Background: The effect of soybean hull feeding on the disruption of colonic epithelium barrier function was investigated in goats fed a high-concentrate diet. Twenty-one Boer goats (live weight, 32.57 ± 2.26 kg; age, 1 year) were randomly divided into three groups: low-concentrate diet (LC), high-concentrate diet (HC), and high-concentrate diet with soybean hulls (SH).
Results: We found that the rumen fluid in the LC and SH group shown a higher pH value compared with the HC group. The mRNA and protein expression levels of extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in the colonic epithelium were significantly decreased in the SH group than in the HC group. Moreover, in goats fed the HC diet, SH treatment promoted gene expression and protein abundance of claudin-1, claudin-4, occludin, and ZO-1 in the colonic epithelium. Additionally, the injury to the colonic epithelium barrier caused by the HC diet was reversed by SH treatment.
Conclusions: Our results indicated that supplemental SH feeding reverses the damage to colonic epithelium tight junctions by inhibiting the MAPK signalling pathway and has a protective effect on the colonic epithelium during SARA.
Keywords: Colonic epithelium; Goat; SARA; Soybean hulls; Tight junction proteins.