This study aimed to characterize the effects of diets with different energy levels on the growth performance, plasma parameters, and central AMPK signaling pathway in broilers under dexamethasone (DEX)-induced stress. A total of 216 1-day-old male broiler chickens were allocated to groups fed with high (HED), National Research Council-recommended (CON), or low (LED) energy diets. At 10 days old, chickens were treated with or without dexamethasone (DEX, 2 mg/kg body weight) for three consecutive days. HED increased broiler average daily gain (ADG) at 10 days old, compared with the LED (P < 0.05), while average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion rate (FCR) decreased as the dietary energy level increased (P < 0.05). Chickens fed a HED had higher total protein (TP) content, albumin (ALB), glucose (GLU), total cholesterol (TCHO), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, compared with the CON group (P < 0.05). At 13 days old, DEX decreased ADG and increased FCR in broilers fed with different energy diets (P < 0.05). The DEX-HED group had a higher ADFI than non-DEX treated HED group chickens. In addition, TP, ALB, TG, TCHO, HDL, and LDL content levels in the DEX group were higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The UA content of the LED group was higher than that of the HED group (P < 0.05). Further, gene expression levels of liver kinase B1, AMP-activated protein kinase α1, neuropeptide Y, and GC receptor in the hypothalamus were increased in chickens treated with DEX (P < 0.05). There was a trend toward interaction between plasma TCHO and hypothalamic LKB1 expression (0.05 < P < 0.1). In conclusion, this study suggests that HED improves growth performance, plasma glucose and total cholesterol at 10 days old broilers, but had no significant effect on performance, plasma parameters, and central AMPK in stressed broilers.

中文翻译：

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日粮能量水平对应激肉鸡生产性能，血浆参数和中心AMPK水平的影响

这项研究旨在表征在地塞米松（DEX）诱导的应激条件下，不同能量水平的日粮对肉鸡生长性能，血浆参数和中枢AMPK信号通路的影响。将总共​​216只1天大的雄性肉鸡分为高能量（HED），国家研究委员会推荐（CON）或低能量（LED）饮食的组。在第10天大时，连续三天对鸡进行地塞米松或不加地塞米松（DEX，2 mg / kg体重）的治疗。与LED相比，HED在10日龄时提高了肉鸡的平均日增重（ADG）（P <0.05），而随着日粮能量水平的提高，平均日采食量（ADFI）和饲料转化率（FCR）降低了（P <0.05 ）。饲喂HED的鸡的总蛋白（TP）含量，白蛋白（ALB），葡萄糖（GLU），总胆固醇（TCHO）较高，与CON组相比，高密度脂蛋白（HDL）胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白（LDL）胆固醇（P <0.05）。在13天大时，饲喂不同能量日粮的肉鸡DEX降低了ADG，FCR升高了（P <0.05）。DEX-HED组的ADFI高于未DEX处理的HED组鸡。此外，DEX组的TP，ALB，TG，TCHO，HDL和LDL含量高于对照组（P <0.05）。LED组的UA含量高于HED组（P <0.05）。此外，用DEX治疗的鸡的下丘脑中肝激酶B1，AMP激活的蛋白激酶α1，神经肽Y和GC受体的基因表达水平升高（P <0.05）。血浆TCHO和下丘脑LKB1表达之间存在相互作用的趋势（0.05 <P <0.1）。