The influence of three days or three weeks of force feeding on the transport of plasma lipids in young female chickens (Gallus gallus L.).

1. Ten-week old broiler females were force-fed (FF) for 3 days or 3 weeks. 2. Control livers were lighter in weight and contained less total lipid, neutral lipid and phospholipid than either FF group, which did not differ. 3. Radioactivity incorporated into liver neutral lipid fractions from 1-[14C]acetate injection was greater in birds FF 3 weeks than controls. Those FF 3 days were intermediate. In all groups, the triglyceride fraction contained 90-94% of isolated radioactivity, the cholesterol fraction 4-8% and the cholesterol ester fraction 1-2%. 4. Plasma lipids were elevated in the birds FF for 3 weeks, but not in those FF 3 days. After injection of 1-[14C]acetate, plasma lipid specific radioactivities were not different between the 3 groups at 20 and 60 min post injection, but were greater in the controls at 120 min.