Acetylsalicylic acid supplementation improves protein utilization efficiency while vitamin E supplementation reduces markers of the inflammatory response in weaned pigs challenged with enterotoxigenic E. coli

Background This experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that vitamin E (Vit E) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, will additively reduce the production of the immunosuppressive molecule prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and hence reduce inflammatory responses in weaner pigs experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic strain of E. coli.