In ovo injection of ascorbic acid modulates antioxidant defense system and immune gene expression in newly hatched local Chinese yellow broiler chicks

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of in ovo injection of ascorbic acid on antioxidant capacity and immune-related gene expression in the newly hatched local Chinese yellow broiler chicks. Fertile Chinese yellow broiler eggs (n = 90) were assigned to three equal groups. The first group was a non-injected control group. The second group was another control group where the eggs were injected with saline in the air sac after 18 days of incubation. The third group was injected with 3 mg/egg AA in the air sac after 18 days of incubation. In ovo injection of 3 mg/egg AA significantly (P < 0.0001) increased plasma glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and significantly reduced plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) at 1 d old. Moreover, in ovo injection of 3 mg/egg AA significantly increased mRNA expression of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) and superoxide Dismutase (SOD) in the chick's spleen.Additionally, the mRNA level of interleukin 1 β (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in the spleen were significantly decreased (P < 0.0001), which indicates an improvement in chick's immunity. In conclusion, our data suggest that in ovo injection of AA at 3 mg/egg enhance antioxidant defense system and immune system for newly hatched chicks.

In ovo injection of flavanone on bone quality characteristics, biochemical parameters and antioxidant enzyme status of blood in daily chicks

“…In this study, IOI of naringin in 30 mg increased the weight of recently hatched chickens by stimulating the development of the chick embryo. This is in agreement with other studies in terms of IOI of prebiotic and synbiotic (Miśta et al, 2016), carbohydrates (Ferket & Uni, 2001), and amino acids or antioxidant (El-Senousey et al, 2017).…”

Effects ofin ovofeeding of vitamin C on post-hatch performance, immune status and DNA methylation-related gene expression in broiler chickens

“…To the best of our knowledge, there have been few studies on the effect of IOF of vitamin C on plasma antioxidant capacity of broilers. The only available research results showed that IOF of vitamin C increased GSH-Px and T-AOC activities and decreased malondialdehyde content in plasma of chicks on D1 (27) . However, plasma antioxidant capacity was merely tested on D21 and 42 in this study, and only T-AOC was elevated on D42 in the VC group.…”

In ovo feeding of vitamin C regulates splenic development through purine nucleotide metabolism and induction of apoptosis in broiler chickens

“…Transcriptomics is based on gene expression profiles, using GO and KEGG databases to perform functional annotation and enrichment analysis. It has been well established that IOF of vitamin C could improve production traits, muscle development and immune function in poultry (14,24) , but the potential regulatory mechanisms were uncleared. Based on the functional analysis of GO and KEGG of differentially expressed genes induced by IOF of vitamin C, our data found that the metabolic pathways and biological processes were extensively regulated during the embryonic period of the spleen growth, such as phosphorus metabolism, nucleotide metabolism and biosynthesis, purine nucleotide metabolism, purine-containing compound metabolism and reproduction of multicellular organisms, etc.…”

“…Vitamin C can be synthesized endogenously in poultry, but the synthesis ability of chicks is weak, and it is easy to cause vitamin C deficiency under stress stimulation (13) . Previous studies have shown that the immune activity and Accepted manuscript anti-stress ability of broilers can be effectively improved in response to IOF of vitamin C (14,15) . Also, our laboratory had reported that vitamin C supplementation in embryonic period was able to improve plasma antibody levels and regulated immune-related gene expression, thus improved the immune status of broilers (6,16) .…”