The effect of glycyrrhizin on central regulation of food intake in broilers injected with LPS

Poultry farming poses challenges due to hygiene and nutrition issues, leading to disease and inflammation in chickens. One of the challenges is gram-negative bacteria that stimulate pro-inflammatory reactions through lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cause disease and anorexia. Licorice, a medicinal plant with glycyrrhizin (Gly) as its main active ingredient, was used in our experiment to investigate the effects of glycyrrhizin on food intake in LPS-injected broilers. Accordingly, the study involved three experiments involving 72 male broiler chickens, to examine the impact of Gly. on their food intake in LPS-injected broilers (n = 24). Experiment 1 was conducted to examine the effects of IP injection of Gly. (12.5, 25, and 50 mg) on food intake in chickens. In experiment 2, the birds received intracerebroventricular (ICV) injections of LPS (6.25, 12.5, and 25 ng). In the last experiment, we investigated the impact of IP injection of glycyrrhizin on inflammation induced by LPS. Based on the findings, IP injection of glycyrrhizin significantly increased food intake in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05). Whereas, LPS significantly reduced food intake in food-deprived chickens. Gly. can neutralizes reduced food intake caused by inflammation in broilers, highlighting its potential role in modulating food intake in broilers.