Effects of Chlorella sp. and Spirulina sp. extracts on IL-۶ gene expression in broiler chickens

Background and Aim: In recent years the issue of breeding the boiler chicks has been increasingly important due to the population growth and their needs to chickens products as nutrient food. Since utilizing of antibiotics in food industry has been prohibited, the use of probiotic products has become more noteworthy. Consequently, this usage would result in improving of performance of broiler chicks which are free from antibiotics residue. Recent evidences have showed that the use of algae’s extract known as probiotics can play an important role in improving the immune system of the poultries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of Interleukinin-۶ (IL-۶) gene involved in immune system in broiler chickens which received dietary additive of Chlorella and Spirulina extracts.Methods: ۱۴۴ chicks (male Ross) were divided into four groups with three independent replications.Chickens in group ۱, as control group, were fed with basic diet (without any algae’s extract). Second and third groups received diet with ۰.۲ % Chlorella and ۰.۲% Spirulina, respectively. The forth group had diet containing mixture of ۰.۲ % Chlorella and ۰.۲% Spirulina. After the breeding period, the chicks were slaughtered. Sampling was carried out from the jejunum area. After RNA extraction and synthesis of cDNA with PCR, analysis of IL-۶ gene expression was performed by Real-time PCR using GAPDH gene. Data were analyzed using SPSS.Results: The expression of IL-۶ was reduced significantly in broiler chickens fed with ۰.۲ % Chlorella in comparison with control while in group with diet of ۰.۲% Spirulina showed no significant changes. In addition, the IL-۶ expression displayed significantly increment in fourth group compared to the control.Conclusion: By considering the results, it seems that using mixture of ۰.۲ % Chlorella + ۰.۲% Spirulina improves the genes functions which are responsible for immune response.

کلیدواژه ها:

Broiler chicks ، Chlorella ، Interleukinin-۶ ، Probiotics ، Spirulina