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Protective impacts of berberine in weaned piglets fed without zinc oxide: Insight of jejunal barrier function, water absorption, and gut microbiota and metabolism

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Weaning stress can induce significant changes in the morphology and functionality of the small intestine, impair digestive and absorptive capacities, compromise intestinal barrier integrity, and ultimately lead to decreased feed intake, elevated diarrhea incidence, and growth retardation. Berberine is extensively utilized for the treatment of infectious diarrhea due to its potent antibacterial and antipyretic properties. This study aims to examine the potential effects of berberine on production performance, diarrhea incidence, jejunal morphology, jejunal microbiota and metabolism, and jejunal gene expression in weaned piglets. A total of 90 weaned piglets were selected and randomly allocated into three treatment groups, each comprising six replicates with five piglets per replicate. The experiment was conducted over two phases, spanning a total of 28 days. Piglets were administered either a basal diet or a diet supplemented with 1,600 mg/kg of zinc oxide from day 0 to day 14 and 110 mg/kg from day 15 to day 28, in addition to 50 mg/kg of berberine from day 0 to day 28. The incorporation of berberine into the diet resulted in a significant enhancement of average daily weight gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) in weaned piglets, while concurrently leading to a significant reduction in the diarrhea index (P < 0.05). Furthermore, berberine significantly increased the villus height in the jejunum, improved the villus height to crypt depth ratio, and elevated the number of goblet cells, while significantly decreasing crypt depth (P < 0.05). Berberine also significantly upregulated the mRNA expression levels of ZO-1, MUC-2, aquaporins (AQP1, AQP8, AQP10, and AQP11), as well as sodium-potassium-chloride cotransporter 1 (NKCC1) and sodium/hydrogen exchanger 3 (NHE3) in the jejunal mucosa (P < 0.05). Additionally, berberine significantly inhibited the weaning-induced increase of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) in the jejunal mucosa (P < 0.05). The dietary administration of berberine also led to an increased abundance of Bacteroidota (P = 0.06), norank_f__norank_o__Gastranaerophilales (P < 0.05), norank_f__norank_o__RF39 (P = 0.06), and norank_f__norank_o__Clostridia_UCG-014 (P = 0.06), as well as enhanced production of acetic acid (P = 0.06). Spearman correlation analysis revealed that norank_f__norank_o__Gastranaerophilales is positively correlated with butyric acid, villus height, Occludin, AQP8, ZO-1, and NHE3, while norank_f__norank_o__RF39 is correlated with ADFI, AQP8, AQP10, NKCC1, and NHE3 (P < 0.05). Additionally, goblet cells, AQP8, AQP10, NKCC1, and MUC-2 are positively correlated with norank_f__norank_o__Clostridia_UCG-014 (P < 0.05). Transcriptome analysis indicated that berberine altered the expression of intestinal genes associated with nutrient transport and immunity during weaning, including HSPA6, HSPA8, HSPA5, IL26, and MAP6.Berberine in zinc oxide-free diets improved weaned piglets' growth and reduced weaning-related intestinal damage.

Source: Animal nutrition

DOI: 10.1016/j.aninu.2025.05.012