Effects of dehydroepiandrosterone on growth performance, lipid metabolic hormones and parameters in broilers

One hundred and eighty (180) day-old broiler chickens were used to investigate the effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on growth performance, carcass composition, and the serum concentrations of several lipid metabolic hormones and metabolic parameters (indicators). The broilers received the same basal diets, with DHEA added at 0 (control), 5 and 20 mg/kg feed. During the experimental period, broilers fed DHEA exhibited lower levels of triglycerides (TG), total serum cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) as compared to the control animals, but a marked increase in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity. Adding DHEA to the diet significantly decreased serum concentrations of thyroxine (T4), serum free triiodothyronine (FT3), and serum free thyroxine (FT4), but significantly increased the serum leptin (LEP) and glucogon (GLU) levels in male broiler chickens. However, female broiler chickens showed pronounced differences in LEP, FT3 and FT4 only, while there were no differences in the other three metabolic hormones (T3, T4 and GLU). Overall, these results indicate that DHEA improves lipid metabolism through the regulation of metabolic hormones and metabolic parameters, while not adversely affecting growth performance in broiler chickens.