Lipoprotein metabolism in poultry

Understanding the metabolism of lipoproteins in birds is important to enable nutritionists to design diets aimed at obtaining better meat characteristics and egg quality, and can furnish useful information for future studies. In comparison to mammals, there are a number of expressive differences in the metabolism of lipids in birds, such as the transport of dietary lipids to the liver, hepatic lipogenesis and the presence of unique lipoproteins in the blood (portomicrons). Greater differences are found in egg-laying hens during the production phase, in which lipoproteins produced in the liver, under the action of oestrogen, are used for the formation of the egg yolk. The regulation of the lipid metabolism by hormones and the participation of key enzymes associated to advances in molecular biology techniques could assist in the genetic selection of more productive birds and better quality products for consumers.