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Poultry Immunity and Immunopathology of Poultry Diseases

A Special Issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615) belonging to the section "Poultry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 697

Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Interests: poultry; immunology; mucosal immunology; gut health; enteric diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Poultry products play a vital role in global food security, providing a major and broadly accepted source of high-quality animal protein worldwide. Unlike other animal protein sources, poultry meat and eggs are consumed across diverse cultures and religions, contributing to steadily increasing global demand. As a result, the poultry sector is expected to continue expanding as one of the primary contributors to the world’s protein supply. However, the industry faces significant challenges, including emerging and re-emerging diseases and increased susceptibility to infections, which contribute to production losses, protein shortages, and substantial economic impacts.

Infectious diseases remain a major threat to poultry health, production efficiency, animal welfare, and overall sustainability. With the current ban on antibiotic growth promoters in the poultry industry, the re-emergence and persistence of both enteric and systemic diseases have underscored the urgent need for a deeper understanding of host immunity and disease pathogenesis.

A deeper understanding of poultry immune mechanisms and the immunopathological consequences of infection is essential for developing effective prevention and disease control strategies. Integrating knowledge of protective immune responses with mechanisms of immunopathology is essential for the development of next-generation disease control strategies.

This Special Issue aims to advance knowledge in poultry immunity and immunopathology, with particular emphasis on the cellular, molecular, and systemic mechanisms that regulate host responses to infectious and inflammatory challenges. We seek to compile cutting-edge original research and comprehensive reviews that enhance our understanding of immune mechanisms and immune-mediated pathology in poultry diseases.

We welcome contributions that investigate both protective immune responses and immune-mediated pathology against economically important poultry diseases. We welcome submissions of original research articles, case studies addressing host immune responses to infectious diseases, and review articles focusing on the cellular, molecular, and systemic aspects of poultry immunity, particularly as they relate to disease resistance and immunopathogenesis.

Dr. Ali Nazmi
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • poultry immunity
  • immune responses
  • immunopathology
  • host–pathogen interactions
  • vaccine-mediated immunity
  • poultry infectious diseases
  • molecular mechanisms
  • immunosuppression

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

33 pages, 3194 KB  
Article
Effects of Oligomeric Ultrafine-Nano Hydrogen Water on Laying Performance, Egg Quality, Nutrient Composition, and Intestinal and Reproductive Responses in Late-Laying Hens
by Baowei Wang, Guangpeng Chu, Mengxiao Yang, Zhigang Fan, Yuanzhao Wu, Binghan Wang, Wei Lu, Shijie Fan, Ruilei Liu, Guiqin Wu, Mingai Zhang, Wenlei Fan, Tiejun Chen and Jing Wang
Animals 2026, 16(17), 2658; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16172658 - 24 Aug 2026
Viewed by 403
Abstract
This study evaluated the effects of oligomeric ultrafine-nano hydrogen water (OUHW) on production performance, egg quality, egg nutrient deposition, systemic metabolism, intestinal barrier function, and reproductive status in late-laying hens. Unlike conventional hydrogen-rich water, which primarily delivers molecular hydrogen dissolved in water, OUHW [...] Read more.
This study evaluated the effects of oligomeric ultrafine-nano hydrogen water (OUHW) on production performance, egg quality, egg nutrient deposition, systemic metabolism, intestinal barrier function, and reproductive status in late-laying hens. Unlike conventional hydrogen-rich water, which primarily delivers molecular hydrogen dissolved in water, OUHW integrates oligomeric water with ultrafine-nano-sized hydrogen bubbles, providing a distinct physicochemical form of hydrogen-water intervention. A total of 288 healthy 67-week-old Jingfen No. 8 laying hens were assigned to 2 treatments with 6 independent replicates per treatment (24 hens per replicate) and provided with either tap water or OUHW for 11 weeks. Compared with the control, OUHW reduced the feed conversion ratio and the rates of manure-spotting while increasing the laying rate, qualified egg rate, and total egg number during weeks 5–8 (p < 0.05). These productive and egg quality improvements were phase-specific effects observed in the late laying stage during the 11-week trial. At week 4, OUHW significantly increased egg weight (p < 0.05). At week 8, OUHW also improved eggshell compressive elastic deformation, eggshell thickness, albumen height, and Haugh unit (p < 0.05). At week 6, eggs from OUHW-treated hens had higher concentrations of glutamate, glycine, alanine, C18:0, C18:1n9c, C20:4n6, and C22:6n3 (p < 0.05). Serum metabolomics showed that 25 differential metabolites from the OUHW treatment group were predominantly enriched in glycerophospholipid, sphingolipid, branched-chain amino acid, histidine, and tryptophan metabolism. In the cecum, OUHW decreased p-cresol and increased isovaleric acid and acetic acid (p < 0.05). Notably, the overall community structures of the cecal and oviductal microbiota exhibited no significant treatment-related alterations, indicating limited structural changes in the microbial communities in response to the OUHW intervention. OUHW also reduced interleukin-2 and tumor necrosis factor-α, increased interleukin-10 in the jejunum and oviductal isthmus (p < 0.05), and upregulated the mRNA expression of ovarian steroidogenic acute regulatory protein and intestinal Occludin, Claudin-1, and Mucin-2 (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that OUHW improved laying performance, egg quality, and egg nutrient deposition, possibly through modulation of the metabolism, intestinal barrier function, ovarian function, and oviductal inflammation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Poultry Immunity and Immunopathology of Poultry Diseases)
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