Lipoprotein metabolism differs between Marek’s disease susceptible and resistant chickens

Marek's disease (MD) is a lymphoproliferative disease of chickens caused by MD virus and has an important impact on the poultry industry worldwide. There have been reports showing different physiological characteristics between MD susceptible and resistant chickens. However, little is known about whether there are differences in lipid metabolism between MD susceptible and resistant lines of chickens. In this study, we examined the BW and the weight of tissues (abdominal fat, breast muscle with bone, leg muscle with bone, liver, and heart), the lipoprotein-cholesterol concentrations and distributions, and the plasma and tissue levels of adiponectin and its receptors in the highly resistant and susceptible lines during chicken growth. Our data showed that the increase in total cholesterol during growth was mainly due to the elevation of cholesterol in the low-density/very low-density lipoprotein fraction in MD susceptible chickens, whereas the increase of total cholesterol was mainly attributable to the increase in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol in MD resistant chickens. Meanwhile, the MD resistant line appeared to have increased plasma adiponectin levels compared with MD susceptible chickens during growth. Taken together, our data suggested that lipoprotein-cholesterol and adiponectin metabolism are different between MD susceptible and resistant chickens.