With intensive selection for meat production in broilers, excessive fat accumulation is also accompanied and causes economic concerns. Folic acid was reported to be involved in lipid metabolism. The present study was conducted to investigate the role of folic acid in reducing abdominal fat deposition. A total of 105 one-day-old healthy Arbor Acres broilers were randomly distributed into 3 treatments, including the control (Con), saline-perfusion group (NS), and folic acid perfusion group (FA). The growth performance, biochemical characteristics in serum, and lipid metabolism in the liver and abdominal fat tissues were evaluated. Results have shown that folic acid significantly reduced abdominal fat percentage (P < 0.05) and had no effects on BW, ADFI, ADG, and FCR (P > 0.05). Serum triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were lower in FA group but albumin concentration was higher (P < 0.05). Hepatic ACC, SCD, ELOVL6, PI3K, LDLR, HMGCR, and ABCA1 mRNA abundance were all down-regulated in FA group (P < 0.05) when compared with the Con and NS groups, while CPT1 and PPARα were not affected. In addition, MTTP mRNA abundance was higher in the liver of birds subjected to folic acid (P < 0.05). There was no difference about TG deposition in the liver among all groups based on hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Oil Red O staining. On the other hand, ELOVL6, PPARγ, IGF1, and TGFβ2 expression were notably decreased in the abdominal fat in FA group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, our data demonstrated that folic acid has reduced abdominal fat percentage by decreasing hepatic lipogenesis and suppressing adipocytes proliferation and differentiation. And the inhibiting effect of adipocytes might be mediated by IGF1 and TGFβ2 down-regulation.

中文翻译：

---

叶酸灌注给药减少了 Arbor Acres 肉鸡的腹部脂肪沉积。

随着肉鸡肉类生产的密集选择，也伴随着过多的脂肪积累并引起经济问题。据报道叶酸参与脂质代谢。本研究旨在调查叶酸在减少腹部脂肪沉积中的作用。将105只1日龄健康Arbor Acres肉鸡随机分为3个处理组，包括对照组（Con）、盐水灌注组（NS）和叶酸灌注组（FA）。评估生长性能、血清生化特征以及肝脏和腹部脂肪组织的脂质代谢。结果表明，叶酸显着降低腹部脂肪百分比（P < 0.05），对BW、ADFI、ADG和FCR没有影响（P > 0.05）。血清甘油三酯 (TG)、总胆固醇 (TC)、FA组丙氨酸氨基转移酶（ALT）水平较低，而白蛋白浓度较高（P < 0.05）。与Con和NS组相比，FA组肝ACC、SCD、ELOVL6、PI3K、LDLR、HMGCR和ABCA1 mRNA丰度均下调（P < 0.05），而CPT1和PPARα不受影响。此外，接受叶酸处理的家禽肝脏中 MTTP mRNA 丰度较高（P < 0.05）。基于苏木精-伊红(HE)和油红O染色，各组肝内TG沉积无差异。另一方面，FA组腹部脂肪中ELOVL6、PPARγ、IGF1和TGFβ2的表达明显降低（P < 0.05）。综上所述，我们的数据表明，叶酸通过减少肝脏脂肪生成和抑制脂肪细胞增殖和分化来降低腹部脂肪百分比。脂肪细胞的抑制作用可能是由IGF1和TGFβ2的下调介导的。