1. Melatonin implantation improved the egg-laying rate and quality in hens past their peak egg-laying age
- Author
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Liang Wang, Chen Yu, Guoshi Liu, Minghui Yang, Qin Wenxiang, Yaxiong Jia, Zhiyuan Xu, Jing Wang, Kuanfeng Zhu, and Yukun Song
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,endocrine system ,Aging ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Egg laying ,Article ,Avian Proteins ,Melatonin ,03 medical and health sciences ,Animal science ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Animals ,Ovum ,Multidisciplinary ,business.industry ,030104 developmental biology ,Endocrinology ,Gene Expression Regulation ,embryonic structures ,Female ,business ,Chickens ,hormones, hormone substitutes, and hormone antagonists ,medicine.drug - Abstract
The egg-laying rates of hens approximately 470 days of age exhibited a positive correlation to blood melatonin levels. The hens with an egg-laying rate (FSHR), luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR), oestradiol receptor alpha (ERα), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) or melatonin receptor 1 (MT1). In contrast, melatonin significantly elevated the serum oestradiol-17β (E2) content, down-regulated the gene expression of gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone receptor (GnIHR), and enhanced the expression of melatonin receptor 2 (MT2). This result indicates that the improved egg-laying rate by melatonin was the result of increased serum oestradiol and decreased ovarian GnIHR. These alterations may be mediated by MT2 activation.
- Published
- 2016