Effects of Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate on Adrenocortical Activation and Fear-Related Behavior in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

The effects of supplemental ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (APP) on adrenocortical function and underlying fearfulness in broiler chickens were assessed in a number of test situations. Chicks pretreated for a minimum of 24 h with APP (1,000 ppm equivalents of L-ascorbic acid) in their drinking water or with no APP (tap water controls; CON) had blood samples taken immediately following water treatment and again after exposure to a capture and cooping stressor for 10 min. First, although the cooping stressor markedly increased plasma corticosterone concentrations, pretreatment with APP failed to attenuate this adrenocortical response. Second, APP-treated chicks showed less freezing and vocalized sooner in an open field (novel environment) than did controls. They also showed nonsignificant tendencies toward accelerated and enhanced ambulation. Third, supplementation with APP reduced the duration of the birds' tonic immobility fear reactions. Collectively, these behavioral effects are indicative of dampened fear. The apparent reduction of nonspecific, underlying fearfulness by APP treatment may have important implications for poultry welfare and performance.

Effect of Ascorbic Acid and Cooling During Egg Incubation on Hatchability, Culling, Mortality, and the Body Weights of Broiler Chickens

“…Elevation of blood corticosterone is usually associated with stress and with the reduction of AA biosynthesis in poultry (Pardue and Thaxton, 1986;Kutlu and Forbes, 1994). Generally, AA may be regarded as an anti-stress agent (Pardue and Thaxton, 1986), because its treatment led to the reduction of corticosterone (Satterlee et al, 1994;Kutlu and Forbes, 1994). Additionally, AA has a role in collagen synthesis (Weiser et al, 1988), the metabolism of minerals (Roberson and Edwards, 1994), and vitamin D metabolism (Weiser et al, 1988).…”

“…Four approaches have been reported to study the effect of AA on growth and other traits in birds. These approaches are the addition of AA to diet (Pardue and Thaxton, 1986;Orban et al, 1993;Kutlu and Forbes, 1994) to the drinking water (Fletcher and Cason, 1991;Satterlee et al, 1994) injection of the hen (Meglasson and Hazelwood, 1982), and crop intubation (Takahashi et al, 1991). Although controversial, results of the previously cited work have shown that AA may be regarded as an anti-stress agent.…”

Anxiolysis and recognition memory enhancement with long-term supplemental ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in normal rats: possible dose dependency and sex differences

“…While the mechanism for ascorbic acid's anxiolytic action remains to be conclusively established, possibilities include NMDA antagonism [40], ascorbate-related reduction of brain oxidative stress (that has been implicated in anxiety, [41]) and serotonin regulation [42]. Alternatively, ascorbic acid-induced anxiolysis might merely be due to attenuation of the stress hormone, cortisol [3,5]. Although ascorbic acid's memory-enhancing effects have also been related to its antioxidant properties [43], there is evidence that it functions as a modulator of brain neurotransmitters that are important for memory, such as acetylcholine, dopamine, glutamate and GABA [2].…”

“…For example, it has been shown that 14 days of treatment of normal human volunteers with 3g of ascorbic acid reduced salivary cortisol, blood pressure and subjective anxiety in response to a psychological stressor [3]. Ascorbic acid's anxiolytic potential has also been suggested by reports of it decreasing neophobia and measures of fear in poultry [4,5], reducing avoidance of an aversive environ-ment in mice [6], alleviating behavioral and biochemical stress responses to electroshock in mice [7], attenuating anxiogenic effects of prolonged exposure to loud noise in mice [8], and decreasing several forms of anxiety-related behavior in rats [9]. As the rats in our earlier study [9] were provided with only one level of chronic ascorbic acid in their drinking water (approximately 80 mg/kg/day), one of the aims of the present study was to determine if doses lower and higher than this would have comparable anxiolytic effects.Some evidence of dose-related effectiveness of the vitamin has been reported by Choi et al [7].…”

Impact of Supplementation of Moringa Oleifera in Diet of Broiler Chicks on Their Behavior, Welfare, Performance and Immune Responses

“…The decreased level of fearfulness in MOLM groups may be attributed to high level of Vitamine C in Moringa leavs. Satterlee et al (1993) reported that Pretreatment with vitamine C resulted in decreased neophobia in Japanese quail and shortened TI duration in stressed 24 day old broiler chicks (Satterlee et al, 1994). Moreover, Zulkifli (2003) found that broiler chickens pre-treatment with 1,200 ppm L-ascorbic acid in drinking water for 24 hr were significantly less fearful in TI test compared to untreated birds.…”