Investigation of serum amino acid and serum amyloid A concentrations in chickens with amyloid arthropathy

Abstract

Background: Increased proteolytic cleavage of serum amyloid A (SAA) may potentially contribute to the development of AA amyloid deposition

Objective: To study the possible relationship between amyloid artropathy and expression of SAA and some serum amino acids.

Animals and methods: Values of 15 serum amino acids and SAA were investigated in chickens with experimentally induced amyloid arthropathy. Thirty-four, 5-week-old chicks were allocated into two groups: one group was injected intra-articularly with 0.25 mL complete Freund's adjuvant at the left tibio-metatarsal joint to induce amyloid arthropathy, whereas the other group served as control. All pullets were necropsied 13 weeks after injection. Collected tissue samples were examined histopathologically. Blood samples were collected and SAA concentrations were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to assess the amino acid concentrations in serum.

Results: Amyloid accumulation in joints occurred only in the experimental group (89%). SAA concentrations of 166 ± 17 and 423 ± 39 (SD) ng/mL were found in the control and experimental groups, respectively (p < 0.001). In the experimental group, an increase was observed in all examined amino acid concentrations except for citrulline. The most significant (p < 0.001) increases were noticed in serine (from 159 ± 15 to 360 ± 29 µmol/L), glycine (from 151 ± 20 to 279 ± 16 µmol/L), isoleucine (from 48 ± 2 to 80 ± 6 µmol/L), and phenylalanine (from 49 ± 2 to 90 ± 3 µmol/L).

Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that there is a positive correlation between some serum amino acid values, especially serine, glycine, isoleucine, and phenylalanine, and the high concentrations of SAA in chickens with amyloid arthropathy.

Keywords:

• amyloid
• SAA
• arthropathy
• chicken
• amino acid

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Commission of Scientific Research Projects of Uludag University, project number: 2001/42. We thank to Prof. Dr I. Hakki ULUS, Prof. Dr M. Mufit Kahraman and Prof. Dr Deniz Misirlioglu for their scientific help.