The objective of the experiment was to study the total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels in crossbred heifers treated with bovine recombinant somatotropina (rbST). Blood samples were collected for two estrous cycles, normal and superovulated, from 26 animals randomly distributed into two treatments: T1 - injected with 500mg rbST on day 3 of estrous cycle and T2 - control. The lipidic metabolite levels were determined by an enzymatic method, and plasma levels of total cholesterol and HDL in normal estrous cycle did not differ (P>0.05) between treatments: 87.9 and 25.8mg/dl for T1 and 85.9 and 26.7mg/dl for T2, respectively. The superovulated estrous cycle was divided into three periods: P1 - from estrus to artificial insemination (AI) (0 to 15th day), P2 - from AI to embryo collection (15th to 21st day) and P3 - from collection to the end of the experiment (21st to 27th day). The rbST treatment did not affect the HDL and cholesterol levels in the P1 (P>0.05), but did so in P2 and P3: 29.0 and 88.5mg/dl (T1) and 27.1 and 81.8mg/dl (T2) during P2; 30.4 and 88.0mg/dl (T1) and 26.6 and 80.5mg/dl (T2) during P3, respectively (P<0.01).
Bovine; HDL; lipidic metabolities; superovulation; rbST
