Ligustrazine recovers thiram-induced tibial dyschondroplasia in chickens: Involvement of new molecules modulating integrin beta 3.

Tetramethyl thiuram disulfide (thiram) is a dithiocarbamate, which is extensively used in agriculture as pesticide and fungicide for treating grains intended for seed purposes and also for storing food grains. One of the most evident and detrimental effect produced by thiram is tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) in many avian species, by feeding diets containing thiram, a growth plate cartilage disease. TD is characterized by the lack of blood vessels and impaired vascular invasion of the hypertrophic chondrocyte resulting in the massive cell death. This study investigated the effects of ligustrazine on the treatment and control of thiram induced-TD. A total of 210 chicks were divided into three equal groups (n = 70): control group (received standard diet), TD group (feed on thiram containing diet from day 3-7), and ligustrazine group (feed on thiram containing diet from day 3-7 and after that ligustrazine @ 30 mg/kg from day 8 to day 18). During the experiment, the lameness, production parameters, tibia bone indicators, pathological index changes and integrin beta 3 (ITGB3) expressions were examined. The results reveal that ligustrazine plays an important role in improving angiogenesis and decreasing chondrocytes damage in TD chicks via a new molecule modulating ITGB3. So, the administration of ligustrazine can be an important way to cope with the losses and costs associated with TD in commercial poultry farming and animal welfare issue due to environmental contamination of thiram.