This research investigates the potential of administering vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) to ruminants fed grain-based diets, to mitigate gut inflammation and thus enhance growth performance. Lambs were adapted to a corn-based diet with no added forage and randomly assigned to control (no VIP) or VIP treatment groups. Lambs were treated every other day over a 4-wk treatment period. Anti-inflammatory cytokines in blood plasma were higher in the VIP-treated group. Lambs not receiving VIP had a higher concentration of serum lipopolysaccharide (LPS) compared to lambs receiving VIP. No treatment effects were observed for endogenous VIP mRNA expression or intestinal tight junction mRNA expression. These data suggest that VIP supplementation may suppress inflammation in lambs fed a high-grain diet.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.