Acta Vet. Brno 2011, 81: 27-30
The influence of restrictive feeding of chickens on the microscopic structure of their liver
This paper describes the morphologic structure of chickens’ livers as a result of restrictive feeding in variable intensity. This experiment was performed on 96 chickens of two hybrids (Ross 308 and Cobb 500) of both sexes. The chickens were divided into 3 groups (control group and two groups with restricted feeding). There were 8 chickens in each group. After hatching, the control group was fed a standard mixture ad libitum. The first restricted group was fed 80% ad libitum from the age of 2 weeks. The second restricted group, from the age of 2 weeks, was fed 65% ad libitum. The experiment lasted for 5 weeks. The liver samples were obtained by necropsy, then weighed, and after this processed by standard histological methods. The slices of liver were stained with haematoxyline-eosin. The liver samples were evaluated both objectively and subjectively. In the control group, steatosis and marginal pathological acute venosis hyperaemia were found. In the group with 80% restriction, perilobular steatosis was observed. In the group with 65% restriction, centrolobular steatosis was observed. Controlled measurement of the average hepatocyte thickness in the individual sample groups was performed using an objective method. The hepatocyte diameter thickness of males was higher than the hepatocyte diameter thickness of females, which was significant (P < 0.001). This is the first work providing the possibility of morphometrical verification of the time factor including other morphological criteria.
Keywords
Fibrosis, lipids, metabolism, non-alcoholic liver steatosis, steatohepatitis, Nutrition.
