{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T18:42:19Z","timestamp":1789843339460,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]],"date-time":"2024-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1722297600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100010038","name":"Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CARS-37"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CARS-37"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100010038","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study aimed to investigate the regulatory effects of mulberry leaf flavonoids and carnosic acid complex (MCC) on the growth performance, intestinal morphology, antioxidant, and p38 MAPK\/Nrf2 pathway in broilers.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 256 healthy 8-day-old female yellow-feathered broilers were randomly divided into 4 equal groups: a control group (CON) fed a basal diet, an antibiotic group (CTC) supplemented with 50\u2009mg\/kg chlortetracycline, and two experimental groups (MCC75, MCC150) fed basal diets with 75\u2009mg\/kg and 150\u2009mg\/kg of MCC, respectively. The experiment lasted for 56\u2009days, with days 1\u201328 designated as the initial phase and days 29\u201356 as the growth phase.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>The results on the growth performance showed that diets supplemented with MCC and CTC decreased the feed-to-gain ratio (F\/G), diarrhea rate, and death rate, while significantly increasing the average daily weight gain (ADG) (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.05). Specifically, the MCC150 group enhanced intestinal health, indicated by reduced crypt depth and increased villus height-to-crypt depth ratio (V\/C) as well as amylase activity in the jejunum. Both the MCC and CTC groups exhibited increased villus height and V\/C ratio in the ileal (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&amp;lt;\u20090.05). Additionally, all treated groups showed elevated serum total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and significant increases in catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were observed in both the MCC150 and CTC groups. Molecular analysis revealed an upregulation of the jejunal mRNA expression levels of PGC-1\u03b1, Nrf2, and Keap1 in the MCC and CTC groups, as well as an upregulation of ileum mRNA expression levels of P38, PGC-1\u03b1, Nrf2, and Keap1 in the MCC150 group, suggesting activation of the p38-MAPK\/Nrf2 pathway.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>These findings indicate that dietary supplementation with MCC, particularly at a dosage of 150\u2009mg\/kg, may serve as a viable antibiotic alternative, enhancing growth performance, intestinal health, and antioxidant capacity in broilers by regulating the p38-MAPK\/Nrf2 pathway.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2024.1428577","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]],"date-time":"2024-07-30T04:57:22Z","timestamp":1722315442000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Dietary supplementation with mulberry leaf flavonoids and carnosic acid complex enhances the growth performance and antioxidant capacity via regulating the p38 MAPK\/Nrf2 pathway"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Chunming","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hui","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yulian","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingjun","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tiantian","family":"Meng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bihui","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenxiang","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoqin","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dingfu","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3294","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11113294","article-title":"Effects 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