STRENGTHENING OF INTESTINAL BARRIER INTEGRITY AND PROTEIN ANABOLISM DURING COMBINED APPLICATION OF CHITOSAN AND WHEY POWDER: AN EVIDENCE-BASED NARRATIVE REVIEW AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The intestinal barrier is a dynamic multilayer system that separates the host from luminal antigens, microorganisms, and toxic metabolites, while enabling selective absorption of nutrients and water. Barrier disruption (often summarized as increased permeability) is increasingly linked to inflammatory and metabolic disorders in humans and to impaired productivity, feed efficiency, and welfare in poultry and other livestock. Within this context, nutrition-based strategies that simultaneously stabilize epithelial tight junctions and support efficient protein accretion are of high translational value. Chitosan (a cationic deacetylated derivative of chitin) and whey-derived products (rich in indispensable amino acids, including leucine and other branched-chain amino acids) are widely discussed as affordable functional ingredients. This review synthesizes mechanistic and applied evidence on how chitosan and whey powder may modulate mucosal immunity, oxidative stress responses, microbiota ecology, and the mTORC1-dependent anabolic program, with a particular focus on tight-junction proteins (occludin, claudins, ZO-1) and inflammation-sensitive barrier regulation. Controlled animal studies indicate that chitosan oligosaccharides can improve intestinal development and barrier markers and attenuate inflammatory and oxidative stress signaling in early-life broilers. Whey powder and whey protein concentrates have also demonstrated improvements in growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and gut microbial profiles when applied within appropriate inclusion levels. Finally, regional (CIS) reports, including experimental data from Uzbekistan, suggest that combined chitosan–whey premixes may beneficially influence selected biochemical indices and growth dynamics in broiler production systems.

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