Effect of prophylactic administration of vitamin C in chickens with staphylococcal septic arthritis

Septic arthritis (SA) due to Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of lameness in poultry with improper response to antimicrobial therapy.

The study evaluates the effect of prophylactic administration of vitamin C on SA induced by methicillin resistant S. aureus in chickens.

One hundred and twenty chickens were randomly assigned into four groups: I. Negative control (NC), II. Positive control (PC) with SA induced at the age of 35 days by intra articular injection of S. aureus. III. Vehicle control (VC) and IV. Arthritic vitamin C-treated (VitC) group (15 g/100 L of drinking water from day 25 to the end of the experiment). Samplings were performed on day 44 (sampling 1) and day 54 (sampling 2) of age.

Arthritic birds showed an obvious decrease in body weight with severe clinical arthritis and lameness which were not significantly affected by vitamin C administration at both samplings. Moreover, marked increase in serum malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration of the PC group was observed in sampling 1. Administration of vitamin C successfully reduced MDA concentration at both samplings. In sampling 2, birds in the VitC group showed significantly higher total antioxidant capacity (TAC) than NC birds (p < 0.05). Interleukin-6 concentration in synovial fluid of chickens remained statistically similar among groups in both samplings, while histopathological changes were ameliorated in the VitC group in sampling 2.

Prophylactic administration of vitamin C especially for relatively longer period can ameliorate oxidative stress and histopathological changes due to staphylococcal arthritis in chickens, although it is not associated with a significant effect on clinical manifestations of the disease.