Abstract: To investigate the effect of prodigiosin on intestinal development and antioxidant function in weaned rats, thirty male SD weaned rats, which suffered from intestinal injury induced by weaning stress, were randomly equally divided into control, low-dose, and high-dose groups. The rats in the control group were orally administered daily with sterile saline, while those in the low-dose, and high-dose groups were gavaged daily with 100 and 200 μg prodigiosin/kg body weight, respectively. The administration lasted for 14 days. All the rats were sacrificed after the last administration to collect tissue samples. Body weight and feed intake were recorded daily. Organ weights and the lengths of small intestine and colon were measured, and organ indexes were calculated. The morphological structures of ileum and colon were observed using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining. Ileal villus height and crypt depth, the thickness of colonic mucosa, and the number of goblet cells were measured. The total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione-peroxidase (GHS-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content in ileum and colon were determined. The results showed that high-dose prodigiosin could significantly increase body weight, daily feed intake, liver, spleen, thymus, small intestine and colon indexes, ileal villus height, the ratio of villus height and crypt depth, the thickness of colon mucosa, T-AOC, GHS-Px and SOD activities in ileum, and SOD in colon (P < 0.05), and decrease MDA contents in ileum and colon. In conclusion, prodigiosin is beneficial for improving the growth performance of weaned rats, and enhancing antioxidant capability in ileum and colon, as well as attenuating intestinal injury induced by weaning stress.

Key words: prodigiosin, weaned rats, intestinal development, immune function, antioxidant capability