Protective effect of chlorogenic acid on liver injury in heat‐stressed meat rabbits

Abstract This study investigated the protective effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA) on production performance and liver function of rabbits under heat stress (HS) condition. A total of 120 healthy New Zealand weaned rabbits with similar initial body weight, were randomly divided into 3 treatments with 20 replicates per treatment and 2 weaned rabbits per replicate: control (CON) group (rabbits were housed at 25 ± 1°C and fed a basal diet), HS group (rabbits were housed at 35 ± 1°C and fed a basal diet), and HS + CGA group (rabbits were housed at 35 ± 1°C and fed a basal diet supplemented with 800 mg/kg CGA). The trial lasted for 28 days. The results showed that HS challenge decreased ( p < 0.05) growth performance, induced oxidative stress and hepatic apoptosis, and caused liver damage in rabbits. However, dietary CGA supplementation increased ( p < 0.05) body weight gain and feed efficiency, and enhanced ( p < 0.05) antioxidative capacity in serum and liver in HS‐challenged rabbits; attenuated HS‐induced increases in urea nitrogen ( p = 0.03), alanine aminotransferase ( p = 0.03), aspartate aminotransferase ( p = 0.01), caspase‐8 ( p = 0.02), and caspase‐3 ( p = 0.04) as well as decrease albumin ( p = 0.04). Moreover, supplementation with CGA upregulated Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway‐related genes expressions, including Nrf2 ( p = 0.009), HO‐1 ( p = 0.03) and SOD1 ( p = 0.04) in HS‐challenged rabbits. Our findings demonstrated that dietary CGA supplementation could alleviate HS‐induced decline in growth performance, and protect against HS‐induced liver damage partially through enhancing antioxidant capacity via acting Nrf2/HO‐1 pathway and inhibiting hepatic apoptosis in rabbits.