Effect of sodium butyrate on growth performance and response to lipopolysaccharide in weanling pigs 1 T. E. Weber 2 and B. J. Kerr USDA-ARS, National Swine Research and Information Center, Ames, IA, 50011-3310 ABSTRACT: Two experiments were conducted to de- termine the effects of dietary sodium butyrate on growth performance and response to Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in weanling pigs. In a 28-d experiment, 180 pigs (initial BW 6.3 kg) were fed 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, or 0.4% sodium butyrate, or 110 mg/kg of dietary tylosin. There was no effect of dietary sodium butyrate or tylosin on overall G:F, but there was a linear trend (P < 0.07) toward decreased ADFI and ADG as levels of sodium butyrate increased. In a second 28-d experiment, 108 pigs (initial BW 6.3 kg) were assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatments: 1) no antibiotics, 2) 0.2% sodium butyrate, or 3) 55 mg/kg of carbadox. On d 14, a subset of pigs from the no-antibiotic and butyrate treatment groups was challenged with E. coli LPS or injected with sterile saline in a 2 × 2 factorial arrange- ment (±LPS challenge; ±dietary butyrate; n = 6 pigs/ treatment group). Four hours after LPS challenge, blood samples were obtained, and samples of LM, liver, and ileum were collected for gene expression analysis. Serum samples were analyzed for IL-6, tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), α 1 -acid glycoprotein, cortisol, IGF-I, insulin, and metabolites. The relative abundance of tis- sue cytokine and IGF-I mRNA was measured by real- Key words: butyrate, growth performance, lipopolysaccharide, weanling pig ©2008 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. J. Anim. Sci. 2008. 86:442–450 doi:10.2527/jas.2007-0499 INTRODUCTION Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by the bacterial fermentation of dietary fiber, has been found 1 Mention of a trade name, proprietary product, or specific equip- ment does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the USDA and does not imply approval to the exclusion of other products that may be suitable. The authors acknowledge the National Pork Board (Des Moines, IA) for financial support and INVE Nutri-Ad (Kasterlee, Belgium) for providing the sodium butyrate used in these studies. The authors thank Shari Steadham and Melissa Weber for assistance with tissue sample collection. 2 Corresponding author: Tom.weber@ars.usda.gov Received August 6, 2007. Accepted October 29, 2007. 442 time PCR. Feeding diets containing sodium butyrate or carbadox did not alter ADG or ADFI compared with pigs fed the control diet. From d 0 to 14, pigs fed diets containing 0.2% sodium butyrate had decreased (P < 0.05) ADG and tended (P < 0.06) to have decreased G:F compared with animals fed diets containing carbadox. Challenge with LPS increased (P < 0.05) serum cytok- ines and cortisol and decreased (P < 0.05) serum glucose and triglycerides. Injection with LPS increased (P < 0.05) the relative abundance of hepatic IL-6 and TNFα mRNA, increased (P < 0.05) LM TNFα mRNA content, and decreased (P < 0.05) IGF-I mRNA in LM. For serum cortisol, there was an interaction (P < 0.05) between dietary butyrate and LPS. The increase in serum corti- sol attributable to LPS was greater (P < 0.05) in pigs fed butyrate than in pigs fed the control diet. There tended (P < 0.10) to be an interaction between LPS and diet and for butyrate to increase the relative abundance of IL-6 mRNA in LM. Carbadox did not alter cytokine or IGF-I mRNA or serum metabolites, but did decrease (P < 0.05) serum TNFα. These data indicate that dietary sodium butyrate does not enhance growth performance, but may regulate the response to inflammatory stimuli in weanling pigs. to influence the inflammatory response. Sodium buty- rate directly decreases production of inflammatory cy- tokines by macrophages in response to Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS; Rodriguez-Cabezas et al., 2003; Fukae et al., 2005). Furthermore, sodium buty- rate induces histone acetylation in vitro (Li and Elsas- ser, 2005) and in vivo (Schroeder et al., 2007), and oral administration of a histone deacetylase inhibitor to mice before challenge with LPS decreases systemic pro- duction of proinflammatory cytokines (Leoni et al., 2005). Challenge with LPS induces catabolic events in muscle tissue, including a downregulation of IGF-I ex- pression (Spurlock et al., 1998). Previous studies have found that supplementation with sodium butyrate in- creases growth performance and intestinal integrity Published December 5, 2014