Maintenance of intestinal health, or more precisely gut homeostasis, is critical to successful poultry production and one of the goals of the poultry production industry. Gut homeostasis, described as a state where the host physiological functions operate normally, is maintained by the gut ecosystem that consists of multiple crucial host elements within the intestine their interactions with the gut microbiota. The abundance of immune cells that reside together with trillions of beneficial commensal microorganisms in the intestinal tract requires barrier and regulatory mechanisms that conserve host–microbial interactions and intestinal homeostasis. This homeostasis depends on the diverse functions of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), which include the physical segregation of commensal bacteria and the integration of microbial signals. Thus, IECs are crucial mediators of intestinal homeostasis that enable the establishment of an immunological environment permissive to colonization by commensal bacteria. IECs form a physical and biochemical barrier to commensal and pathogenic microorganisms. Intestinal integrity is dependent on this barrier function of the IELs, but numerous environmental stressors (infectious and none-infectious) can contribute to the disruption of these barriers and compromise intestinal integrity. During the last decade, assessment of intestinal permeability has evolved from invasive techniques to noninvasive biomarkers with a particular effort on identifying reliable biomarkers able to assess intestinal permeability in blood and feces but challenges remain in achieving consensus about the best testing methods and their accuracy.

Kogut, M. 2025. Intestinal Integrity and Key Biomarkers for Performance. 2025 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting, Abstract 576S