To investigate the variations of morphological, antioxidant function and xanthine oxidase (XOD) mRNA transcription of chick kidney (CK) cells underlying the nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis virus (NIBV) infection. Following NIBV infection there was a time-dependent increase in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) both in cells and medium. Meanwhile, NIBV infection of CK cells resulted in dysregulation of antioxidant function of CK cells, as superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was decreased and malonaldehyde (MDA) concentration was increased in cells while there was elevation of SOD activity in medium. Furthermore, the xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity and the uric acid (UA) concentration of infected group were significantly increased both in cell and medium, when cell XOD mRNA transcription showed height in infected group than in the control group. Taken together, our results indicated the metabolic disorder of XOD was an important pathological mechanism of NIBV infection; the results partially elucidate the potential mechanisms of hyperuricemia induced by NIBV.