investigating of antioxidant protective effects of shrimp shells extracted chitosan in broiler chickens

Chitin is the most abundant natural biopolymer that can be converted tochitosan, which has various biomedical applications. this study was conductedto investigate the antioxidant activity of chitosan extracted from shrimp shellson body weight of broiler chickens. the study comprised three experiments. inexperiment 1, shrimp (penaeus merguiensis) shells were demineralized usinghcl (1n), deproteinized using naoh (1n), decolorized using acetone, anddeacetylated using 50% naoh. the antioxidant potencies of chitosan andvitamin c were compared by their abilities to scavenge 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (dpph) free radicals. the dpph free radical scavengingactivity of chitosan at varying concentrations (1-20 mg/ml) ranged between34.59 and 87.11%, whereas that of 1 mg/ml of vitamin c was 91.1%. inexperiment 2, six dietary treatments containing varying concentrations ofchitosan (0, 0.125, 0. 25, 0.5, 1, and 2 g/kg) were allocated randomly to 60male broiler chicks from 10 to 42 days of age. chitosan at varyingconcentrations had no significant effect on the body weight, but it significantlydecreased the mda level in breast meat (p<0.05). in experiment 3, a total of20 male broiler chickens were divided into two groups (n=10) and were fed acorn-soybean basal diet with or without chitosan for 42 days. on days 35 and38, five chickens from each group were treated with carbon tetrachloride(ccl4) at 1 ml/kg body weight to induce oxidative stress. administration ofccl4 significantly decreased body weight and increased ast and altactivities, which are indicators of liver damage, on day 42, whereas chitosanimproved and normalized body weight and enzyme activity (p<0.05). theresults suggested that chitosan extracted from shrimp shells exhibitsantioxidant effects by increasing the shelf life of the meat and normalizing thebody weight of the broilers as well as serum ast and alt enzyme activities.