Effect of bipiperidyl mustard and gold thioglucose on the hypothalamus and growth of the hatchling chick and duckling.

Following a 48 h fasting period after hatching, male Cobb broiler chicks were injected with either bipiperidyl mustard (intraperitoneally; 0.01 and 0.02 mg/g body weight) or goldthioglucose (intracardially; 0.25 mg/g body weight). The influence of these obesifying agents on growth was compared to control injections of physiological saline. Bi-weekly body weights, and eight week live, carcass, and abdominal fat plus carcass weights were depressed in chicks injected with bipiperidyl mustard, the depression being significant for eight-week abdominal fat weights. In birds injected with gold thioglucose all weights were significantly depressed. In a separate investigation, histological evidence of generalised hypothalmic lesions was observed in both chicks (Gallus domesticus) and ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos) injected with bipiperidyl mustard or gold thioglucose. Similar lesions were absent in control chicks and ducklings. The possibility of the existence of a sex-steroid-mediated endorphinergic-glucostatic mechanism for appetite regulation in birds is discussed.