Supplementation of a supranutritional dose of zinc sulfate and heat killed Bacillus firmus in early weanling pig diet: the effect on growth, neutrophil function and inflammatory cytokines/Dodatak supranutritivnih doza cinkova sulfata i bakterija Bacillus firmus ubijenih toplinom u obrok rano odbijenih svinja: utjecaj na rast, funkciju neutrofila i upalne citokine

The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of supplementation of a supranutritional dose of zinc sulfate (ZnS[O.sub.4]) and Bacillus firmus derived bio-response modifier (BRM) on growth, blood neutrophil functions, pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine responses in early weanling piglets. In total, 45 piglets (age of 19.25 [+ or -] 0.84 days) were randomly divided into five groups: I (basal diet only), II (basal diet supplemented with ZnS[O.sub.4]), III (basal diet supplemented with BRM), IV (basal diet supplemented with ZnS[O.sub.4] plus BRM) and V (basal diet without weaning from dam). The production of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and superoxide anion ([O.sub.2.sup.-]), and the concentration of transforming growth factor-[beta]1 (TGF-[beta]1) were markedly reduced, whereas the concentrations of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1), and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) were significantly (P0.05) but a marked increase (P