The Role of Glycine and Strychnine-Sensitive Receptors on Food Intake Induced with Dopamine in Neonatal Broilers

The regulation of appetite and food intake in birds are implemented as complex homeostatic mechanisms at different levels of control.

The current research aimed to investigate the effects of glycine and strychnine-sensitive receptors on food intake induced with dopamine in neonatal broiler-type chickens.

This study was conducted in five experiments (each consisting of four treatment groups with 12 birds). In experiment 1, chickens in the control group received intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of saline (with 0.1 % Evans Blue) and different doses of dopamine (10, 20, and 40 nmol) in treatments groups 2-4, respectively. Experiments 2 and 3 were designed similar to the experiment 1 except for the fact that chickens received different doses of glycine (50, 100, and 200 nmol) and strychnine (50, 100, and 200 nmol) instead of dopamine. Experiment 4 was performed to investigate the mediatory role of strychnine (100 nmol) on food intake induced with dopamine (40 nmol). Moreover, experiment 5 investigated the interaction between non-effective doses of glycine (50 nmol) and dopamine (10 nmol) and their interplay on food intake. Afterwards, cumulative food intake based on bodyweight percentage (BW %) was measured at 30, 60, and 120 minutes after the injection.

The obtained findings revealed that effective doses of dopamine and glycine dose-dependently induced hypophagia in neonatal meat-type chickens (p < /em>≤0.05). In addition, injection of strychnine increased food intake and also inhibited the hypophagic effect induced by dopamine (p < /em>≤0.05). Furthermore, co-administration of non-effective doses of glycine and dopamine significantly decreased food intake compared to the groups which only received dopamine or glycine (p < /em>≤0.05).

Our findings suggested that strychnine-sensitive receptors may have a mediatory role in food intake induced by dopamine. Additionally, it seems that glycine and dopamine probably have synergistic effects on food intake control in neonatal meat-type chickens.