Maternal curcumin supplementation alleviates intestinal inflammation of Escherichia coli-infected offspring via modulating gut microbiome in chickens

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of maternal curcumin (CUR) supplementation in breeder feed on the growth performance and intestinal health of offspring chickens infected with <i>Escherichia coli</i>. A total of 720 peak-laying Qingyuan partridge breeder hens at 28-week-old (initial body weight [IBW] 1950.11 ± 2.54 g) were fed either a basal diet, or a basal diet with 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg CUR for 20 weeks before collecting breeding eggs. After hatching, 360 one-d-old (IBW 34.03 ± 0.18 g) female offspring were divided into five subgroups (72 per each CUR treatment, and 144 for basal diet treatment): offspring of breeders whose mothers were fed the basal diet group (CON); offspring of breeders whose mothers fed a basal diet and challenged with <i>E. coli</i> group (EC); and offspring of breeders whose mothers fed the basal diets containing 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg CUR and challenged with <i>E. coli</i> group (CUR100E, CUR200E, or CUR400E). All the offspring treatments had 6 replicates of 12 chickens per replicate cage, and chickens bred for 3 weeks. The results indicated that maternal CUR supplementation resulted in a dose-dependent deposition primarily in the yolk. Maternal CUR supplementation (<i>P</i> < 0.001) relieved the offspring chickens' weight loss, increased feed conversion rate, and decreased average daily gain, intestinal morphological damage, and goblet cell injury. And maternal CUR supplementation changed in intestinal barrier genes (zonula occludens-1, occludin, and mucin 2), inflammatory factors (tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin-22), and oxidative markers (total antioxidant capacity and glutathione peroxidase) caused by <i>E. coli</i> infection (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Additionally, maternal CUR supplementation reversed the reduction in offspring chickens' gut microbial diversity (Shannon and Simpson indexes, <i>P</i> < 0.001) caused by <i>E. coli</i> infection. Maternal supplementation with CUR demonstrated a significant reduction in the colonization of <i>Barnesiella</i> (<i>P</i> < 0.001), which was found to have a positive correlation with intestinal inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. Concurrently, maternal CUR increased the relative abundance of <i>Lactobacillus</i> (<i>P</i> < 0.05), which was negatively correlated with intestinal inflammation and oxidative stress. The present study showed that maternal CUR supplementation can alleviate intestinal inflammation in offspring chickens, which may be mediated by regulating gut microbiota composition.