Table 5.

Effects of wheat bran supplementation on the concentrations of inflammatory cytokines and sIgA in jejunal mucosa of broilers.

Item	CON	AGP	WB	SEM	P-value
Day 21
TNF-α, pg/mg	6.67a	6.25a,b	5.96b	0.18	0.04
IL-1β, pg/mg	2.90a	2.43b	2.28b	0.13	0.01
IL-6, pg/mg	126.08	121.08	118.57	2.47	0.13
sIgA, μg/mg	1.24b	1.55a	1.63a	0.08	<0.01
Day 42
TNF-α, pg/mg	7.16a	6.86a,b	6.49b	0.15	0.02
IL-1β, pg/mg	2.41	2.47	2.30	0.12	0.61
IL-6, pg/mg	129.61	122.19	123.30	2.85	0.17
sIgA, μg/mg	1.23b	1.50a	1.61a	0.07	0.01

^a,bMeans in the same row with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05).

Abbreviations: AGP, CON + 75 mg/kg chlortetracycline (antibiotic growth promoter); CON, antibiotic-free control diet; IL-1β, interleukin-1β; IL-6, interleukin-6; sIgA, secretory immunoglobulin A; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-α; WB, CON + 3% wheat bran.

Values are means, n = 7 per treatment.