Effects of alfalfa saponin extract on the performance and cholesterol metabolism of laying hens
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Abstract
The experiment was performed to determine the effects of alfalfa saponin extract (ASE) on the performance and cholesterol metabolism of laying hens. A total of 150 Hy-Line Brown hens with 28 weeks old, were randomly divided into five treatment groups (five replicates per treatment with six hens per replicate). Diets containing 0, 60, 120, 240, and 480 mg ASE/kg were fed to hens for 77 days. The shell thickness had a trend to increase. The yolk cholesterol and liver bile acid decreased significantly (ASE 60 and 480 mg/kg groups for yolk cholesterol, and ASE 60 and 240 mg/kg groups for liver bile acid). Fecal bile acid has an elevation trend as ASE increased. The expression of very low density apolipoprotein-Ⅱ (apoVLDL-Ⅱ) gene was not affected by adding ASE. However, the mRNA expression of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase gene and cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) gene were significantly up-regulated. The mRNA expression of very-low-density-lipoprotein receptor(VLDLR) gene was suppressed due to adding ASE supplementation in the diet. These findings indicated that dietary ASE could regulate cholesterol levels in hens by up-regulating the mRNA levels of HMG-CoA and CYP7A1 and suppressing the expression of VLDLR.
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2015. Effects of alfalfa saponin extract on the performance and cholesterol metabolism of laying hens. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e1461v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1461v1Author comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ.
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Supplemental Information
Figure 1. Effects of alfalfa saponin extract (ASE) on performance of egg weight, egg production, feed intake, and feed efficiency
Values are expressed as mean±SD (n = 5). Values with different small letters differ significantly (P < 0.05), while those with different capital letters differ very significantly (P < 0.01).
Figure 2. Effects of alfalfa saponin extract (ASE) on the performance of egg shape index, shell strength, shell thickness, Haugh unit, and yolk colour
Values are expressed as mean±SD (n = 80). Values with different small letters differ significantly (P < 0.05), while those with different capital letters differ very significantly (P < 0.01).
Figure 3. Effects of alfalfa saponin extract (ASE) on the concentration of yolk cholesterol, liver cholesterol, liver BA, and fecal BA
Values are expressed as mean±SD (n = 80 for yolk cholesterol; n = 5 for others). Values with different small letters differ significantly (P < 0.05), while those with different capital letters differ very significantly (P < 0.01).
Figure 4. Effects of alfalfa saponin extract (ASE) on the serum biochemical indices in laying hens
Values are expressed as mean±SD (n = 5). Values with different small letters differ significantly (P < 0.05), while those with different capital letters differ very significantly (P < 0.01). TC – total cholesterol; TG – total triglycerides; HDL-C – high density lipoproteins cholesterol; LDL-C – low density lipoproteins cholesterol; and VLDL-C – very low density lipoproteins cholesterol.
Figure 5. Effects of alfalfa saponin extract (ASE) on mRNA expression of cholesterol metabolism genes in liver and ovary of laying hens
(A), (C), and (D) were from liver while (B) was from ovary. n = 5. Different letters indicate significant difference (P < 0.05) using one-way ANOVA; HMGCR – HMG-CoA reductase.
Additional Information
Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
Senhao Zhang performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Yinghua Shi conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Minggen Liang performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Jia Li performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Chengzhang Wang conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Animal Ethics
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
Animal experiments and procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of Henan Agricultural University (Permit Number: 11-0085). All efforts were made to minimize the suffering of the animals.
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding data availability:
The research in this article did not generate any raw data.
Funding
The financial support for this research by the Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (CARS-35) to CW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
