RESEARCH ARTICLE r a

Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) is a common skeletal dis-order in broiler chickens characterized by the presence of non-vascularized and unmineralized cartilage in the growth plate. Tetramethylthiuram disulfide (thiram) exerts its cytotoxic effects through membrane damage, mitochondrial injury, inhibition of glutathione metabo-lism, cell death, and inhibition of angiogenesis. Rath et al. [1] showed that thiram-induced TD is not pro-duced through an increase in chondrocyte multiplica-tion in the transition zone, nor by altering the expression of genes causing the arrest of chondrocytes in a pre-hypertrophic state. It acts by creating metabolic dysfunction that leads to the destruction of blood capil-laries in the transition zone chondrocytes. Our previous studies showed that thiram could promote chondrocyte proliferation in the growth plate of chickens, and disturbs the regulation of endochondral calcification and develop-ment of normal cartilage. This results in prehypertrophi