Publikationsdatenbank

Impact of the dietary inclusion of silkworm pupae meal and oil on selected immune variables in healthy dogs (2025)

Art

Poster

Autoren

Linti, Antonia

Baum, Lilly

Hänse, Maria

Potthoff, Janes

Belik, Vitaly (WE 16)

Sergeeva, Alisa (WE 16)

Zentek, Jürgen (WE 4)

Paßlack, Nadine

Kongress

29th Congress of the European Society of Veterinary & Comparative Nutrition ESVCN

Leipzig, 04. – 06.09.2025

Quelle

Proceedings of the 29th Congress of the European Society of Veterinary & Comparative Nutrition ESVCN : 4th – 6th September 2025 Leipzig, Germany — Wilkens MR, Vervuert I, Heilmann R, Dobenecker B, Rackwitz R (eds.) (Hrsg.)

Leipzig: Müller Buchbinderei GmbH, 2025. LBH: Leipziger Blaue Hefte — S. 124

Sprache

Englisch

Kontakt

Institut für Tierernährung

Königin-Luise-Str. 49
14195 Berlin
+49 30 838 52256
tierernaehrung@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Introduction: Insect products are interesting new feed materials, both from an ecological and nutritional point of view. In companion animals, insect meal can be especially relevant as a novel protein source in elimination diets composed for the treatment of food allergies. On the other hand, data from human medicine also indicate an allergenic potential of edible insects [1-3]. The present study aimed to evaluate the immunomodulatory effects of a diet containing silkworm pupae meal and silkworm pupae oil in healthy adult dogs, while using a diet based on poultry by-product meal and rapeseed oil as a control treatment.
Animals, material and methods: Ten beagle dogs received two different complete diets containing either poultry by-product meal (control diet) or silkworm pupae meal (test diet) as a protein source. In addition, the main fat source in the control diet was rapeseed oil, while the test diet contained silkworm pupae oil. The other ingredients were similar among the diets. Both diets were isoenergetic and showed comparable crude nutrient and mineral concentrations. Each diet was fed for 6 weeks. Blood samples were collected only in the last week of the feeding periods and used for flow cytometric measurements, including phenotyping of blood leukocytes as well as proliferation and phagocytosis assays. The statistical analysis was performed with R (version 2024.12.0, RStudio Build 467), using a repeated-measures linear mixed-effects model. A P-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Results: Two dogs developed diarrhea, when the test diet was fed. These dogs were not included in the data set of the test group. The control diet was well tolerated by all dogs. With regard to the immunological measurements, the percentage of T helper cells (CD4+; control versus (vs.) test group: 53.6 ± 8.79 % vs. 45.4 ± 16.1 %), cytotoxic T cells (CD8+; 30.5 ± 5.45 % vs. 31.3 ± 7.21 %), B cells (CD21+; 11.4 ± 3.11 % vs. 12.5 ± 2.65 %), myeloid cells (CD14+; 66.2 ± 23.9 % vs. 75.1 ± 10.7 %) and antigen presenting cells (MHC II+; 76.4 ± 15.6 % vs. 86.6 ± 4.08 %) in the blood did not differ between the feeding groups. The proliferative and phagocytic activity of blood leukocytes was also not different between the dietary treatments.
Discussion and conclusion: The replacement of poultry by-product meal and rapeseed oil by silkworm pupae meal and silkworm pupae oil was well tolerated by most of the dogs. No impact on the immune function could be detected. Although these data indicate that silkworm products might be suitable in the nutrition of dogs, further evaluations of the metabolic effects are required to conclude on their safe use in hypersensitive patients.