Repairing effect of total glucosides of Paeonia on deoxynivalenol-induced enterohepatic axis damage in weaned piglets

This study examined the protective effect of total glucosides of Paeonia (TGP) against deoxynivalenol (DON)-induced liver and intestinal injury in weaned piglets. Eighteen 21-day-old piglets (mean body weight ∼7 kg) were randomly assigned to three groups: control (CON, basal diet), DON (DON-contaminated diet), and DON+TGP (DON-contaminated diet supplemented with 200 mg/kg TGP), with six replicates per group and one piglet per replicate. Compared with the CON group, DON exposure significantly decreased serum antioxidant levels. Supplementation with TGP restored serum total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) levels and significantly reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations (p < 0.05). Histopathological assessment revealed that TGP mitigated liver tissue damage and normalized serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin (ALB), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (p < 0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed that TGP significantly increased intestinal expression of tight junction proteins Claudin-1, Occludin, and ZO-1 compared with the DON group (p < 0.05). 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomic analysis demonstrated that TGP enriched beneficial gut bacteria (e.g., Clostridium, Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Prevotellaceae) and reduced the abundance of potentially pathogenic Terrisporobacter, whereas downregulating the MAPK signaling pathway. Western blot analysis confirmed reduced expression of JNK and Bax and elevated expression of Bcl-2 in the DON+TGP group (p < 0.05). In addition, expression of pro-apoptotic genes (JNK1, P53, Bax, Casp3) was significantly decreased, whereas anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was significantly upregulated (p < 0.05). In conclusion, TGP effectively ameliorated DON-induced liver and intestinal injury in weaned piglets by regulating the JNK/p38 MAPK pathway and the gut microbiota-metabolite-liver axis.