Study of Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Antibiotic Growth Promoters Flavophospholipol and Avilamycin

Abstract

Non-antibiotic feed additives have been developed to be used as alternatives, but none of them is effective as antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs). Understanding other mechanisms related to growth promoter of AGPs may be beneficial to the search for effective feed additives for animal production. In vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to evaluate the free radical scavenging activities of flavophospholipol and avilamycin. The in vitro study showed that flavophospholipol had a potent scavenging activity for DPPH, hydroxyl and nitric oxide radicals with the exception of superoxide anion radicals and their IC50 were 155.1, 62.6 and 105.6 mg/l, respectively. The scavenging capacity of one milligram flavophospholipol was about 197.5 nmoles of DPPH, 132.0 nmoles of hydroxyl and 5.8 nmoles of nitric oxide radicals. In contrast, avilamycin was able to scavenge only the hydroxyl radical with 150.6 mg/l as IC50 and one milligram of avilamycin scavenged approximately 52.6 nmoles. The in vivo study demonstrated that DPPH radical scavenging activity of broiler serum at 21 and 42 DOA was significantly higher in AGPs supplemented groups. In conclusion, the anti-oxidative property of AGPs may be one of the mechanisms to promote animal health and productivity.