Fig. 4

Effects of ABX treatment on intestinal nonspecific immune function and humoral immune function of broiler chickens with cages and ground litter floor pens. The frequencies of mononuclear/macrophage (A) of ileum lymphocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry. The phagocytic activity of monocytes (B) was analyzed by neutral red method. The mRNA levels of iNOS (C), Mucin-2 (D), IgA (G) and pIgR (H) in jejunum and ileum were analyzed by RT-PCR. Ileum lymphocytes were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (E), and the stimulation index (SI) was calculated as described in the Materials and methods section. The level of sIgA of ileum mucosa (F) was analyzed by ELISA kit. All graphs are presented as mean, with the standard deviation (SD) shown via the whiskers. The main effect and interaction effects were analyzed using the general linear model (GLM) procedure, with the P values for the main effects written out below each plot. The one-way ANOVA and multiple comparisons were performed when interactive effects differed significantly. Cage: cage control group; Cage + ABX: cage with ABX group; Litter: ground litter control group; Litter + ABX: ground litter with ABX group