Abstract
Thirty twelve-week old chickens were divided into two equal groups. One group was treated with insulin zinc suspension (lente) for 19 weeks and the other group, which served as control, received the vehicle solution only. All the birds were fed ad libitum from one source of ordinary chicken feed. The chickens were sacrificed after 19 weeks. The aortas from the insulin-treated birds contained significantly more lipid in the intima and adjacent media than the controls. Blood taken at 19 weeks showed no difference in the sugar content between the two groups, but cholesterol, triglyceride and immunoreactive glucagon were all elevated in the insulin-treated group. Plasma glucagon showed a negative correlation with both cholesterol and triglyceride in the control birds. This correlation was lost in the insulin-treated birds, which did however show a negative correlation between blood sugar and plasma glucagon. It is concluded that hyperinsulinism in chickens is associated with excessive lipid deposition in the aorta and elevation of blood lipids, and would be consistent with the hypothesis that elevated insulin levels may play a part in the development of human vascular disease. The results suggest that glucagon has a role in lipid metabolism in chickens, and extension of such studies of lucagon to man would be of interest.
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