Beneficial Effects of Maternal Vitamin E Supplementation on the Antioxidant System of the Neonate Chick Brain

Abstract

Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the laying stage which is a critical period for chick survival. We investigated the relationship of neonatal chick performance, brain antioxidant status and vitamin E supplementation level in hens. Starting at 17 weeks, hens were randomly divided into five groups. The control group received a basal diet without supplemental vitamin E (VE, dl-αtocopherol acetate). Other groups received the same basal diet supplemented with vitamin E (40, 80, 120 and 160 mg/kg) through growth to egg production. Hens were artificially inseminated at 28 weeks of age and egg yolks were collected at day two. All remaining eggs were hatched. Yolk vitamin E content, hatchability and fertility of eggs were evaluated. Brains of the newly hatched chicks were further evaluated for their oxidative stress status, antioxidative status and vitamin E levels. Increased reproductive performance was observed in fertility and hatchability in the group supplemented at 40 mg/kg. Egg yolk and neonatal brain α-tocopherol was highest in eggs from hens fed 120 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg supplemental vitamin E, respectively. Brain MDA, ROS and iron levels were significantly higher in unsupplemented hens (p<0.01). SOD activity was significantly higher in the group supplemented at 160 mg/kg than in all other groups. We concluded that maternal supplementation of vitamin E had beneficial effects on fertility, hatchability of eggs, neonatal brain oxidative status and SOD activity.

Effects of maternal dietary vitamin E on the egg characteristics, hatchability and offspring quality of prolonged storage eggs of broiler breeder hens

“…Mohiti-Asli et al (2008) observed that prolonged egg storage time till to 14 days increased egg yolk MDA values, and the dietary supplementation of 200 mg/kg VE decreased yolk MDA content compared to the non-supplemented group. Hens supplemented with higher VE dietary levels produced egg with higher VE yolk content (Hossain, Barreto, Bertechini, Rios, & Silva, 1998;Lin et al, 2017;Lin, Tsai, Lee, & Chang, 2005;Surai, 2000;Surai, Noble, et al, 1999;Tsai et al, 2008). Consistently, we also found that egg yolk VE (α-tocopherol) concentration was increased as dietary VE levels increased, which may be the reason for the increased egg yolk T-AOC observed in our study.…”

“…As one of the lipid-soluble antioxidants, vitamin E (VE) plays a vital role in breaking peroxide chains in membranes and protecting polyunsaturated fatty acids from oxidation (Kirunda, Scheideler, & McKee., 2001;Surai, Fisinin, & Karadas, 2016). Numerous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of maternal dietary VE on the health of broiler breeders (Siegel, Price, Meldrum, Picard, & Geraert, 2001;Urso et al, 2015;Zaghari, Sedaghat, & Shivazad, 2013), and its effects in reducing the susceptibility of both yolk and embryo to lipid peroxidation have also been confirmed (Jiang, Zhang, & Shan, 2013;Surai, 2000;Surai, Noble, & Speake, 1999a;Tsai, Chang, Lin, & Chang, 2008). No work has been yet performed to estimate the effects of maternal VE supplementation on the hatchability and offspring quality in cases of prolonged egg storage.…”

“…During the last few days of embryonic development, VE in the embryonic tissues, apart from brain, increased rapidly (Gaál et al, 1995;Noble et al, 1993;Surai et al, 1996;Surai, Sparks, & Noble, 1999b), and increasing maternal VE supplementation could increase VE concentration in the tissues of newly hatched chicks (Surai, 2000;Surai, Noble, et al, 1999;Tsai et al, 2008), a fact that could be related to the increased tissue T-AOC of newly hatched chicks in the present study, which was in agreement with previous findings (Ren, Wang, et al, 2016). Compared with the other major tissues of newly hatched chick, brain was more susceptible to lipid peroxidation (Surai, Noble, et al, 1999), due to its higher levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (Maldjian, Cristofori, Noble, & Speake, 1996) and lower concentration of antioxidant components (Gaál et al, 1995;Surai et al, 1996).…”

Effect of Vitamin E Supplementation and High Stocking Density on the Performance and Stress Parameters of Broilers

“…However, vitamin E supplementation ameliorated MDA levels to normal in G3 when compared to G2 which is shown in the Table 2. These results are corroborating with the previous research of Tsai et al (2008) who reported that maternal vitamin E supplementation with low doses (40 mg/kg) in hens could supersede the effect of oxidative stress (MDA and ROS) in the neonatal chick brains. Similarly, Sahin et al (2003) reported that supplementation with vitamin E had decreased the serum and liver MDA concentration linearly in Japanese quails.…”

NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS IN HENS' EMBRYOGENESIS AND ANTISTRESS DEFENCE IN POSTNATAL DEVELOPMENT (review)

“…In this regard, recent studies showed no differences in hatchability of eggs obtained from parental flocks who received the diets with vitamin E content of 15, 150 or 300 mg/kg feed (42), as well as 40, 80 or 120 mg/kg feed (43).…”