Experimental rickets in broilers: gross, microscopic, and radiographic lesions. III. Vitamin D deficiency

Avian Dis. 1984 Oct-Dec;28(4):933-43.

Abstract

Day-old broiler chicks were fed a vitamin D-deficient diet for 30 days. Gross, microscopic, and radiographic examinations of the proximal tibiotarsus were done at 2, 3, and 4 weeks of age. In 2-week-old chicks, there was variable lengthening and disorganization of the proliferating-prehypertrophied zone (P-PHZ), resorption of cartilage spicules in the degenerating hypertrophied zone and primary spongiosa, and lengthening of bone spicules in the secondary spongiosa; many bone surfaces were lined with increased osteoid. In 3-week-old chicks, there was a tendency for the P-PHZ to decrease in relative length and for cartilage spicules to increase in length. In 4-week-old chicks, however, there was marked lengthening of the P-PHZ, resorption of cartilage spicules, and replacement of the metaphysis with irregularly oriented islands of woven bone, osteoid, and loose fibrous connective tissue.

MeSH terms

  • Aging
  • Animals
  • Bone and Bones / pathology
  • Chickens*
  • Male
  • Poultry Diseases / etiology*
  • Poultry Diseases / pathology
  • Radiography
  • Rickets / etiology
  • Rickets / pathology
  • Rickets / veterinary*
  • Tibia / diagnostic imaging
  • Vitamin D Deficiency / pathology
  • Vitamin D Deficiency / veterinary*