Effect of wooden breast degree on lipid and protein oxidation and citrate synthase activity of chicken pectoralis major muscle

Wooden breast is a muscle disorder affecting modern commercial broiler chickens that causes a palpably firm pectoralis major muscle and severe reduction in meat quality. Most studies have focused on advanced stages of wooden breast apparent at market age, resulting in limited insights into the etiology and early pathogenesis of the myopathy. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify early molecular signals in the wooden breast transcriptional cascade by performing gene expression analysis on the pectoralis major muscle of two-week-old birds that may later exhibit the wooden breast phenotype by market age at 7 weeks. Biopsy samples of the left pectoralis major muscle were collected from a subset of 101 birds randomly selected from a total of 302 birds at 14 days of age, after which all birds were raised to 7 weeks of age for scoring of wooden breast. RNA sequencing was performed on 5 unaffected and 8 affected female chicken samples, selected based on wooden breast scores (0 to 4) assigned at necropsy where affected birds had scores of 2 or 3 (mildly or moderately affected) while unaffected birds had scores of 0 (no apparent gross lesions). Differential expression analysis identified 60 genes found to be significant at an FDR-adjusted p value of 0.05. Of these, 26 were previously demonstrated to exhibit altered expression or genetic polymorphisms related to glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus in mammals. Additionally, 9 genes have functions directly related to lipid metabolism and 11 genes are associated with adiposity traits such as intramuscular fat and body mass index. This study suggests that wooden breast disease is first and foremost a metabolic disorder characterized primarily by ectopic lipid accumulation in the pectoralis major.

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Increased Expression of Lipid Metabolism Genes in Early Stages of Wooden Breast Links Myopathy of Broilers to Metabolic Syndrome in Humans

Genes ◽

10.3390/genes10100746 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 746 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Juniper A. Lake ◽

Michael B. Papah ◽

Behnam Abasht

Keyword(s):

Lipid Metabolism ◽

Expression Analysis ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Pectoralis Major Muscle ◽

Differential Expression Analysis ◽

Breast Disease ◽

Pectoralis Major ◽

P Value ◽

Altered Expression ◽

Wooden Breast

Wooden breast is a muscle disorder affecting modern commercial broiler chickens that causes a palpably firm pectoralis major muscle and severe reduction in meat quality. Most studies have focused on advanced stages of wooden breast apparent at market age, resulting in limited insights into the etiology and early pathogenesis of the myopathy. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify early molecular signals in the wooden breast transcriptional cascade by performing gene expression analysis on the pectoralis major muscle of two-week-old birds that may later exhibit the wooden breast phenotype by market age at 7 weeks. Biopsy samples of the left pectoralis major muscle were collected from 101 birds at 14 days of age. Birds were subsequently raised to 7 weeks of age to allow sample selection based on the wooden breast phenotype at market age. RNA-sequencing was performed on 5 unaffected and 8 affected female chicken samples, selected based on wooden breast scores (0 to 4) assigned at necropsy where affected birds had scores of 2 or 3 (mildly or moderately affected) while unaffected birds had scores of 0 (no apparent gross lesions). Differential expression analysis identified 60 genes found to be significant at an FDR-adjusted p-value of 0.05. Of these, 26 were previously demonstrated to exhibit altered expression or genetic polymorphisms related to glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus in mammals. Additionally, 9 genes have functions directly related to lipid metabolism and 11 genes are associated with adiposity traits such as intramuscular fat and body mass index. This study suggests that wooden breast disease is first and foremost a metabolic disorder characterized primarily by ectopic lipid accumulation in the pectoralis major.

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Enhanced TGF-β signaling and fibrosis in pectoralis major muscle of broiler chicken affected by wooden breast myopathy

Poultry Science ◽

10.1016/j.psj.2020.10.058 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

T. Xing ◽

Z.R. Zhao ◽

X. Zhao ◽

X.L. Xu ◽

L. Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Broiler Chicken ◽

Pectoralis Major Muscle ◽

Pectoralis Major ◽

Wooden Breast

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Increased Expression of Lipid Metabolism Genes in Early Stages of Wooden Breast Links Myopathy of Broilers to Metabolic Syndrome in Humans

10.20944/preprints201906.0194.v2 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Juniper A. Lake ◽

Michael B. Papah ◽

Behnam Abasht

Keyword(s):

Lipid Metabolism ◽

Expression Analysis ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Pectoralis Major Muscle ◽

Differential Expression Analysis ◽

Breast Disease ◽

Pectoralis Major ◽

P Value ◽

Altered Expression ◽

Wooden Breast

Wooden breast is a muscle disorder affecting modern commercial broiler chickens that causes a palpably firm pectoralis major muscle and severe reduction in meat quality. Most studies have focused on advanced stages of wooden breast apparent at market age, resulting in limited insights into the etiology and early pathogenesis of the myopathy. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify early molecular signals in the wooden breast transcriptional cascade by performing gene expression analysis on the pectoralis major muscle of two-week-old birds that may later exhibit the wooden breast phenotype by market age at 7 weeks. Biopsy samples of the left pectoralis major muscle were collected from 101 birds at 14 days of age. Birds were subsequently raised to 7 weeks of age to allow sample selection based on the wooden breast phenotype at market age. RNA sequencing was performed on 5 unaffected and 8 affected female chicken samples, selected based on wooden breast scores (0 to 4) assigned at necropsy where affected birds had scores of 2 or 3 (mildly or moderately affected) while unaffected birds had scores of 0 (no apparent gross lesions). Differential expression analysis identified 60 genes found to be significant at an FDR-adjusted p value of 0.05. Of these, 26 were previously demonstrated to exhibit altered expression or genetic polymorphisms related to glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus in mammals. Additionally, 9 genes have functions directly related to lipid metabolism and 11 genes are associated with adiposity traits such as intramuscular fat and body mass index. This study suggests that wooden breast disease is first and foremost a metabolic disorder characterized primarily by ectopic lipid accumulation in the pectoralis major.

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Histopathological changes associated with white Striping and wooden breast myopathies in pectoralis major muscle and meat quality characteristics in broiler chickens subjected to feed restriction

TURKISH JOURNAL OF VETERINARY AND ANIMAL SCIENCES ◽

10.3906/vet-2104-89 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Meat Quality ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Pectoralis Major Muscle ◽

Quality Characteristics ◽

Pectoralis Major ◽

Feed Restriction ◽

Histopathological Changes ◽

White Striping ◽

Wooden Breast

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Wooden Breast Myodegeneration of Pectoralis Major Muscle Over the Growth Period in Broilers

Veterinary Pathology ◽

10.1177/0300985816658099 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 119-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

H.-K. Sihvo ◽

J. Lindén ◽

N. Airas ◽

K. Immonen ◽

J. Valaja ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pectoralis Major Muscle ◽

Growth Period ◽

Pectoralis Major ◽

Histological Evaluation ◽

Unknown Etiology ◽

Focal Lesion ◽

Dietary Selenium ◽

Perivascular Cell ◽

White Striping ◽

Wooden Breast

Wooden breast (WB) myopathy of broiler chickens is a myodegenerative disease of an unknown etiology and is macroscopically characterized by a hardened consistency of the pectoralis major muscle. Our aim was to describe the development and morphology of WB over the growth period in broilers. Additionally, the effect of restricted dietary selenium on the occurrence of WB was examined by allocating the birds in 2 dietary groups: restricted and conventional level of selenium. The experiment included 240 male broilers that were euthanized at ages of 10, 18, 24, 35, 38, or 42 days and evaluated for WB based on abnormal hardness of the pectoralis major muscle. The severity and the distribution of the lesion and presence of white striping were recorded. The first WB cases were seen at 18 days; 13/47 birds (28%) were affected and the majority exhibited a mild focal lesion. In subsequent age groups the WB prevalence varied between 48% and 73% and the lesion was usually diffuse and markedly firm. White striping often coexisted with WB. Histological evaluation performed on 111 cases revealed a significant association of myodegeneration and lymphocytic vasculitis with WB. Vasculitis and perivascular cell infiltration were restricted to the veins. Restricted dietary selenium did not affect the occurrence of WB ( P = .44). Our results indicate that WB starts focally and spreads to form a diffuse and more severe lesion.

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Fiber Metabolism, Procollagen and Collagen Type III Immunoreactivity in Broiler Pectoralis Major Affected by Muscle Abnormalities

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10061081 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 1081 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Maurizio Mazzoni ◽

Francesca Soglia ◽

Massimiliano Petracci ◽

Federico Sirri ◽

Giulia Lattanzio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Positive Reaction ◽

Collagen Type ◽

Pectoralis Major Muscle ◽

Live Weight ◽

Pectoralis Major ◽

Collagen Type Iii ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Type Iii ◽

Glycerophosphate Dehydrogenase ◽

Wooden Breast

The present study aimed to evaluate the muscle fiber metabolism and assess the presence and distribution of both procollagen and collagen type III in pectoralis major muscles affected by white striping (WS), wooden breast (WB), and spaghetti meat (SM), as well as in those with macroscopically normal appearance (NORM). For this purpose, 20 pectoralis major muscles (five per group) were selected from the same flock of fast-growing broilers (Ross 308, males, 45-days-old, 3.0 kg live weight) and were used for histochemical (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide tetrazolium reductase (NADH-TR) and alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (α-GPD)) and immunohistochemical (procollagen and collagen type III) analyses. When compared to NORM, we found an increased proportion (p < 0.001) of fibers positively stained to NADH-TR in myopathic muscles along with a relevant decrease (p < 0.001) in the percentage of those exhibiting a positive reaction to α-GPD. In addition, an increased proportion of fibers exhibiting a positive reaction to both stainings was observed in SM, in comparison with NORM (14.3 vs. 7.2%; p < 0.001). After reacting to NADH-TR, SM exhibited the lowest (p < 0.001) cross-sectional area (CSA) of the fibers (−12% with respect to NORM). On the other hand, after reacting to α-GPD, the CSA of WS was found to be significantly larger (+10%) in comparison with NORM (7480 vs. 6776 µm2; p < 0.05). A profound modification of the connective tissue architecture involving a different presence and distribution of procollagen and collagen type III was observed. Intriguingly, an altered metabolism and differences in the presence and distribution of procollagen and collagen type III were even observed in pectoralis major muscle classified as NORM.

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