Silphium perfoliatum flavonoids alleviate LPS-induced injury via enhancing intestinal antioxidant capacity, barrier function, and regulating cecal microbiota in broilers.

This study investigated the effects of Silphium perfoliatum L. flavonoids (SPF) on growth performance, intestinal morphology, antioxidant capacity, anti-inflammatory responses, gut barrier function, and cecal microbiota in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged broilers. 250 one-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were randomly assigned to five groups: control (C), LPS (L), and LPS + SPF at 100, 200, or 300 mg/kg (SL1, SL2, SL3), with five replicates of 10 birds. Broilers in the LPS and SPF groups received 0.5 mg/kg LPS intraperitoneally on days 16, 18, and 20, while the control group received an equal volume of saline. SPF mitigated LPS-induced growth impairment, reducing feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) and improving average daily gain (ADG), villus height (VH), and villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH/CD) relative to the LPS group (all P < 0.001). SPF supplementation decreased malondialdehyde (MDA, P < 0.001), increased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px, P < 0.001) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD, P = 0.011), elevated interleukin-4 (IL-4, P = 0.03), enhanced interleukin-10 (IL-10, P < 0.001), and reduced tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α, P < 0.001). SPF downregulated jejunal Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), and TNF-α mRNA expression (all P < 0.001) and upregulated tight junction genes zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and occludin (OCLN, both < 0.001), and claudin-1 (CLDN1, P = 0.002). SPF ameliorated LPS-induced decreases in cecal microbial diversity and abundances of beneficial bacteria including Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus. These results indicate that dietary SPF effectively improves growth, gut health, antioxidant status, and anti-inflammatory responses in LPS-stressed broilers, supporting its potential as a natural alternative to antibiotics in poultry production.