Comparative histological study of the effects of high calcium diet and vitamin D supplements on epiphyseal plates of vitamin-D-deficient chicks.

A comparative histological and microradiographic study of the tibial epiphyseal plates of chickens raised on: (1) a vitamin-D-deficient diet; (2) a vitamin-D-deficient diet supplemented with cholecalciferol, and (3) a vitamin-D-deficient diet to which extra calcium had been added, has revealed that a high-calcium diet did not normalize the epiphyseal plates completely. However, it restored the normal length and chondrocyte arrangement to the proliferative zone. The degenerative zone became elongated and this seems to be related to the hypophosphataemic condition which has developed as a result of the special diet.