Morphometric analysis of the intestinal wall and the dynamic of mucins secreted in the jejunum of broilers supplemented with Bacillus subtilis strain C3102

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the morphology of the intestinal wall and the dynamics of mucins secreted in the jejunum of broilers supplemented with probiotic Bacillus subtilis strain C3102. We used 720 chicks with a day of life, divided into two groups: GA (control group) - birds fed diet without supplementation of Bacillus subtilis strain C3102 (1 to 35 days) and GB (treated group) - birds fed with supplementation of Bacillus subtilis strain C3102 (1 to 35 days). On the 7th and the 35th day, 2cm of jejunum were collected and submitted to histological processing. 1μm cross sections were stained by Alcian blue (AB) for detecting of sialomucins (pH 0.5) and sulphomucins (pH 2.5) as well as to count goblet cells. Histochemical analysis revealed a greater amount of sialomucins in the jejunum of animals that were supplemented with probiotic Bacillus subtilis strain C3102 (GB), when compared with the control group (GA). The number of goblet cells in the treated group (GB) was higher than the control group (GA).

Index Terms:
Broilers; Bacillus subtilis; goblet cells; morphometric; mucins