Protective Effects of Fucoidan against Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Oxidative Damage in Porcine Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Simple Summary High levels of production in intensive farming systems make domestic animals like piglets particularly susceptible to oxidative stress, which is detrimental to intestinal homeostasis and function. It is of paramount importance to identify effective and reliable nutrients to counteract oxidative damage to the porcine intestinal epithelium, especially with the recent phasing out of the use of antibiotics in China. This study indicates that fucoidan could ameliorate hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress in porcine intestinal epithelial cells, primarily owing to the action of fucoidan to facilitate nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 signals and cellular antioxidant responses. These findings may provide useful implications for practical swine production. Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of fucoidan in ameliorating hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative stress to porcine intestinal epithelial cell line (IPEC-1). The cell viability test was initially performed to screen out appropriate concentrations of H2O2 and fucoidan. After that, cells were exposed to H2O2 in the presence or absence of pre-incubation with fucoidan. Hydrogen peroxide increased the apoptotic and necrotic rate, boosted reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and disturbed the transcriptional expression of genes associated with antioxidant defense and apoptosis in IPEC-1 cells. Pre-incubation with fucoidan inhibited the increases in necrosis and ROS accumulation induced by H2O2. Consistently, in the H2O2-treated IPEC-1 cells, fucoidan normalized the content of reduced glutathione as well as the mRNA abundance of NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 and superoxide dismutase 1 while it prevented the overproduction of malondialdehyde. Moreover, H2O2 stimulated the translocation of nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 to the nucleus of IPEC-1 cells, but this increase was further promoted by fucoidan pre-treatment. The results suggest that fucoidan is effective in protecting IPEC-1 cells against oxidative damage induced by H2O2, which may help in developing appropriate strategies for maintaining the intestinal health of young piglets.