RESUMEN
Objective: To evaluate the erythropoietic indicators in 42-day-old broiler chicks following intracerebrovascular injection of exogenous rat ghrelin at 21 day of age. Methods: A total of 90 male chicks were divided into three experimental groups including three replicates (10 chicks for each replicate): group 1 without any ghrelin injection, group 2 subjected to intracerebrovascular injection of 0.5 mg ghrelin/kg b.w. and group 3 subjected to intracerebrovascular injection of 1.0 mg ghrelin/kg b.w. at 21 days of age. Results: Intracerebrovascular injection of 0.5 or 1.0 mg ghrelin/kg b.w. at 21 days of age did not have any significant effect on the measured erythropoietic indicators including red blood cell, hematocrit, haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Conclusions:Intracerebrovascular injection of exogenous rat ghrelin does not have any considerable effect on erythropoietic activity of broiler chickens.
RESUMEN
Objective: To investigate effects of in ovo ghrelin administration on serum malondialdehyde (MDA) level in newly-hatched chickens. Methods: Fertilized eggs were divided into 7 groups: group T1 as control (without injection), group T2 (in ovo injected with 50 ng/egg ghrelin on day 5), group T3 (in ovo injected with 100 ng/egg ghrelin on day 5), group T4 (in ovo injected with 50 ng/egg ghrelin on day 10), group T5 (in ovo injected with 100 ng/egg ghrelin on day 10), group T6 (in ovo injected with solvent: 1% acetic acid, without ghrelin on day 5) and group T7 (in ovo injected with solvent without ghrelin on day 10). After hatching, serum MDA concentrations were determined. Results:Ghrelin administrated groups (T2, T3, T4 and T5) had lower serum MDA level in comparison with control group (T1) or solvent injected groups (T6 and T7). T2 and T3 (ghrelin injection on day 5) had significantly lower MDA concentrations (4.10 and 4.60 nmol/mL, respectively) in comparison with other groups. In T4 and T5, MDA levels were lower than T1, T6 and T7 (non-ghrelin administrated groups) (9.53 and 9.50 in comparison with 10.73, 10.03 and 10.13 nmol/mL) and were higher than T2 and T3. Conclusions: It can be concluded that in ovo administration of ghrelin can have anti-oxidative protection and reduce serum MDA level. Ghrelin administration on day 5 of incubation is more efficient.