Intestinal IEL Subpopulations
Dietary inclusion of probiotics increased (P < 0.05)
the proportions of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T lymphocytes
in the intestine of broilers at 21 and 42 d compared
with NC or PC treatments (Table 4). In comparison
with 0.1% probiotics treatment, the 0.2% probiotic
diet increased (P < 0.05) the proportions of CD3+,
CD4+, and CD8+ T lymphocytes at 21 d, and only
the proportion of CD4+ T lymphocyte in the foregut
of birds at 42 d. The antibiotic addition decreased (P <
0.05) the CD8+ proportion at 21 d and the CD3+ and
CD8+ proportions at 42 d.