Effects of selenium nanoparticles coated with chitosan supplementation on morphometry of immune organs, redox status, and immune response in broiler chicken

SUMMARY: The present study evaluated the effects of dietary selenium nanoparticles (SeNP) coated with chitosan (CS) supplementation on immune organsmorphology, redox status, and humoral and cellular immune responses in broilers. Day-old chicks (n = 240) were divided into 5 groups with 8 replicates per group (6 birds/replica). The basal diet was given to the control group, whereas the rest of the four (4) groups received basal diet supplementation with selenium nanoparticles (SeNP, 0.5 mg/kg), chitosan (CS, 200 mg/kg), SeNP + CS (0.5 mg/kg + 200 mg/kg), and SeNP coated with CS (SeNP-C-CS, 200 mg/kg). At the end of the experiment (d 35), 2 birds from each replica were sampled to collect the whole blood, spleen, and bursa of Fabricius. Results indicated that supplementation of SeNP and SeNP-C-CS significantly increased (P < 0.05) lymphatic nodular length and lymphatic nodular number in cecal tonsils, respectively. Supplementation of SeNP + CS and SeNP-C-CS increased (P < 0.05) the lymphatic follicular area of the bursa of Fabricius, SeNP, and SeNP-C-CS increased (P < 0.05) catalase and decreased cholesterol levels in serum, and SeNP, CS, and SeNP-C-CS increased (P < 0.05) the antibodies titers against sheep RBCs. Thus, we concluded that SeNP-C-CS supplementation improved the morphology of immune organs, redox status, and humoral immune responses in broilers.