17 Z. Chen J. Xie M. Y.Hu J. Tang Z. F. Shao M. H. Li Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences JAPS 20152015/02/01 25 1 78-87 1018-7081 NA <p>We explored the effects of heat stress (HS) and &gamma;-aminobutyric acid (GABA) treatment on the structure and development of small intestinal mucosa in Wenchang chicken. One-day old male Wenchang chickens were randomly divided into control group (CK), heat stress group (HS) and GABA+HS group. The chickens from GABA+HS group were fed with 0.2 ml 0.5% GABA solution daily. In addition, the chicken from HS and GABA+HS groups were subjected to heat stress treatment at 40 &plusmn;0.5&deg;C for 2h during 13:00-15:00 every day. Results showed that compared with CK group, HS group exhibited marked&nbsp;<a id="OLE_LINK13" name="OLE_LINK13"></a><a id="OLE_LINK12" name="OLE_LINK12"></a>decline&nbsp;in villus length, mucosa thickness, intestinal wall thickness, and crypt depth in duodenum and ileum, and significantly fewer goblet cells (<em>P&lt;0.05</em>). In contrast, compared with HS group, GABA+HS group exhibited enhanced villus length, mucosa thickness, intestinal wall thickness, and crypt depth in duodenum and ileum, as well as a much higher number of goblet cells (<em>P&lt;0.05</em>). Therefore, heat stress caused significant structural damages to chicken small intestinal mucosa, and markedly reduced the number of goblet cells. GABA showed protective effects to alleviate HS-induced damages of the intestinal mucosa and increased the number of goblet cells.</p> GABA, heat stress, small intestinal mucosa, Wenchang chicken Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum https://thejaps.org.pk/AbstractView.aspx?mid=2015-JAPS-12