Excess fat accumulation in animal bodies results in the deterioration of both performance and health. Therefore, the primary objective of this series of studies was to determine the effects of Codonopsis lanceolata, taurine, and β-cyclodextrin on li...
Excess fat accumulation in animal bodies results in the deterioration of both performance and health. Therefore, the primary objective of this series of studies was to determine the effects of Codonopsis lanceolata, taurine, and β-cyclodextrin on lipid metabolism in animals, in an effort to improve the performance and health of animals via the amelioration of excess fat accumulation.
In chapter Ⅰ, the effects of Codonopsis lanceolata on the levels of serum and liver lipids and biliary cholesterol in broiler chicks were evaluated. The results of this study indicated that Codonopsis lanceolata, administered dietarily, decreased levels of triglycerides and cholesterol in the sera and livers of broilers.
In chapter Ⅱ, the effects of taurine supplementation on growth performance, serum and liver lipid concentrations, fatty acid compositions, and lipid peroxidation in the livers of broiler chicks were investigated, under heat stress conditions. The results of that study indicated that taurine supplementation augmented the growth performance of chicks under heat stress conditions, via improvements in lipid absorption and metabolism, as well as an induced reduction in lipid peroxidation.
In chapter Ⅲ, the effects of taurine on cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in the sera and livers of broiler chicks and mice in the postabsorptive state were investigated, as were taurine's effects on in vitro protein synthesis in the livers of broiler chicks and laying hens, and on in vivo protein synthesis in the murine liver. The findings of this study indicated that taurine induces a reduction in the concentrations of cholesterol and triglycerides, and also affects protein synthesis in the livers of broilers, laying hens, and mice.
Ethanol appears to have been quite useful with regard to the evaluation of liver functions, in that almost all of the ethanol ingested by the experimental animals was converted into neutral fat in the liver, and thereby effectively induced liver disease. Therefore, the effects of taurine and β-cyclodextrin supplementation on lipid metabolism, lipid peroxidation, and cell damage in the livers of chronic ethanol administered rats and mice were investigated in Chapters Ⅳ and Ⅴ. The results obtained in Chapter Ⅳ indicated that taurine may improve mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in the livers of rats to whom ethanol has been chronically administered. The results in Chapter Ⅴ showed that the combination of taurine and β-cyclodextrin, when administered in tandem with ethanol, alleviated ethanol-induced hepatic steatosis, reduced the rate of lipid peroxidation in the liver, and ameliorated the degree of liver cell damage inflicted.
As a whole, the results generated in chapters Ⅰ~Ⅴ showed that Codonopsis lanceolata, taurine, and β-cyclodextrin should prove quite useful components with regard to the improvement of lipid metabolism in animals, thereby augmenting their overall performance and health.