs as management tools for providing a satisfactory environmental condition have been used in commercial broiler production.

Research Note: Probiotic, Bacillus subtilis, alleviates neuroinflammation in the hippocampus via the gut microbiota-brain axis in heat-stressed chickens.

High ambient temperature (heat stress, HS) is one of the critical environmental factors causing gut microbiota dysbiosis and increasing gut permeability, consequently inciting neuroinflammation in humans and various animals including chickens. The aim of this study was to examine if a probiotic, Bacillus subtilis, can reduce neuroinflammation in heat-stressed broiler chickens. Two hundred and forty 1-d-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 48 pens among 4 treatments in 2 identical, thermal-controlled rooms (n = 12): Thermoneutral (TN)-regular diet (RD), TN-PD (the regular diet mixed with a probiotic at 250 ppm), HS-RD, and HS-PD.

Assessing the effect of compounds from plantar foot sweat, nesting material, and urine on social behavior in male mice, Mus musculus.

Home cage aggression causes poor welfare in male laboratory mice and reduces data quality. One of the few proven strategies to reduce aggression involves preserving used nesting material at cage change. Volatile organic compounds from the nesting material and several body fluids not only correlate with less home cage aggression, but with more affiliative allo-grooming behavior.

Effects of a synbiotic as an antibiotic alternative on behavior, production performance, cecal microbial ecology, and jejunal histomorphology of broiler chickens under heat stress.

The aim of this study was to examine if synbiotics present similar efficiency to a common antibiotic used in poultry production under heat stress (HS) conditions. Two hundred and forty-one-day-old male Ross 708 broiler chicks were distributed among 3 treatments with 8 pens per treatment of 80 birds each for a 42-day trial. From day 15, birds were heat stressed (32°C for 9 h daily, HS) and fed the basal diet (CONT), the basal diet mixed with an antibiotic (Bactiracin Methylene Disalicylate) (0.

The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: Gut Microbiota Modulates Conspecific Aggression in Diversely Selected Laying Hens.

The gut microbiota plays an important role in regulating brain function, influencing psychological and emotional stability. The correlations between conspecific aggression, gut microbiota, and physiological homeostasis were further studied in inbred laying chicken lines, 63 and 72, which were diversely selected for Marek’s disease, and they also behave differently in aggression. Ten sixty-week-old hens from each line were sampled for blood, brain, and cecal content.

Perspective: Chicken Models for Studying the Ontogenetic Origin of Neuropsychiatric Disorders.

Nutrients and xenobiotics cross the blood-placenta barrier, potentially depositing in the fetal brain. The prenatal exposure affects the neuroendocrine and microbial development. The mechanism underlying maternal risk factors reprograming the microbiota-gut-brain axis with long-term effects on psychosocial behaviors in offspring is not clear.

Effects of early-life cecal microbiota transplantation from divergently selected inbred chicken lines on growth, gut serotonin, and immune parameters in recipient chickens.

Recent studies have revealed that fecal microbiota transplantation exerts beneficial effects on modulating stress-related inflammation and gastrointestinal health of the host. The aim of this study was to examine if cecal microbiota transplantation (CMT) presents similar efficiency in improving the health status of egg-laying strain chickens. Chicken lines 6 and 7 divergently selected for resistance or susceptibility to Marek's disease were used as CMT donors.

Perspective: Gestational Tryptophan Fluctuation Altering Neuroembryogenesis and Psychosocial Development.

Tryptophan, as the sole precursor of serotonin, mainly derived from diets, is essential for neurodevelopment and immunomodulation. Gestational tryptophan fluctuation may account for the maternal-fetal transmission in determining neuroembryogenesis with long-lasting effects on psychological development. Personality disorders and social exclusion are related to psychosocial problems, leading to impaired social functioning.

The Impact of Probiotic on Injurious Behavior in Laying Hens.

Intestinal microbiota functions such as an endocrine organ to regulate host physiological homeostasis and behavioral exhibition in stress responses via regulating the gut-brain axis in humans and other mammals. In humans, stress-induced dysbiosis of the gut microbiota leads to intestinal permeability, subsequently affecting the clinical course of neuropsychiatric disorders, increasing the frequency of aggression and related violent behaviors. Probiotics, as direct-fed microorganism, have been used as dietary supplements or functional foods to target gut microbiota (microbiome) for the prevention or therapeutic treatment of mental diseases including social stress-induced psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, impulsivity, and schizophrenia.

Embryonic Exposure to Tryptophan Yields Bullying Victimization via Reprogramming the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in a Chicken Model.

Maternal metabolic disorder during early pregnancy may give rise to emotional and behavioral disorders in the child, vulnerable to bullying. Placental tryptophan fluctuation consequently disrupts offspring gut microbiome and brain neurogenesis with long-lasting physiological and social behavioral impacts. The aim of this study was to examine the hypothesis that the excess gestational tryptophan may affect children's mental and physical development via modifying the microbiota-gut-brain axis, which lays the foundation of their mental status.

Perches as Cooling Devices for Reducing Heat Stress in Caged Laying Hens: A Review.

Heat stress is one of the most detrimental environmental challenges affecting the biological process and the related production performance of farm animals, especially in poultry. Commercial laying hens have been bred (selected) for high egg production, resulting in increased sensitivity to heat stress due to breeding-linked metabolic heat production. In addition, laying hens are prone to heat stress due to their inadequate species-specific cooling mechanisms resulting in low heat tolerance.

Prenatal Serotonin Fluctuation Affects Serotoninergic Development and Related Neural Circuits in Chicken Embryos.

The placenta is the primary source of serotonin (5-HT) for fetal development, programming fetal neural wiring in humans and other mammals. The fluctuation in maternal 5-HT affects fetal neurogenesis with life-long consequences, however, its mechanisms have not been well known. The chicken embryo, independent of maternal neurohormonal influence, may offer an ideal model for studying the mechanisms of prenatal 5-HT exposure altering postnatal physiological homeostasis and behavioral exhibition.

Effects of on Production Performance, Bone Physiological Property, and Hematology Indexes in Laying Hens.

This study was to investigate the effects of on production performance and bone pathophysiological characteristics of layers. Twenty-four 48-week-old Lohmann Pink-shell laying hens were randomly divided into two groups: a basic diet (control) and the basic diet mixed with (0.5 g/kg) for a 60-day trial.

Who's the Boss? Assessing Convergent Validity of Aggression Based Dominance Measures in Male Laboratory Mice, .

Aggression among group housed male mice continues to challenge laboratory animal researchers because mitigation strategies are generally applied at the cage level without a good understanding of how it affects the dominance hierarchy. Aggression within a group is typically displayed by the dominant mouse targeting lower ranking subordinates; thus, the strategies for preventing aggression may be more successful if applied specifically to the dominant mouse. Unfortunately, dominance rank is often not assessed because of time intensive observations or tests.

-Based Probiotic Improves Skeletal Health and Immunity in Broiler Chickens Exposed to Heat Stress.

The elevation of ambient temperature beyond the thermoneutral zone leads to heat stress, which is a growing health and welfare issue for homeothermic animals aiming to maintain relatively constant reproducibility and survivability. Particularly, global warming over the past decades has resulted in more hot days with more intense, frequent, and long-lasting heat waves, resulting in a global surge in animals suffering from heat stress. Heat stress causes pathophysiological changes in animals, increasing stress sensitivity and immunosuppression, consequently leading to increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut) and related neuroinflammation.

Compounds from plantar foot sweat, nesting material, and urine show strain patterns associated with agonistic and affiliative behaviors in group housed male mice, Mus musculus.

Excessive home cage aggression often results in severe injury and subsequent premature euthanasia of male laboratory mice. Aggression can be reduced by transferring used nesting material during cage cleaning, which is thought to contain aggression appeasing odors from the plantar sweat glands. However, neither the composition of plantar sweat nor the deposits on used nesting material have been evaluated.

Effect of a Synbiotic Supplement on Fear Response and Memory Assessment of Broiler Chickens Subjected to Heat Stress.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a synbiotic containing a probiotic (, , , and ) and a prebiotic (fructooligosaccharides) on fear response, memory assessment, and selected stress indicators in broilers subjected to heat stress. A total of 360 1-day-old Ross 708 chicks were evenly divided among three treatments: a basal diet mixed with a synbiotic at 0 (G-C), 0.5 (G-0.

Bacillus subtilis-based probiotic promotes bone growth by inhibition of inflammation in broilers subjected to cyclic heating episodes.

Heat stress as an environmental stressor causes abnormal bone remodeling and microarchitectural deterioration. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a Bacillus subtilis-based probiotic on bone mass of broilers subjected to cycling high ambient temperature. One hundred and twenty 1-day-old Ross 708 male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 2 dietary treatments (12 pens per treatment): control diet and the control diet plus 250-ppm probiotic consisting of 3 strains of Bacillus subtilis.

Effect of Bacillus velezensis to substitute in-feed antibiotics on the production, blood biochemistry and egg quality indices of laying hens.

Background: The excessive use of antibiotics in the livestock feed industry caused inevitable side effects of microbial resistance. Besides this residual antibiotics in animal-derived foodstuff imposed serious health problems for humans. So this study aimed to investigate the potential use of Bacillus velezensis to substitute antibiotics for poultry production.

Functional/physicochemical properties and oxidative stability of ground meat from broilers reared under different photoperiods.

Long photoperiods are used in the broiler industry to maximize animal performance, though the impact on meat quality remains poorly understood. The current study evaluated the impact of photoperiod on functional/physicochemical properties and oxidative stability of meat through broiler processing. Ross 308 broilers (n = 432) were randomly assigned to 4 photoperiod treatments (hours in L = light, D = dark): 20L:4D, 18L:6D, 16L:8D, or 12L:12D with 6 pens per treatment.

Effects of Photoperiod Regime on Meat Quality, Oxidative Stability, and Metabolites of Postmortem Broiler Fillet () Muscles.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of photoperiod on meat quality, oxidative stability, and metabolites of broiler fillet () muscles. A total of 432 broilers was split among 4 photoperiod treatments [hours light(L):dark(D)]: 20L:4D, 18L:6D, 16L:8D, and 12L:12D. At 42 days, a total of 48 broilers (12 broilers/treatment) was randomly selected and harvested.

Effects of probiotic supplementation and postmortem storage condition on the oxidative stability of M. Pectoralis major of laying hens.

Dietary probiotic supplementation is a promising alternative to antibiotics in the poultry industry, and some studies have found its positive impacts on meat quality attributes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary treatments on oxidative stability of postmortem chicken fillet (M. Pectoralis major) muscles during 7 d of storage under either high oxygen (HIOX) or vacuum (VAC) conditions.