{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T14:49:15Z","timestamp":1788965355173,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,18]],"date-time":"2022-04-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1650240000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic","award":["VEGA 1\/0107\/21"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["VEGA 1\/0107\/21"]}]},{"name":"the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic","award":["VEGA 1\/0177\/22"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["VEGA 1\/0177\/22"]}]},{"name":"the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic","award":["VEGA 1\/0314\/20"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["VEGA 1\/0314\/20"]}]},{"name":"the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.","award":["VEGA 1\/0554\/21"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["VEGA 1\/0554\/21"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Probiotic bacteria, including the Enterococcus faecium strain, can improve intestinal mucosal health by several mechanisms, including modulation of the immune response, as well as by improving the protective function of the epithelial barrier. In this study, we tested the effect of Enterococcus faecium AL41 on the acute phase proteins response (blood), gene expression of selected molecules of mucosal immunity (immunoglobulin A, mucin-2, insulin-like growth factor 2) and mucus production (all parts of the small intestine) in broilers. Eighty broiler chicks were divided into two groups: a control and E. faecium AL41 (birds were inoculated with AL41 for 7 days) group. The whole experiment lasted 11 days. Our results revealed that the administration of E. faecium AL41 had no substantial effect on the concentrations of acute phase proteins, but we recorded a significant increase in \u03b2- and \u03b3-globulin fractions at the end of the experiment, which may indicate an improvement in the immune status. A significant prolonged stimulatory effect of E. faecium AL41 on the relative expression of molecules (immunoglobulin A, mucin-2) as well as on the dynamic of mucus production in the chicken intestine was observed. In addition, AL41 significantly reduced the total number of enterococci in the cecum and faeces.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life12040598","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,18]],"date-time":"2022-04-18T22:04:02Z","timestamp":1650319442000},"page":"598","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["The Effect of Enterococcus faecium AL41 on the Acute Phase Proteins and Selected Mucosal Immune Molecules in Broiler Chickens"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8424-367X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Viera","family":"Karaffov\u00e1","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7444-7348","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Csilla","family":"T\u00f3thov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic of Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ren\u00e1ta","family":"Szab\u00f3ov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology and Physiology, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Viera","family":"Revajov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7413-3816","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrea","family":"Laukov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Biosciences of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Animal Physiology, \u0160olt\u00e9sovej 4-6, 040 01 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zuzana","family":"\u0160ev\u010d\u00edkov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R\u00f3bert","family":"Herich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rudolf","family":"\u017dit\u0148an","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Agriculture and Food Centre, Research Institute for Animal Production Nitra, Hlohoveck\u00e1 2, 951 41 Lu\u017eianky, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Levkut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mikul\u00e1\u0161","family":"Levkut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"},{"name":"Institute of Neuroimmunology, D\u00fabravsk\u00e1 Cesta 9, 845 10 Bratislava, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zita","family":"Faixov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology and Physiology, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oskar","family":"Nagy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic of Ruminants, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Ko\u0161ice, Komensk\u00e9ho 73, 041 81 Ko\u0161ice, Slovakia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2018.00060","article-title":"The well-developed mucosal immune systems of birds and mammals allow for similar approaches of mucosal vaccination in both types of animals","volume":"5","author":"Nochi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. 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