The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens
Injurious behaviors (i.e., aggressive pecking, feather pecking, and cannibalism) in laying hens are a critical issue facing the egg industry due to increased social stress and related health and welfare issues as well as economic losses. In humans, stress-induced dysbiosis increases gut permeability...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Microorganisms |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/3/471 |
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| author | Yuechi Fu Jiaying Hu Huanmin Zhang Marisa A. Erasmus Timothy A. Johnson Heng-Wei Cheng |
| author_facet | Yuechi Fu Jiaying Hu Huanmin Zhang Marisa A. Erasmus Timothy A. Johnson Heng-Wei Cheng |
| author_sort | Yuechi Fu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Injurious behaviors (i.e., aggressive pecking, feather pecking, and cannibalism) in laying hens are a critical issue facing the egg industry due to increased social stress and related health and welfare issues as well as economic losses. In humans, stress-induced dysbiosis increases gut permeability, releasing various neuroactive factors, causing neuroinflammation and related neuropsychiatric disorders via the microbiota–gut–brain axis, and consequently increasing the frequency and intensity of aggression and violent behaviors. Restoration of the imbalanced gut microbial composition has become a novel treatment strategy for mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, impulsivity, and compulsivity. A similar function of modulating gut microbial composition following stress challenge may be present in egg-laying chickens. The avian cecum, as a multi-purpose organ, has the greatest bacterial biodiversity (bacterial diversity, richness, and species composition) along the gastrointestinal tract, with vitally important functions in maintaining physiological and behavioral homeostasis, especially during the periods of stress. To identify the effects of the gut microbiome on injurious behaviors in egg-laying chickens, we have designed and tested the effects of transferring cecal contents from two divergently selected inbred chicken lines on social stress and stress-related injurious behaviors in recipient chicks of a commercial layer strain. This article reports the outcomes from a multi-year study on the modification of gut microbiota composition to reduce injurious behaviors in egg-laying chickens. An important discovery of this corpus of experiments is that injurious behaviors in chickens can be reduced or inhibited through modifying the gut microbiota composition and brain serotonergic activities via the gut–brain axis, without donor-recipient genetic effects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:00:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1260e41a0cf94d26b4c8357279220fe7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:00:05Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microorganisms |
| spelling | doaj.art-1260e41a0cf94d26b4c8357279220fe72024-03-27T13:55:34ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072024-02-0112347110.3390/microorganisms12030471The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying ChickensYuechi Fu0Jiaying Hu1Huanmin Zhang2Marisa A. Erasmus3Timothy A. Johnson4Heng-Wei Cheng5Department of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USADepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USAU.S. National Poultry Research Center, USDA-ARS, Athens, GA 30605, USADepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USADepartment of Animal Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USALivestock Behavior Research Unit, USDA-ARS, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USAInjurious behaviors (i.e., aggressive pecking, feather pecking, and cannibalism) in laying hens are a critical issue facing the egg industry due to increased social stress and related health and welfare issues as well as economic losses. In humans, stress-induced dysbiosis increases gut permeability, releasing various neuroactive factors, causing neuroinflammation and related neuropsychiatric disorders via the microbiota–gut–brain axis, and consequently increasing the frequency and intensity of aggression and violent behaviors. Restoration of the imbalanced gut microbial composition has become a novel treatment strategy for mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, impulsivity, and compulsivity. A similar function of modulating gut microbial composition following stress challenge may be present in egg-laying chickens. The avian cecum, as a multi-purpose organ, has the greatest bacterial biodiversity (bacterial diversity, richness, and species composition) along the gastrointestinal tract, with vitally important functions in maintaining physiological and behavioral homeostasis, especially during the periods of stress. To identify the effects of the gut microbiome on injurious behaviors in egg-laying chickens, we have designed and tested the effects of transferring cecal contents from two divergently selected inbred chicken lines on social stress and stress-related injurious behaviors in recipient chicks of a commercial layer strain. This article reports the outcomes from a multi-year study on the modification of gut microbiota composition to reduce injurious behaviors in egg-laying chickens. An important discovery of this corpus of experiments is that injurious behaviors in chickens can be reduced or inhibited through modifying the gut microbiota composition and brain serotonergic activities via the gut–brain axis, without donor-recipient genetic effects.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/3/471aggressioncecal microbiota transplantationgut microbiotainjurious behaviorlaying hensocial stress |
| spellingShingle | Yuechi Fu Jiaying Hu Huanmin Zhang Marisa A. Erasmus Timothy A. Johnson Heng-Wei Cheng The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens Microorganisms aggression cecal microbiota transplantation gut microbiota injurious behavior laying hen social stress |
| title | The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens |
| title_full | The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens |
| title_short | The Impact of Early-Life Cecal Microbiota Transplantation on Social Stress and Injurious Behaviors in Egg-Laying Chickens |
| title_sort | impact of early life cecal microbiota transplantation on social stress and injurious behaviors in egg laying chickens |
| topic | aggression cecal microbiota transplantation gut microbiota injurious behavior laying hen social stress |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/12/3/471 |
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