engleski

Effect of fasting on changes in blood glucose concentration and tissues glycogen contents in ducklings

The effect of six days of fasting on changes in blood glucose concentration and glycogen content of liver, skeletal and heart muscle was investigated on 28-day-old ducklings of English heavy breed Peking Duck. The birds were divided into two groups - a normaly fed group which served as a control group, and an experimental group which was deprived of food. Drinking water was available to both groups of ducklings ad libitum during the experimet. The ducklings were sacrificed by decapitation after a fasting period of 3, 4, 5 and 6 days and blood and tissues samples for the analyses were collected from from both groups. The results were expresses as mmol/l for blood glucose and as mg/g of wet tissue for glycogen contents. Blood glucose concentration was significantly depressed on the 4th and 6th days of fasting. Glycogen content in liver tissues was significantly diminished on the 4th day of fasting and remained at this low level until the end of the experiment. In skeletal muscles the glycogen content was significantly decreased on the 5th and 6th days of fasting. In heart muscle the glycogen content remained unchanged until the 6th day of fasting, when a significant increase in glycogen content was achieved. The results indicate that the glucose level in ducklings blood plasma during starvation was mainly related to glycogenolysis, primaeily by exhaustion of glycogenic stores in the liver, and later on in skeletal muscles. An increase of glycogen contents in the cardiac muscle during starvation was probably due to its transition on the alternative substrates for oxidation.

blood glucose ; glycogen ; fasting ; ducklings

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