Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast
Wooden breast syndrome is a widespread and economically important myopathy and vasculopathy of fast growing, commercial broiler chickens, primarily affecting birds with high feed efficiency and large breast muscle yield. To investigate potential systemic physiological differences between birds affec...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Physiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2020.00304/full |
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| author | Juniper A. Lake Juniper A. Lake Erin M. Brannick Michael B. Papah Cory Lousenberg Sandra G. Velleman Behnam Abasht Behnam Abasht |
| author_facet | Juniper A. Lake Juniper A. Lake Erin M. Brannick Michael B. Papah Cory Lousenberg Sandra G. Velleman Behnam Abasht Behnam Abasht |
| author_sort | Juniper A. Lake |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Wooden breast syndrome is a widespread and economically important myopathy and vasculopathy of fast growing, commercial broiler chickens, primarily affecting birds with high feed efficiency and large breast muscle yield. To investigate potential systemic physiological differences between birds affected and unaffected by wooden breast, a total of 103 market-age Cobb 500 broilers were sampled for 13 blood parameters and the relative weights of the pectoralis major muscle, pectoralis minor muscle, external oblique muscle, wing, heart, lungs, liver, and spleen. Blood analysis was performed on samples taken from the brachial vein of live birds and revealed significant differences in venous blood gases between affected and unaffected chickens. Chickens with wooden breast exhibited significantly higher potassium (K+) and lower partial pressure of oxygen (pO2), oxygen saturation (sO2), and pH. Additionally, affected males had significantly higher partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and total carbon dioxide (TCO2) than unaffected males. Wooden breast affected broilers also possessed a significantly heavier pectoralis major muscle and whole feathered wing compared to unaffected broilers. Blood gas disturbances characterized by high pCO2 and low pH are indicative of insufficient respiratory gas exchange, suggesting that wooden breast affected broilers have an elevated metabolic rate that may also be inadequately compensated due to cardiovascular deficiencies such as poor venous return or respiratory insufficiency. Lung tissues from 12 birds with extreme sO2 values were subsequently examined to assess whether lung pathology contributed to the observed blood gas disturbance. Comparison of lung morphology between affected and unaffected birds revealed no apparent differences that could contribute to decreased parabronchial gas exchange. However, an interesting finding was the detection of pulmonary phlebitis in one of the wooden breast-affected samples consistent with vascular changes observed in pectoralis major muscle exhibiting the wooden breast phenotype. Our results suggest that the effects of wooden breast are not limited to the pectoralis major muscle and further indicate the importance of research into metabolic changes associated with the myopathy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:31:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-327e11ded43c4f4680e4fe61e577951c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-042X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T05:31:43Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Physiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-327e11ded43c4f4680e4fe61e577951c2022-12-21T20:34:13ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physiology1664-042X2020-04-011110.3389/fphys.2020.00304525514Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden BreastJuniper A. Lake0Juniper A. Lake1Erin M. Brannick2Michael B. Papah3Cory Lousenberg4Sandra G. Velleman5Behnam Abasht6Behnam Abasht7Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Animal Sciences, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, United StatesCenter for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesDepartment of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United StatesWooden breast syndrome is a widespread and economically important myopathy and vasculopathy of fast growing, commercial broiler chickens, primarily affecting birds with high feed efficiency and large breast muscle yield. To investigate potential systemic physiological differences between birds affected and unaffected by wooden breast, a total of 103 market-age Cobb 500 broilers were sampled for 13 blood parameters and the relative weights of the pectoralis major muscle, pectoralis minor muscle, external oblique muscle, wing, heart, lungs, liver, and spleen. Blood analysis was performed on samples taken from the brachial vein of live birds and revealed significant differences in venous blood gases between affected and unaffected chickens. Chickens with wooden breast exhibited significantly higher potassium (K+) and lower partial pressure of oxygen (pO2), oxygen saturation (sO2), and pH. Additionally, affected males had significantly higher partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) and total carbon dioxide (TCO2) than unaffected males. Wooden breast affected broilers also possessed a significantly heavier pectoralis major muscle and whole feathered wing compared to unaffected broilers. Blood gas disturbances characterized by high pCO2 and low pH are indicative of insufficient respiratory gas exchange, suggesting that wooden breast affected broilers have an elevated metabolic rate that may also be inadequately compensated due to cardiovascular deficiencies such as poor venous return or respiratory insufficiency. Lung tissues from 12 birds with extreme sO2 values were subsequently examined to assess whether lung pathology contributed to the observed blood gas disturbance. Comparison of lung morphology between affected and unaffected birds revealed no apparent differences that could contribute to decreased parabronchial gas exchange. However, an interesting finding was the detection of pulmonary phlebitis in one of the wooden breast-affected samples consistent with vascular changes observed in pectoralis major muscle exhibiting the wooden breast phenotype. Our results suggest that the effects of wooden breast are not limited to the pectoralis major muscle and further indicate the importance of research into metabolic changes associated with the myopathy.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2020.00304/fullwooden breastwhite stripingbroilerpectoralis major musclemyopathypulmonary phlebitis |
| spellingShingle | Juniper A. Lake Juniper A. Lake Erin M. Brannick Michael B. Papah Cory Lousenberg Sandra G. Velleman Behnam Abasht Behnam Abasht Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast Frontiers in Physiology wooden breast white striping broiler pectoralis major muscle myopathy pulmonary phlebitis |
| title | Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast |
| title_full | Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast |
| title_fullStr | Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast |
| title_full_unstemmed | Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast |
| title_short | Blood Gas Disturbances and Disproportionate Body Weight Distribution in Broilers With Wooden Breast |
| title_sort | blood gas disturbances and disproportionate body weight distribution in broilers with wooden breast |
| topic | wooden breast white striping broiler pectoralis major muscle myopathy pulmonary phlebitis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2020.00304/full |
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