A comparative study of acute-phase protein concentrations in historical and modern broiler breeding lines

Abstract

Acute-phase proteins (APP) are secreted from the liver as a result of inflammation or infection and are measurable in serum and plasma. To determine whether the constitutive APP serum amyloid A (SAA), alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), ceruloplasmin (Cp), and ovotransferrin (Ovt) have changed as a result of selection for improved production and growth characteristics over the last 40 yr two historical broilers lines were compared to a modern line of the same lineage. Serum was harvested from blood samples taken from the 3 broiler lines on days 10, 17, and 20, and the APP concentrations were determined using immunoassay methods. Most of the significant changes observed were age related, with SAA and Cp having significantly lower concentrations at day 20 than days 10 and 17 in all lines. The only significant difference between lines was observed at day 20 on which both Cp (P = 0.01) and AGP (P = 0.03) were significantly higher in the modern line than the 90s line, though no significant differences were noted between the modern and 70s line. When evaluating the difference in APP concentrations between males (Cx) and females (Px) across all 3 lines, females had a higher SAA at day 17 and lower SAA at day 20, P = 0.0078 and 0.0327 respectively, and males had a significantly higher Ovt on days 17 and 20 (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.003 respectively). These results reveal that APP concentrations fluctuate over this early period of growth and that the changes in APP serum concentration appear uniform between 3 lines with very contrasting selection history, suggesting the improvements made in meat production efficiency since the 1970s have not affected the circulating concentrations of these constitutively expressed APP.

Protein Deimination and Extracellular Vesicle Profiles in Antarctic Seabirds

“…It carries the majority of copper in plasma and has roles in iron homeostasis [108,109]. In birds it has been identified as an inflammatory marker associated with trauma and infection [110] and studied as an acute-phase protein biomarker in broiler breeding lines [67,70].…”

“…In birds, ovotransferrin is the only form and present in both plasma and egg albumen, while in mammals two forms of transferrin (serum transferrin and lactoferrin), with different functions exist [116]. As ovotransferrin has multifaceted functions and plays major roles in avian natural immunity [67,70,116,117], post-translational deimination may contribute to its diverse functions.…”

“…with some differences observed in size distribution profiles ( Figure 1A-H). The main EV peaks in plasma were as follows: wandering albatross (48,120,198,280, 347 and 413 nm); grey-headed albatross (72,93,144,183, 297 and 355 nm); black-browed albatross (70,87,153, 257 and 310 nm); northern giant petrel (88, 201 and 289 nm); southern giant petrel (67, 119, 344 and 424 nm); whitechinned petrel (110,145,238 and 380 nm); brown skua (136, 264 and 432 nm); south polar skua (104, 156, 211 and 239 nm); ( Figure 1A-H). Western blotting analysis confirmed that the plasma EVs isolated from all 8 species were positive for the EV-specific markers CD63 and Flot-1 ( Figure 1A-H, see inserted WB figures).…”

“…However, less research has been carried out on immunological markers, which should be indicative of general health in seabirds [62][63][64][65][66]. This compares with poultry, for example, in which acute-phase proteins have been studied because of commercial interests in minimizing disease outbreaks on farms [67][68][69][70][71]. As seabirds provide an ideal model for assessment of environmental changes and belong to the most globally threatened of all groups of birds [40,41], the identification of novel biomarkers to assess their health status is of pivotal importance.…”

Acute Phase Proteins response and their clinical application in veterinary medicine

“…The systemic moderate, or major APP according to the magnitude and duration of increase during the APR. Major APP increase 10 to 1,000-fold, moderate APP increase 4 to 10-fold, and minor APP represent those with only slight 2 to 3-fold increases (Eckersall et al, 2018). Pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin 1-beta (IL-1-beta) are the major mediators of APP synthesis in the liver (YOSHIOKA et al, 2002).…”