Dietary lipid oxidation and vitamin E supplementation influence in vivo erythrocyte traits and postmortem leg muscle lipid oxidation in broiler chickens

Schiavone, A., Nery, J., Choque-Lopez, J. A., Baucells, M. D. et Barroeta, A. C. 2010. Dietary lipid oxidation and vitamin E supplementation influence in vivo erythrocyte traits and post-mortem leg muscle lipid oxidation in broiler chickens. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 90: 197-202. The present work aimed to assess: (1) whether the oxidative status of dietary lipids or vitamin E supplementation influences in vivo erythrocyte integrity of chickens, and (2) whether erythrocyte stability is related to musculus iliotibialis susceptibility to lipid peroxidation. Thirty-six broilers were fed a basal diet supplemented with: sunflower oil (SO), sunflower oil and alpha-tocopheryl acetate (SO + E), and oxidized sunflower oil (SO-OX). In vivo hemolysis rate (HR) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) of erythrocytes were measured. Postmortem, the TBARS of m. iliotibialis was determined. Erythrocyte HR and TBARS were higher in SO-OX than SO and SO+ E groups (P <0.001). Erythrocyte and muscle TBARS were highly correlated (r(2) >0.93). The SO-OX induced negative effects, indicating that dietary lipid quality is rapidly translated in negative effects to erythrocytes and muscle. In vivo erythrocyte TBARS proved to be a good indicator of meat oxidative status.