The effect of dietary vanadium on cell cycle and apoptosis of liver in broilers.

The objective of this study was to clarify the effects of dietary vanadium on cell cycle and apoptosis of liver in broilers. Four hundred and twenty one-day-old avian broilers were divided into six groups and fed on a corn-soybean basal diet as control diet or the same diet amended to contain 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 mg/kg vanadium supplied as ammonium metavanadate for 42 days. As tested by flow cytometry, hepatocytes in G (0)/G (1) phase were significantly increased in number in 45 and 60 mg/kg groups, and hepatocytes in S, G (2) + M phases in 45 and 60 mg/kg groups and the proliferation index of hepatocytes in 30, 45, and 60 mg/kg were markedly decreased when compared with those of control group. At the same time, the percentage of hepatocyte apoptosis was markedly increased in both 45 and 60 mg/kg groups. The results showed that dietary vanadium in the range of 45 ∼ 60 mg/kg caused cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of hepatocytes in broilers.