Effects of Lycopene on the Expression of Lipid Metabolism, Glucose Transport and Pro-Inflammatory Related Genes in Chickens

Dept. of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju 52725, KoreaABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate the effects of lycopene on hepatic metabolic- and immune-related gene expression in laying hens. A total of 48 25-week-old White Leghorn hens were randomly allocated into four groups consisting of four replicates of three birds: control (basal diet), T1 (basal diet + 10 mg/kg of tomato powder-containing lycopene), T2 (basal diet + 10 mg/kg of micelles of tomato powder-containing lycopene), and T3 (basal diet + 10 mg/kg of purified lycopene). Chickens were fed ad libitum for 5 weeks, and then total RNA was extracted from the livers for quantitative RT-PCR analysis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ɣ (PPARɣ) expression was decreased in the liver of chickens after lycopene supplementation (P