{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T12:11:03Z","timestamp":1789992663996,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789776000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Scientific Research Capacity Improvement of Key Constructed Disciplines of Guangdong Province","award":["2025ZDJS086"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025ZDJS086"]}]},{"name":"Self-financed Science and Technology Innovation Projects of Foshan City","award":["2520001002992"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2520001002992"]}]},{"name":"Heyuan Branch of Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture Autonomous Research Project","award":["DT20240004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DT20240004"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Escherichia coli (E. coli)-induced enteritis impairs intestinal barrier function, immune homeostasis, and growth performance in broilers. This study investigated whether dietary curcumin alleviates E. coli-induced intestinal injury by modulating macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses through the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. Broilers were fed either a basal or curcumin-supplemented diet and challenged with E. coli. Growth performance, intestinal inflammatory cytokines, morphology, barrier-related gene expression, goblet cell density, and ileal macrophage responses were evaluated. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated HD11 cells were used to examine the underlying mechanism. Curcumin supplementation increased body weight, average daily feed intake, and average daily gain in E. coli-challenged broilers, without significantly affecting the feed conversion ratio. Curcumin also reduced jejunal and ileal IL-1\u03b2, IL-6, and TNF-\u03b1 levels; improved villus morphology and the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio; and upregulated CLDN1, OCLN, ZO-1, and MUC2 expression. In addition, curcumin restored goblet cell density and ileal macrophage abundance while suppressing macrophage-derived pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. In HD11 cells, curcumin inhibited LPS-induced inflammatory cytokine expression and secretion and reduced p38 MAPK phosphorylation, whereas pharmacological activation of p38 partially reversed these effects. In conclusion, dietary curcumin alleviated E. coli-induced enteritis in broilers by suppressing intestinal inflammation, preserving intestinal barrier function, and modulating macrophage-mediated immune responses. In vitro findings further suggest that inhibition of p38 MAPK signaling may contribute to the anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin on chicken macrophages.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16182942","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T11:05:53Z","timestamp":1789988753000},"page":"2942","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Curcumin Attenuates Escherichia coli-Induced Enteritis and Macrophage Inflammation in Broilers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Haiping","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Food & Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Guangzhou College of Technology and Business, Guangzhou 510850, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6268-2404","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yantian","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heyuan Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Heyuan 517000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1502-4502","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Siyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fujian Key Laboratory of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou 350013, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Guosheng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heyuan Customs Comprehensive Technical Service Center, Heyuan 517000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1111\/jpn.14032","article-title":"Abiotic stressors in poultry production: A comprehensive review","volume":"109","author":"Ncho","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. 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