Investigations on the diagnosis and retroviral aetiology of renal neoplasia in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Figures & data

Table 1.  Clinical manifestation and diagnostic procedures performed in budgerigars (M. undulatus) suspected of having renal neoplasia: histologically confirmed cases of renal neoplasia (A1 to A8) and budgerigars with other neoplasia or disease (A9 to A32)

			Clinical signs
Bird	Age (years)	Sex	Lameness	Coelomic enlargement	Blood uric acid	Urine Combur® Test	X-ray	Ultrasound	Histology
A1	8	M	+	–	+	NP	NP	NP	+
A2	5	M	+	+	NP	NP	NP	NP	+
A3	6	F	+	+	NP	+	NP	NP	+
A4	5	M	+	–	–	+	–	–	+
A5	2	F	+	–	+	+	+	+	+
A6	0.8	M	+	–	NP	NP	NP	NP	+
A7	6	M	+	–	–	NP	+	ND	+
A8	10	M	S	–	NP	NP	NP	NP	+
A9	4	F	–	+	–	+	+	+	–
A10	5	F	–	+	–	NP	+	NP	–
A11	4	M	–	+	–	+	–	–	–
A12	4	F	–	+	–	+	–	–	NP
A13	4	M	+	–	NP	+	NP	NP	–
A14	3	M	–	–	–	–	–	–	NP
A15	4	F	+	–	+	+	–	–	–
A16	3	F	–	–	NP	–	–	NP	NP
A17	6	F	+	–	NP	+	–	NP	–
A18	3	M	–	–	–	–	–	–	NP
A19	6	F	+	+	–	+	–	NP	–
A20	4	M	–	+	–	+	–	–	–
A21	12	M	+	+	–	+	–	+	–
A22	3	M	–	–	–	NP	–	–	–
A23	2	M	S	–	NP	NP	NP	NP	–
A24	2	M	+	–	NP	NP	–	NP	–
A25	2	M	–	–	–	+	–	–	NP
A26	9	M	+	+	+	+	–	–	–
A27	6	M	+	–	–	+	–	–	NP
A28	3	F	+	–	–	–	–	–	–
A29	4	F	–	+	–	–	–	–	–
A30	5	M	–	–	+	+	+	+	–
A31	9	M	–	+	+	+	–	–	–
A32	9	M	–	–	+	+	–	+	–
NP, not performed; +, positive result/results indicative of kidney neoplasia (within the scope of the respective diagnostic procedure); –, negative result for this investigation; S, stupor, it was not possible to perform evaluation for lameness. Bold data indicate budgerigars with histological diagnosis of renal neoplasia.

Table 2.  Retrovirus investigations performed in budgerigars (M. undulatus) with histologically diagnosed renal neoplasia (A1 to A8), birds with different neoplasia or disease (A9 to A32) and a control group of clinically healthy budgerigars (C1 to C39) where blood was collected twice within 12 weeks (Collections 1 and 2)

	PERT clinic cases					PERT C1 to C39, plasma (µU/ml)		ELISA C1 to C39 (OD)
Clinical case bird	Plasma (µU/ml)	Cell cultures	ELISA clinic cases (OD)	EM clinic cases	Control group budgerigars (n)	Collection 1	Collection 2	Collection 1	Collection 2
A1	52	NP	0.009	–	C1	4	1	0.020	0.018
A2	1645	NP	0.086	–	C2	0	0	0.046	0.029
A3	NP	NP	NP	NP	C3	8	0	0.064	0.035
A4	12	NP	0.017	NP	C4	52	NP	0.040	NP
A5	0	–	0.012	NP	C5	13	2	0.043	0.053
A6	NP	–	NP	NP	C6	229	31	0.026	0.040
A7	NP	NP	NP	NP	C7	0	6	0.014	0.020
A8	332	NP	0.037	NP	C8	70	0	0.079	0.115
A9	7	NP	0.023	NP	C9	0	0	0.014	0.019
A10	10	NP	0.018	NP	C10	156	79	0.021	0.022
A11	0	NP	0.021	NP	C11	8	5	0.030	0.025
A12	17	NP	0.044	NP	C12	43	16	0.026	0.028
A13	2	NP	0.016	NP	C13	13	0	0.017	0.032
A14	39	NP	0.023	NP	C14	102	18	0.044	0.033
A15	34	NP	0.014	NP	C15	91	15	0.080	0.046
A16	45	NP	0.021	NP	C16	222	NP	0.026	NP
A17	NP	NP	NP	NP	C17	6	1	0.022	0.017
A18	0	NP	0.022	NP	C18	316	NP	0.071	NP
A19	0	NP	0.011	NP	C19	3	2	0.083	0.017
A20	NP	NP	NP	NP	C20	163	203	0.022	0.024
A21	0	NP	0.020	–	C21	7	1	0.025	0.025
A22	15	NP	0.050	NP	C22	5	2	0.060	0.055
A23	NP	NP	NP	NP	C23	181	36	0.028	0.021
A24	0	NP	0.080	NP	C24	4	4	0.023	0.024
A25	NP	NP	NP	NP	C25	4	0	0.030	0.052
A26	9	NP	0.010	NP	C26	9	1	0.018	0.012
A27	6	NP	0.022	NP	C27	0	1	0.042	0.033
A28	10	NP	0.024	NP	C28	6	2	0.036	0.031
A29	22	NP	0.021	NP	C29	26	18	0.032	0.038
A30	136	–	0.016	NP	C30	10	0	0.090	0.125
A31	7	–	0.037	NP	C31	23	2	0.063	0.053
A32	17	NP	0.020	NP	C32	296	60	0.060	0.055
					C33	2	1	0.031	0.033
					C34	70	10	0.070	0.025
					C35	11	NP	0.055	NP
					C36	11	17	0.035	0.052
					C37	3	0	0.060	0.057
					C38	11	7	0.036	0.067
					C39	32	17	0.025	0.022
NP, not performed; −, negative result for this investigation; OD, optical density; EM, electron microscopy. Bold data indicate budgerigars with histological diagnosis of renal neoplasia.

Table 3.  Statistical results from RT activity (µU/ml) measured in plasma of budgerigars (M. undulatus) with renal neoplasia (A1 to A8), budgerigars with different neoplasia or disease (A9 to A32) and a control group of clinically healthy budgerigars (C1 to C39), blood collected twice within 12 weeks

						Control birds
	Group A	Group A without A2	Birds with renal neoplasia^a	Birds with renal neoplasia^a without A2	Birds without proven renal neoplasia^b	Collection 1	Collection 2
Median	10	10	43	27	19	11	2
Upper quartile	34	28	332	181	19	86	17
Lower quartile	2	1	12	6	1	5	1
Number of budgerigars examined	25	24	5	4	20	39	35
Bird A2 was considered an outlier with an RT activity of 1645 µU/ml because blood was sampled 48 h post mortem. ^aBudgerigars examined with histologically confirmed renal neoplasia. ^bBudgerigars examined with other neoplasia or disease.

Table 4.  Statistical results from the ELISA test for detection of specific antigen (p27) of ALV, performed in budgerigars (M. undulatus) with histologically confirmed renal neoplasia (A1 to A8), budgerigars with different neoplasia or disease (A9 to A32) and a control group of clinically healthy budgerigars in which blood was collected twice within 12 weeks (C1 to C39)

	A1 to A32	A1 to A8	A9 to A32	C1 to C39 (collection 1)	C1 to C39 (collection 2)
Number tested	25	5	20	39	35
Mean value	0.024	0.032	0.022	0.041	0.039
Standard deviation	0.017	0.032	0.011	0.021	0.025
Results are measured as OD.