Factors affecting methionine toxicity and its alleviation in the chick

Young male crossbred chicks were fed crystalline amino acid diets containing excess L-methionine or DL-homocysteine to evaluate factors causing methionine toxicity. Chicks were fed diets containing graded levels of excess methionine from 0% to 2.0%. Rate of gain was reduced at all levels of excess methionine, but the magnitude of depression was greater between 1% and 2% than between 0% and 1% excess methionine. Methionine accumulated in plasma of birds fed excess methionine, but plasma levels of homocysteine, cystathionine and cystine remained essentially unchanged. Spleen iron levels increased linearly and blood hemoglobin decreased linearly when chicks were fed diets containing greater than 1% excess methionine, a level equivalent to about 3 times the chicks' requirement. Chicks fed 1.36% homocysteine had reduced gain and gain:feed values, but spleen iron and hemoglobin levels were unchanged. 3-Methylthiopropionate, a possible metabolite in a proposed alternate pathway, caused a precipitous increase in spleen iron levels. Various methyl sources (betaine, choline, methyl acetate) when fed in excess failed to increase spleen iron levels. Methyl mercaptan and methyl mercaptoacetate likewise did not result in an increase in spleen iron deposition. Both the hemosiderosis condition and the reduced food utilization caused by excess methionine were reversed by supplemental glycine plus threonine.