Piperine oral administration on broiler' chikens/Administracao oral de piperina em frangos de corte

The toxic effect of piperine, the main amide compound of different pepper species, was evaluated on broiler chickens by oral administration at 0.00, 1.12, 2.25 and 4.50mg [kg.sup.-1] concentrations for 14 days. Sixty seven days old male chicks (Cobb Avian 48) randomly allocated to four experimental groups (n=15) were used in this work. Parameters such as: body weight gain, liver relative weight, hematological and anatomopathological alterations were analyzed. The oral route administration did not interfere on weight gain or liver relative weight, as well as, any modification on size and organs' color and/or parenchyma/mucous membranes injuries were observed; however, liver histopathological changes were noticed in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, piperine did not alter hematological parameters, except for leukocytes counting, which at 1.12 and from 2.25mg [kg.sup.-1] caused an increase of heterophils and in the total number of leukocytes, respectively. The results suggest that 1.12mg [kg.sup.-1] of piperine orally administrated is not toxic for broiler chickens, as previously observed for rats and mice. Moreover, 2.25mg [kg.sup.-1] of piperine seems to increase the total number of leukocytes for this animal specie. Key words: broiler chicken, piperine, toxicity. O efeito toxico da piperina, principal amida presente em diversas especies de pimenta, foi avaliada em frangos de corte por meio da administracao oral (0,00, 1,12, 2,25 e 4,5mg [kg.sup.-1] peso vivo) por 14 dias consecutivos. Foram empregados 60 pintos machos (Cobb Avian 48) com sete dias de idade, distribuidos aleatoriamente em quatro grupos experimentais (n=15). Foram avaliados parametros como: ganho de peso, peso relativo do figado e alteracoes hematologicas e anatomopatologicas. A administracao oral de piperina nao interferiu no ganho de peso ou no peso relativo do figado, alem de nao promover alteracao no tamanho e na coloracao dos orgaos ou no aparecimento de lesoes de parenquima e nas mucosas do orgao. Todavia, alteracoes histopatologicas dose-dependentes foram observadas. A piperina nao foi capaz de alterar significativamente os parametros hematologicos analisados, com excecao do leucograma, em que as doses de 1,12mg e 2,25mg [kg.sup.-1] promoveram aumento do numero de heterofilos e do numero total de leucocitos, respectivamente. Os resultados sugerem que a dose oral de 1,12mg de piperina por quilo nao e toxica para frangos de corte, sendo semelhante aos resultados obtidos para ratos e