TITLE:
Pathology of spleen in chickens fed on a diet deficient in methionine
AUTHORS:
Bangyuan Wu, Hengmin Cui, Xi Peng, Jing Fang, Wei Cui, Xiaodong Liu
KEYWORDS:
Methionine Deficiency; Spleen; Lesions; Antioxidant Function; Flow Cytometry; Broiler
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
12,
2012
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this 42-day study was to investigate the effects of methionine deficiency on spleen by determining the relative weight, morphological changes of spleen, cell cycle and apoptosis of splenocytes, and oxidative markers of serum and spleen. One hundred and twenty one-day-old avian broilers were randomly divided into two groups and fed on a control diet (starter diet, methionine 0.50%; grower diet, methionine 0.40%) and methionine deficient diet (starter diet, methionine 0.26%; grower diet, methionine 0.28%) for 6 weeks. The relative weight of spleen was lighter in methionine deficiency than control group. Histopathologically, lymphopenia and congestion were observed. Ultrastructurally, there were more apoptosis lymphocytes in spleen and the mitochondria of lymphocytes were swelled in methionine deficiency. By flow cytometry, the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle of the spleen was much higher (P