Effect of dietary composition and estradiol implants on hepatic microsomal mixed function oxidase and lipid deposition in growing chicks.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of diet and estradiol (E2) administration on hepatic microsomal mixed function oxidase (MFO) activity, E2 metabolism, and liver lipid content in male broiler chicks. Broiler chicks (3 weeks of age) were fed either a corn-soybean (CS) diet or a diet containing fish meal, alfalfa meal, and torula yeast (FAY) for 19 days in Experiments 1 and 3 and for 14 days in Experiment 2, respectively. Half of the chicks were implanted with tubes containing E2. In all experiments when the chicks were estrogenized, feeding FAY significantly lowered liver lipid content and plasma E2 concentration. Activity of hepatic microsomal aniline hydroxylase and content of cytochrome P-450 were significantly increased by feeding FAY with or without E2 administration. The chicks fed the CS diet had a significantly lower content of cytochrome P-450 when E2 was administered. Activities of aminopyrine demethylase and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, reduced (NADPH)-cytochrome C reductase did not differ significantly between the diets. In in vitro studies, conversion of 14C-E2 into the water soluble fraction was significantly increased in microsomes from chicks fed the FAY diet as compared to ones from chicks fed the CS diet. The results suggest that some of the hepatic microsomal functions on the CS diet are modified by the change in diet composition and that these modifications are probably associated with E2 metabolism and occurrence of fatty liver.