Nuciferine reduced fat deposition by controlling the triglycerides and cholesterol concentration in broiler chickens

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate whether dietary nuciferine affects lipid metabolism in the broiler chickens. Four treatment groups were made from 120 1-day-old broiler chickens including base diet group (normal control, NC, supplemented with 0 mg/kg nuciferine) and treated groups of 25 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg dietary nuciferine supplemented for 42 d. The results showed that body weight, average daily weight gain, absolute and relative fat and liver weight was significantly decreased with the nuciferine supplemented. The plasma concentration of triiodothyronine (T3), free triiodothyronine (FT3), thyroxine (T4) and FT4 (free thyroxine) was significantly decreased in the nuciferine supplemented group, but the plasma glucagon concentration was significantly increased. The plasma and hepatic triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) concentrations were significantly decreased in the nuciferine group, but plasma and hepatic non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentration, hepatic lipase (HL) activity and hepatic glycogen content were significantly increased. Hepatic histological examination showed that fat cells volume and size in the 100 and 400 mg/Kg group were smaller than those in the NC group. The fatty degeneration in the liver was decreased with the nuciferine supplemented. The fat cells volume and size were shrunk in the nuciferine group. Dietary nuciferine supplemented significantly decreased the genes expression level of HMGCR, SREBP2, ACC and SPEBP-1C, but significantly increased the gene expression level of LXR-α, CYP7A1 and CPT-I. The results indicated that nuciferine exhibited strong reduced fat deposition activities and reflected not only by decrease of the concentration of TG and TC, but also by reduction in the key genes expression level of HMGCR, SREBP2, ACC and SPEBP-1c, and elevation key genes expression level of LXR-α, CYP7A1 and CPT-I. Taken together, our results suggested that the ability of nuciferine on reducing fat deposition in broiler chickens by regulating the lipid metabolism associated with the balance of TG and TC concentration.