Effect of dietary factors on the responses of chicks to corticosterone injections.
Corticosterone-injected chicks fed on a diet based on sorghum gained less weight and accumulated more hepatic fat than chicks treated similarly and fed on a diet based on maize. The retention of nitrogen and dry matter and the apparent metabolisable energy of these diets were not affected by type of grain, either in corticosterone-injected or in untreated birds. A slight methionine deficiency in the maize diet resulted in an additional increase in the concentration of hepatic lipids in corticosterone-injected chicks. However, hepatic lipid concentration was not affected by either a deficiency or an excess of methionine in the diet based on sorghum. The dietary fat concentration of isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets and the energy concentration of diets containing similar energy-to-protein ratios did not affect the response of the chicks to corticosterone. There was a negative correlation between the relative weight gain of corticosterone-treated chicks and the relative hepatic fat content. The latter was positively correlated with relative abdominal fat pad size.
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition / Q000187:drug effects*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects*; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating; D008297:Male
D003345:Corticosterone