Effects of dietary supplementation with oridonin on the growth performance, relative organ weight, lymphocyte proliferation, and cytokine concentration in broiler chickens.

Background: The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of oridonin (ORI) on growth performance, relative organ weight, lymphocyte proliferation, phagocytic function of neutrophils, and cytokine concentration in broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old Arbor Acres male broilers were randomly assigned to four treatments with six replicate pens of 10 broiler chickens per pen. Broiler chickens were fed diets based on four levels of dietary ORI (0, 50, 80 and 100 mg/kg) for a 42-d feeding trial. The experimental diets were fed in three phases: 1 to 14 d, 15 to 28 d and 29 to 42 d.

Results: The results indicated that ORI has no influence on the growth performance (P > 0.05). However, ORI increased the relative weights of spleen and bursa, the number of proliferation peripheral blood T and B lymphocytes, the phagocytic rate of neutrophils, as well as the Interleukin-2 (IL-2), Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) serum concentrations in serum in broilers at days 14, 28 and 42 (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: In conclusion, ORI can enhance immune function and resistance to disease in broiler chickens by stimulating T and B lymphocyte formation, division, and proliferation, as well as the modulation of Th1/Th2 cytokine secretion profiles.