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Journal of Animal Science and Technology
Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology

J Anim Sci Technol

pISSN: 2672-0191, eISSN: 2055-0391

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5187/jast.2600048

Article

Dietary supplement Lactococcus lactis improved anti-inflammatory responses and intestinal barrier function of weaned pigs

Hyunjin Kyoung1, Youngmin Park2, Kyeong Il Park1, Jinmu Ahn1, Yonggu Kang1, Hansol Hwang1, Jun-Mo Kim3, Jungwoo Yang4, Hyung Wook Kim5, Sangnam Oh6, Younghoon Kim7, Jong Nam Kim8, Sangwoo Park9, Yanhong Liu2, Peng Ji10, Jeehwan Choe11,*, Minho Song1,**
1Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea.
2Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
3Department of Animal Science and Technology, Chung-Ang University, Anseong 17546, Korea.
4Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Dongguk University, Gyeongju 38066, Korea.
5Department of Bio-integrated Science and Technology, College of Life Sciences, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea.
6Department of Food and Nutrition, Jeonju University, Jeonju 55069, Korea.
7Department of Agricultural Biotechnology and Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea.
8Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Dongseo University, Busan 47011, Korea.
9Division of Animal Bioscience and Integrated Biotechnology, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52828, Korea.
10Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States.
11Department of Livestock, Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju 54874, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Jeehwan Choe, Department of Livestock, Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries, Jeonju 54874, Korea, Republic of. E-mail: jchoe@korea.kr.
**Corresponding Author: Minho Song, Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Korea, Republic of. E-mail: mhsong@cnu.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2026 Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Feb 11, 2026; Revised: Mar 04, 2026; Accepted: Mar 08, 2026

Published Online: Mar 23, 2026

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of dietary probiotic <italic>Lactococcus lactis</italic> on growth performance, frequency of diarrhea, immune responses, and intestinal health of weaned pigs. In a randomized complete block design (block = initial body weight), 48 newly weaned pigs were assigned to two dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen; 6 replicates/treatment; 4-week trial): a basal diet based on corn and soybean meal (CON) and CON supplemented with 0.02% <italic>L. lactis</italic> (LL). Growth performance, frequency of diarrhea, systemic immune responses and serum biochemical parameters, intestinal morphology, and ileal gene expression of tight junction proteins and inflammatory cytokines were measured. No differences were found in growth performance and serum biochemical parameters between CON and LL. However, the LL group tended to show lower the frequency of diarrhea during the first two weeks after weaning (<italic>p</italic> = 0.092), hematocrit levels on day 14 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.093), and serum cortisol concentrations on day 7 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.096) than the CON group. The LL decreased concentrations of serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) on day 7 (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05), interleukin-6 (IL-6) on days 7 and 14 (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) on day 14 (<italic>P</italic> = 0.057), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) on day 14 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.082) and day 28 (<italic>p</italic> = 0.070) compared with the CON. Pigs fed LL diet had higher villus area and the number of goblet cells in the small intestine (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) and had a tendency to increase villus height in the duodenum (<italic>p</italic> = 0.084) compared with those fed CON diet. Furthermore, the LL upregulated (p < 0.05) gene expressions of claudin-1, claudin-4, and tight junction protein-1 in the ileum and downregulated (p < 0.05) gene expressions of TNF-α, TGF-β, IL-1β, IL-6, and interleukin-8 compared with the CON. Consequently, the dietary probiotic <italic>L. lactis</italic> tended to alleviate post-weaning diarrhea; this may be correlated with improved anti-inflammatory responses, intestinal morphology, and gut barrier functions of weaned pigs.

Keywords: Cytokines; Intestinal health; Probiotics; Weaned pigs