Caponization and testosterone implantation effects on blood lipid and lipoprotein profile in male chickens

Department of Animal Science, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 600, Taiwan Taichung 402, Taiwan.

To understand the role of lipid metabolism in increasing body fat accumulation after caponization of male chickens, trials were conducted to determine the effects of levels of testosterone implantation on lipoprotein composition. Male chickens were caponized at 12 wk and selected at 16 wk for a 10-wk feeding experiment. Fifteen male and 15 caponized (capon) chickens were used in trial 1. Ten sham operated chickens (sham) and 40 capons were randomly divided among 4 treatments in trial 2; the treatments were as follows: implantation of cholesterol (1.62 mm i.d. x 3.16 mm o.d., 9.24+/-0.36 mg) or implantation of testosterone at low (1 mm i.d. x 3 mm, o.d., 5.88+/-0.23 mg), medium (1.62 mm i.d. x 3.16 mm, o.d., 9.81+/-0.17 mg), or high (2 mm i.d. x 4 mm, o.d., 16.7+/-0.24 mg) dose. The results of trial 1 showed that caponization decreased (P < 0.05) blood testosterone concentrations and increased (P < 0.05) abdominal fat weight and relative abdominal fat weight in capons. Caponization also increased low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), LDL protein, and HDL protein and decreased LDL-free cholesterol (LDL-FC), HDL-FC, and HDL-phospholipid (HDL-PL) percentages (P < 0.05). In trial 2 capons implanted with increasing testosterone levels exhibited proportional increases in blood testosterone concentration, although blood testosterone concentration in implanted capons were not fully restored to those of the sham group. High dose testosterone implantation inhibited abdominal fat accumulation and increased glucose and glycerol concentrations compared with the cholesterol implantation. Caponization of male chickens decreased the androgen level and increased the blood triacylglyceride content. Caponization also changed the lipoprotein profiles, which resulted in increased lipid storage capacity. The testosterone concentration, therefore, must achieve threshold concentrations to inhibit lipid accumulation in the testosterone implanted capon.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. L. Chen, W. T. Chi, C. Chu, R. S. Chen, and P. W. S. Chiou Effect of Caponization and Testosterone Implantation on Hepatic Lipids and Lipogenic Enzymes in Male Chickens Poult. Sci., August 1, 2007; 86(8): 1754 - 1759. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K.-L. Chen, S.-M. Tsay, T.-Y. Lee, and P. W.-S. Chiou Effects of caponization and different exogenous androgen on the bone characteristics of male chickens. Poult. Sci., November 1, 2006; 85(11): 1975 - 1979. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]