Alpha-tocopherol acetate and alpha lipoic acid may mitigate the development of wooden breast myopathy in broilers at...

1. The objective of this study was to identify the effects of the antioxidant alpha-tocopherol acetate (ATA) and alpha lipoic acid (ALA) which have anti-inflammatory effects on developmental onset, severity and the progression of wooden breast (WB) based on Pectoralis major (P. major) muscle morphology and expression of genes associated with WB during the first three weeks post-hatch.2. A total of 160 newly hatched Ross 708 broiler chicks were randomly assigned in a replicated trial to either a control group or three dietary treatments (ATA 160 mg/kg feed, ALA 500 mg/kg feed or in combination).3. Microscopic changes associated with WB began at one week of age in all groups. The ATA acetate and ALA fed in combination decreased WB severity at two weeks of age (P = 0.05) and ATA alone or in combination reduced severity at three weeks of age compared to the control group (P = 0.05). Expression of myogenic determination factor 1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma was reduced in all dietary treatments compared to the control at three weeks of age (P ≤ 0.05), which suggested reduced muscle degeneration and lipid deposition.4. ATA and ALA fed both independently and in combination had a positive effect on mitigating WB severity microscopically as early as two weeks of age.