Effects of Allicin on Lipid Metabolism and Antioxidant Activity in Chickens

To investigate the effects of allicin on chickens＇ lipid and antioxidant performance, Hy-laying hens＇ diets were replenished with 0 mg · kg-1, 50 mg · kg-1, 100 mg · kg-1, and 150 mg · kg-1 allicin for 42 days, respectively. The alanine aminotransferase（ALT）, aspartate aminotransferase（AST）, triglyceride（TG）, total cholesterol（TCHO）, high density lipoprotein（HDL）, and low density lipoprotein（LDL） levels were measured in chicken serum. Superoxide dismutase（SOD）, glutathione peroxidase（GSH-Px） activity and malondialdehyde（MDA） levels were measured in chicken serum and liver tissue homogenate. The results showed that the supplement dose of allicin tested did not significantly change the activity of ALT or AST（P〉0.05）; TG and CHOL levels decreased with the increase of allicin additive doses, and the difference between treatment groups and CG was significant（P〈0.05）, and there was the best effect with 100 mg · kg-1; allicin significantly reduced the content of MDA, and increased SOD and GSH-Px activities compared with CG（P〈0.05）, and 100 mg · kg-1 of allicin resulted in the strongest SOD and GSH-Px activity. The antioxidant function test results of liver tissue homogenate were consistant with that of serum. Our findings indicated that allicin could enhance antioxidant capacity and reduce blood lipid level in chickens and 100 mg · kg-1 was the optimal amount of allicin additives.