Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Project Attracts Attention

An Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station research project on a poultry health problem has attracted the interest of scientists studying similar problems in humans, says University of Arkansas poultry physiologist Walter Bottje.

The issue is hypoxia, or low blood oxygen, which can lead to development of congestive heart failure in humans, chickens and other animals.

In poultry, the condition is associated with the fast growth rate of broilers and is known as ascites or pulmonary hypertension syndrome (PHS). The condition is a limiting factor in production efficiency. Broiler deaths caused by PHS in Arkansas average two to four percent per year, Bottje says.

University of Arkansas doctoral student David Cawthorn won a Young Investigator Presentation Award for his paper on PHS research at the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine in New Orleans November 18-22.

Bottje, as Cawthorn's major professor and mentor on his doctoral research project, said he was approached by a pharmacologist at the meeting who sees potential in using chickens as models for research on hypoxia in humans.

Cawthorn's paper, Hepatic mitochondrial dysfunction and electron leak in avian pulmonary hypertension syndrome, is about the function of mitochondria in chickens with PHS. Mitochondria are the power units of animal cells they use blood oxygen to generate energy.

Cawthon, Bottje and post-doctoral associate Muhammand Iqbal used advanced cellular biology methods to open cells, isolate functioning mitochondria and observe their response to various treatments. The team identified a weakness in mitochondria of chickens with PHS, which may be a key to breeding PHS-resistant chickens or identifying a dietary supplement to strengthen mitochondria.

Bottje said the poultry research project found that low blood oxygen may cause mitochondria to generate oxygen radicals. These free radicals, which can damage cells, are the topic of extensive research in human medicine.

"What happens in chicken cells may also happen in human cells under similar conditions," Bottje said. "By collaborating with scientists studying human physiology, we can help advance human medicine and increase our understanding of ways to improve broiler production efficiency."