Veterinary Sciences最新文献

{"title":"Study on Intestinal Adaptation Mechanism of Sika Deer to High-Tannin Diet and the Mediating Role of Gut Microbiota.","authors":"Tianxiang Zhang, Yang Zhang, Manyu Zhang, Jun Liu, Yixuan Zhang, Yingying Feng, Weijie Han, Ziwei Zhu, Haijun Chen, Xiaofeng Huang","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101076","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tannins are plant-derived polyphenolic anti-nutritional factors that impair nutrient absorption, damage the intestinal barrier, and disrupt metabolic homeostasis. Some animals, however, have an innate resistance to the effects of tannins. Sika deer (<i>Cervus nippon</i>) exhibit strong tolerance to long-term consumption of tannin-rich oak plants, and <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> is considered a key functional bacterium, yet the underlying mechanism of this remains unclear. In this study, we transplanted fecal microbiota from tannin-acclimated sika deer into antibiotic-pretreated C57BL/6J mice, followed by tannin gavage to establish a stress model. Growth performance, serum glycolipid indices, and hepatic metabolic gene and protein expression were detected. Results showed no significant differences in body weight, fat deposition, or serum biochemical parameters between groups. In the transplantation group, key genes involved in glycolysis, detoxification, and lipid metabolism were significantly upregulated, while <i>CYP7A1</i>, a bile acid synthesis rate-limiting gene, was significantly downregulated at both transcriptional and protein levels. <i>Akkermansia</i> was specifically enriched in the gut of transplanted mice. In conclusion, the microbiota of the sika deer gut alleviates tannin toxicity and enhances host tolerance by regulating hepatic glycolipid and bile acid metabolism pathways. The results of our study provide new insights into the adaptation mechanisms of herbivores to high-tannin diets.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149274156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Extended In Vitro Maturation Reveals a Prolonged Nuclear Maturation Window and Dynamic BAX/BCL-2 Regulation in Dromedary Camel Oocytes.","authors":"Waad H Alhobish, Muath Q Al-Ghadi, Nouf M Alyami","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101074","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Temporal changes in nuclear maturation, <i>BAX/BCL-2</i> transcriptional dynamics, and functional competence during extended in vitro maturation (IVM) remain poorly characterized in dromedary camel oocytes. This study investigated nuclear maturation dynamics, <i>BAX</i> and <i>BCL-2</i> expressions, and early cleavage competence during extended IVM. Oocytes were evaluated at 0, 24, 30, 36, and 48 h for nuclear maturation, while transcript abundance was analyzed by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) using three independent biological replicates per time point. Early cleavage following artificial activation was compared between 36 and 48 h. The proportion of metaphase II (MII) oocytes increased from 36.36% at 30 h to 69.36% at 36 h and 84.27% at 48 h, with no significant difference between 36 and 48 h. At 24 h, both <i>BAX</i> and <i>BCL-2</i> were markedly reduced, but the greater reduction in <i>BCL-2</i> produced the highest relative <i>BAX/BCL-2</i> balance. Between 24 and 30 h, <i>BCL-2</i> increased markedly and the relative <i>BAX/BCL-2</i> balance declined sharply, remaining low at 36 and 48 h. Cleavage rates were 10.05 ± 0.92% and 12.81 ± 3.45% at 36 and 48 h, respectively, with no significant difference (<i>p</i> = 0.299). These findings identify an extended nuclear-maturation window spanning 36-48 h, accompanied by distinct changes in <i>BAX/BCL-2</i> transcriptional balance without a detectable reduction in early cleavage competence.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149274021","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hematologic Responses to Molidustat in Cats with Anemia of Heterogeneous Etiology: A Retrospective Descriptive Study.","authors":"Gippeum Lee, Jeongmin Lee, Kun-Ho Song","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101075","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Molidustat, an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, is approved for nonregenerative anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats but is also used for anemia of other causes. This retrospective, single-center study described the hematologic response to molidustat in 39 cats with anemia of heterogeneous etiology and identified factors that complicate attribution of improvement to the drug. Response was defined as a hematocrit (HCT) increase of ≥4 percentage points from baseline at the complete blood count closest to day 28 (days 14-45), without transfusion to treat anemia. Molidustat was used outside the approved indication in 33 cats (84.6%). Seventeen cats (43.6%) had a response-window measurement; they had a longer treatment span and differed in etiology and concurrent treatment from non-evaluable cats. Among these 17 cats, 12 (70.6%; 95% CI 46.9-86.7%) met the response criterion; sensitivity analyses specified before formal analysis gave 70.6-75.0% and post hoc attribution analyses 29.4-50.0%. In 7 of the 12 responders, darbepoetin or transfusion preceded the qualifying measurement, or it was obtained more than 7 days after the last dose. These data describe clinical use but do not establish effectiveness outside CKD-associated anemia.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149274036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"MicroRNA Regulation of the Estrogen Receptor Alpha 3'UTR in Canine Mammary Tumor (CMT28) Cells.","authors":"Deepika Goyal, Richard Curtis Bird","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101071","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Reduced estrogen receptor alpha (ERα/<i>ESR1</i>) expression is seen in canine mammary tumors, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. This study examined <i>ESR1</i>, miR-18a, and miR-19a expression in canine mammary cell lines. Further CMT28, a canine mammary tumor cell line, was used to test whether these miRNAs can regulate the reporter activity through selected regions of the canine <i>ESR1</i> 3'UTR containing predicted miR-18a and miR-19a binding sites. <i>ESR1</i> mRNA expression was measured by RT-qPCR, and miR-18a and miR-19a expression was measured using LNA-based assays. <i>ESR1</i> mRNA expression was much lower in CMT27, CMT28, and CMT47 compared with normal canine mammary epithelial cells, while CMT12 showed higher expression. miR-18a and miR-19a were increased to different levels across the tumor cell lines. Bioinformatic analysis identified predicted miR-18a and miR-19a seed-match sites in the canine <i>ESR1</i> 3'UTR. Luciferase reporter assays showed that both miR-18a and miR-19a significantly reduced activity of the reporter containing selected regions of the 3'UTR of <i>ESR1</i> encoding predicted miR-18a and miR-19a binding sites. In contrast, neither miRNA significantly reduced activity of the mutant reporter containing deletions in the predicted miR-18a and miR-19a seed-match regions. Anti-miR-18a and anti-miR-19a also significantly increased reporter activity compared with the corresponding miRNA alone. These findings provide functional evidence that miR-18a and miR-19a can regulate reporter activity through selected regions of the canine <i>ESR1</i> 3'UTR. Further studies are needed to determine the role of this regulation in endogenous <i>ESR1</i> expression and canine mammary tumor biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149273862","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Detection of Zoonotic Protozoan Enteropathogens in Stray and Owned Dogs with Diarrhea in Trabzon Province Using Microscopic and Molecular Methods.","authors":"Özlem Koç, Hüseyin Koç, Mustafa Açıcı","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101072","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Zoonotic protozoan parasites in dogs represent a significant public health concern because of their ability to infect humans. This study aimed to detect and determine the prevalence of zoonotic protozoan infections, including <i>Balantidium coli</i>, <i>Entamoeba histolytica</i>, <i>Giardia duodenalis</i>, <i>Cryptosporidium</i> spp., <i>Sarcocystis</i> spp. and <i>Cystoisospora</i> spp. in stray and owned dogs with diarrhea in Trabzon Province, Türkiye. Fecal samples were obtained from 450 dogs of various ages, sexes, and breeds. Samples were preserved in 70% alcohol for molecular analysis and incubated in 2.5% potassium dichromate for microscopic examination. Parasite DNA was analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Microscopic examination identified the <i>Cystoisospora ohioensis</i> group, <i>Cystoisospora canis</i>, and <i>Sarcocystis</i> spp. in 56 samples (12.44%). Specifically, <i>Cystoisospora</i> spp. and <i>Sarcocystis</i> spp. were detected in 36 (8.00%) and 20 (4.44%) of the samples, respectively. A mixed infection involving <i>C. canis</i> and the <i>C. ohioensis</i> group was observed in one sample. Molecular analyses detected <i>Cystoisospora</i> spp. DNA in 36 samples (8.00%) and <i>Sarcocystis</i> spp. DNA in 20 samples (4.44%). RFLP analysis confirmed that all detected <i>Cystoisospora</i> spp. DNA belonged to <i>C. ohioensis</i>, while <i>Sarcocystis</i> spp. could not be differentiated at the species level. This study reports the first microscopic detection of <i>Sarcocystis</i> spp. and <i>C. ohioensis</i> in dogs in Trabzon Province and constitutes the first molecular identification of <i>C. ohioensis</i> in Türkiye.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149274037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptomic and Extracellular Proteomic Analyses Implicate Two-Component Signaling in Medium-Dependent Virulence in <i>Vibrio mediterranei</i>.","authors":"Haiyan Zhang, Yihan Luo, Xiaohui Zou, Sheng Liu, Zhihua Lin, Qinggang Xue","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101069","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Vibrio mediterranei</i> is an emerging pathogen causing vibriosis outbreaks in marine bivalves, yet the molecular mechanisms by which environmental conditions modulate its virulence remain poorly understood. Here, we combined in vivo infection assays with integrated transcriptomic and extracellular products (ECPs) proteomic analyses to dissect how culture medium composition shapes the virulence of <i>V. mediterranei</i> toward razor clam (<i>Sinonovacula constricta</i>) juveniles. All tested strains caused markedly elevated juvenile mortality when cultured in TCBS medium (up to 98.9%, <i>p</i> < 0.0001), whereas strains grown in 2216E caused low mortality (0-3.3%), and no mortalities were recorded in the bacteria-free seawater control. Comparative ECPs proteomics identified 646 and 399 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in DT07 and DT02, respectively, enriched in cell envelope-related processes and in the composition of the extracellular protein fraction, the two-component system (TCS), and oxidative pathways, while transcriptomics revealed 3276 and 2084 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) dominated by carbon and energy metabolism, flagellar assembly, membrane transport, and signal transduction. Cross-omics integration via KEGG Orthology identifiers identified that the TCS (ko02020) was among the most prominent pathways linking the transcriptomic and ECPs proteomic layers, with <i>glnA</i>, <i>pstS</i>, <i>crp</i>, <i>fliC</i>, and <i>tolC</i> detected at both levels. <i>fliC</i>, <i>tolC</i> and <i>crp</i> were consistently detected at both two layers, linking transcriptional reprogramming to extracellular protein abundance. These findings implicated two-component signaling in the increased virulence of <i>V. mediterranei</i> in TCBS medium associated with motility, extracellular abundance, and metabolic adaptation, providing a framework for hypothesis-driven validation linking environmental cues to pathogenic potential in shellfish-associated <i>Vibrios</i>.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149273951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intra-Articular Autologous Conditioned Serum Alone or Combined with Oral Cannabidiol in Dogs Undergoing Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy: An Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial.","authors":"Piyathida Ardaum, Narudee Kashemsant, Winutpuksinee Wibulchan, Julaporn Pooliam, Monchanok Vijarnsorn","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autologous conditioned serum (ACS) contains anti-inflammatory mediators, whereas cannabidiol (CBD) may have analgesic and immunomodulatory effects. This exploratory randomized trial evaluated intra-articular ACS, alone or combined with oral CBD, after tibial plateau leveling osteotomy in dogs. Twenty-seven dogs were randomized to placebo, ACS, or ACS + CBD (<i>n</i> = 9/group). Outcomes included C-reactive protein (CRP), peak vertical force, orthopedic assessment scores (lameness, joint mobility, pain on palpation, weight-bearing, and overall clinical condition), Canine Brief Pain Inventory, radiographic outcomes, and safety. CRP peaked on Day 1. In the linear mixed model using a heterogeneous first-order autoregressive covariance structure, treatment-group (<i>p</i> = 0.001) and visit (<i>p</i> < 0.001) effects were significant, whereas the treatment-group × visit interaction did not reach significance (<i>p</i> = 0.053). Exploratory comparisons showed lower CRP in ACS + CBD than placebo on Days 3 (adjusted <i>p</i> = 0.007) and 5 (adjusted <i>p</i> = 0.001), with model-dependent sensitivity findings. No consistent treatment-group differences were identified in clinical or structural outcomes. One ACS-treated dog developed a surgical site infection, and alkaline phosphatase activity was higher in ACS + CBD on Day 28. The CRP findings remain hypothesis-generating, with uncertain clinical relevance.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149274098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparing Temporal Averaging and Transformer Encoders for Video-Based Cattle Behavior Classification Under Severe Class Imbalance.","authors":"Daniyar Pirlepesov Maratovich, Dae-Yeong Kang, Mohammad Ismail, Usama Hanif, Seong-Hun Kim, Dasanayaka Lekamalage Vindya Sathsarani Dasanayaka, Reginald Gbenga Azuatalam, Muhammad Ismail Khan, Hyeon-Tae Kim","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Automated cattle behavior monitoring from video is challenging due to severe class imbalance and the need for efficient temporal modeling. We compared four architectures on 542 videos containing standing, lying down, and rumination; rumination appeared only six times, while two dataset classes were absent. ResNet-50 and EfficientNet-B3 backbones were paired with either a Transformer encoder or temporal averaging and trained with three-fold stratified cross-validation and weighted cross-entropy. EfficientNet-B3 with temporal averaging (Eff-B3 + Avg) achieved the highest out-of-fold accuracy (85.61%) and best calibration (ECE = 0.074), while requiring 41 MB and 28 ms per video. Its Transformer counterpart scored 84.13% despite four times more parameters. ResNet-50 + Transformer reached 84.69% but was poorly calibrated and storage-intensive. Frame ablation identified 16 frames per video as the best accuracy-speed trade-off. No model correctly classified any rumination example, underscoring that rumination was not learnable under the specific weighted-cross-entropy and stratified-sampling strategies evaluated here; this finding does not establish a general impossibility of learning extremely underrepresented behaviors under alternative training strategies such as focal loss, oversampling, anomaly detection, or self-supervised pre-training. Rare-class analysis, treating support ≤106 as rare, showed high-confidence rumination errors: mean confidence was 0.891, but only 1.01% of probability mass was assigned to the true class, yielding a class-wise expected calibration error of 0.891. These findings indicate that calibration post-processing cannot rescue a class with zero true positives.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149273935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Growth-Associated Reorganization of Gill and Skin-Mucus Microbiota in Cultured <i>Decapterus maruadsi</i>: Contrasting Occurrence-Abundance Patterns.","authors":"Xiaoping Wu, Fangyu Yuan, Linkai Chen, Zhaokai Yu, Hancheng Hong, Ding Li, Weiqing Huang","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101073","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>External mucosal microbiota form important interfaces between fish and the aquatic environment, yet their variation during host growth remains poorly understood. We characterized the gill and skin-mucus microbiota of cultured <i>Decapterus maruadsi</i> across three successive body-size stages (4.98-6.81 g, 16.67-19.63 g, and 27.30-28.66 g) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Fish were sampled from the same cohort maintained in the same culture system, and two supplied-seawater samples were included as environmental references. Factorial multivariate analysis indicated significant effects of mucosal tissue, sampling stage, and their interaction on community composition. Broad taxonomic structure remained dominated by <i>Pseudomonadota</i>, whereas extensive differentiation occurred at finer taxonomic resolutions. Skin-mucus richness decreased across successive sampling stages, whereas no corresponding alpha-diversity difference was detected in the gill. Host-wide prevalence analysis revealed contrasting changes in the abundance contribution of recurrent ASVs between the two mucosal compartments; however, tissue-specific sensitivity analyses showed that occurrence categories depended partly on the sample set used to define prevalence. The same dominant <i>Limimaricola</i> ASV occurred at high abundance in one supplied-seawater sample and in middle-stage skin mucus, indicating environmental microbial input as a plausible contributor to the observed composition. Overall, this study provides a descriptive baseline for stage-associated variation in the external mucosal microbiota of one cultured <i>D. maruadsi</i> cohort and highlights distinct responses of gill and skin-mucus communities without attributing these changes solely to host growth.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149274050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative Effects of Live and Heat-Inactivated <i>Enterococcus faecium</i> on Growth Performance and Intestinal Health in Growing Female Mink (<i>Neovison vison</i>).","authors":"Guang Wang, Lin Cao, Lihua Wang","doi":"10.3390/vetsci13101070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci13101070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study was conducted to evaluate the individual and combined effects of live <i>E. faecium</i> (EF) and heat-inactivated <i>E. faecium</i> (PEF) on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, immune responses, intestinal morphology and microbiota in growing female mink. A total of 120 12-week-old female mink were allocated to four dietary treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design, with EF and PEF each supplied at 0 or 0.10%. The four diets were a basal diet (Control), basal diet + 0.10% EF (viable count > 1 × 10⁸ CFU/kg basal diet), basal diet + 0.10% PEF, and basal diet + 0.10% EF + 0.10% PEF. The feeding trial lasted 7 weeks. PEF supplementation increased final body weight and average daily gain and decreased the feed-to-gain ratio (<i>p</i> < 0.05). PEF also increased duodenal and jejunal villus height and the villus height-to-crypt depth ratio, raised jejunal secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), and decreased serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and jejunal mucosal IL-8, IL-1β, and TNF-α concentrations (<i>p</i> < 0.05). EF supplementation increased serum IgG and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and decreased jejunal crypt depth and mucosal TNF-α concentration (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Significant interactions between EF and PEF were detected for fresh pelt length, serum IgG and T-AOC, duodenal trypsin activity, jejunal mucosal IL-1β and TNF-α, and several intestinal morphometric variables (<i>p</i> < 0.05). No evidence of synergistic effects was observed. Neither EF nor PEF significantly affected alpha diversity or the dominant phyla of the intestinal microbiota. However, the relative abundances of <i>Fusobacterium</i>, <i>Acinetobacter</i>, and <i>Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1</i> differed among treatments (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Live and heat-inactivated <i>E. faecium</i> exerted distinct effects in growing female mink. PEF showed benefits for growth performance, intestinal morphology, mucosal immunity, and oxidative status, whereas EF mainly affected IgG, T-AOC, and jejunal crypt depth. The observed interaction between EF and PEF indicates that concurrent supplementation should be evaluated cautiously, as no additive effects were detected.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":"13 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149273953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}