Selenium and/or vitamin E upregulate the antioxidant gene expression and parameters in broilers

• DOI: 10.1186/s12917-022-03411-4
• Publication Date: 2022-08-13T11:02:48Z
• Authors: Fatma Elgendey; Rasha A. Al Wakeel; Shabaan A. Hemeda; Aya Mohamed Elshwash; Sabreen E. Fadl; Aaser M. Abdelazim; Muhanad Alhujaily; Olla A. Khalifa
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Free Radicals; Role of Selenium in Human Health and Disease; Veterinary medicine; Iron; Lipid peroxidation; Gene Expression; Organic chemistry; Nursing; FOS: Health sciences; Biochemistry; Enzyme Supplementation; Antioxidants; Vitamin; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Food science; Selenium; 03 medical and health sciences; Sodium Selenite; Endocrinology; Malondialdehyde; SF600-1100; Health Sciences; Animals; Vitamin E; Vitamin C; Internal medicine; Biology; Nutrition; 0303 health sciences; Nutrition and Dietetics; Role of Oxidative Stress in Health and Disease; Broilers; Research; Broiler; Copper and iron; Life Sciences; Vitamins; Chemistry; Animal Nutrition and Gut Health; Medicine; Animal Science and Zoology; Gene expression; Antioxidant; Chickens; Copper

Abstract Background In contrast to free radicals, the first line of protection is assumed to be vitamin E and selenium. The present protocol was designed to assess the roles of vitamin E and/or a selenium-rich diet that affected the blood iron and copper concentrations, liver tissue antioxidant and lipid peroxidation, and gene expression linked to antioxidants in the liver tissue of broilers. The young birds were classified according to the dietary supplement into four groups; control, vitamin E (100 mg Vitamin/kg diet), selenium (0.3 mg sodium selenite/kg diet), and vitamin E pulse selenium (100 mg vitamin/kg diet with 0.3 mg sodium selenite/kg diet) group.

Results The results of this experiment suggested that the addition of vitamin E with selenium in the broiler diet significantly increased (P ≤ 0.05) serum iron when compared with the other groups and serum copper when compared with the vitamin E group. Moreover, the supplements (vitamin E or vitamin E with selenium) positively affected the enzymatic activity of the antioxidant-related enzymes with decreased malondialdehyde (MDA),which represents lipid peroxidation in broiler liver tissue. Moreover, the two supplements significantly upregulated genes expression related to antioxidants.

Conclusion Therefore, vitamin E and/or selenium can not only act as exogenous antioxidants to prevent oxidative damage by scavenging free radicals and superoxide, but also act as gene regulators, regulating the expression of endogenous antioxidant enzymes.