• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2013

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of vitamin C or E on the expressions of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, lipid and glucose metabolism associated genes in broiler chickens. A total of 216 one-day-old male broilers was randomly alloted to 4 treatments with 6 replicate pens per treatment and 9 broilers per pen for 35 days. The dietary treatments were control, vitamin C (control diet + ascorbic acid 200 mg/kg diet), vitamin E (control diet + ${\alpha}$-tocopherol 100 mg/kg diet), vitamin C + E (control diet + vitamin C 200 mg/kg + vitamin E 100 mg/kg), respectively. To evaluate gene expressions by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, total RNA was extracted from the liver of the chicken at 35 days of age. Dietary supplementation of vitamins was significantly down-regulated the expression of stress marker genes including HSP70, HSP90, and HMGCR, as compared to the control (p<0.05). The expressions of ER stress associated genes also inhibited by supplementation of vitamins as well (p<0.05). Vitamin C supplementation suppressed the expression of lipid associated genes such as FASN, FATP1 and ACSL1. Vitamin supplementation did not affect the glucose transporters, GLUT2 and GLUT8, in the liver. The results of the present study indicated that dietary supplementation of vitamin C or E could be beneficial for the alleviating physiological stress in broiler chickens.