**Xichun Wang, Yafei Zhang, Jie Zhao, Li Cao, Lei Zhu, Yingying Huang, Xiaofang Chen, Sajid Ur Rahman, Shibin Feng, Yu Li \* and Jinjie Wu \***

Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China; wangxichun@ahau.edu.cn (X.W.); djdshhz@163.com (Y.Z.); zhaojie866@ahau.edu.cn (J.Z.); caoli@ahau.edu.cn (L.C.); zhuleizl@ahau.edu.cn (L.Z.); huangyingying@ahau.edu.cn (Y.H.); chenxiaofang0912@163.com (X.C.); dr\_sajid226@yahoo.com (S.U.R.); fengshibin@ahau.edu.cn (S.F.)

**\*** Correspondence: lydhy2014@ahau.edu.cn (Y.L.); wjj@ahau.edu.cn (J.W.)

Received: 12 November 2019; Accepted: 11 December 2019; Published: 16 December 2019

**Abstract:** The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of deoxynivalenol (DON) exposure on the inflammatory injury nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway in intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2 cells) of pig. The different concentrations of DON (0, 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000 ng/mL) were added to the culture solution for treatment. The NF-κB pathway inhibitor pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) was used as a reference. The results showed that when the DON concentration increased, the cell density decreased and seemed damaged. With the increase of DON concentration in the culture medium, the action of diamine oxidase (DAO) in the culture supernatant also increased. The activities of IL-6, TNF-α, and NO in the cells were increased with the increasing DON concentration. The relative mRNA expression of *IL-1*β and *IL-6* were increased in the cells. The mRNA relative expression of *NF-*κ*B p65*, *IKK*α*,* and *IKK*β were upregulated with the increasing of DON concentration, while the relative expression of *I*κ*B-*α mRNA was downregulated. At the same time, the expression of NF-κB p65 protein increased gradually in the cytoplasm and nucleus with a higher concentration of DON. These results showed that DON could change the morphology of IPEC-J2 cells, destroy its submicroscopic structure, and enhance the permeability of cell membrane, as well as upregulate the transcription of some inflammatory factors and change the expression of NF-κB-related gene or protein in cells.

**Keywords:** deoxynivalenol; IPEC-J2; cell damage; NF-κB inflammatory signal pathway

**Key Contribution:** This research discusses the mechanism of DON exposure on NF-κB inflammatory injury pathway in IPEC-J2 cells.
