Distribution of Protoporphyrin in Female Broiler Chickens Affected with Protoporphyria

Abstract

ABSTRACT. One hundred thirty-seven broiler chickens at a poultry meat processing plant had dark green to black livers. Thirty-one chickens of these were collected at random and examined pathologically and biochemically. All of thirty-one chickens were female. The chickens showed mild retarded growth and a remarkable atrophy of the gallbladders. Microscopically, the livers showed dark brown pigments in the Kupffer cells, hepatocytes, and portal triads. These pigments showed birefringence with a Maltese-cross pattern under polarized light. Hyperplasia of the cholangioles, fibrosis, and infiltration of inflammatory cells were present in the portal triads. All the examined samples showed the same dark brown pigments in alveolar walls of the lungs. A high concentration of protoporphyrin was detected in affected livers, marrow, and feces (489, 104, and 116 µg/g wet wt., respectively) by biochemical assay.KEY WORDS: chicken, liver, protoporphyrin.

Shapes of pathology

“…In veterinary medicine, congenital erythropoietic porphyria is perhaps the best-known example and is a well-described, inherited disorder of various cattle, namely Limousin and Blonde d' Aquitaine breeds. Porphyria disorders have also been described in pigs, chickens, cats and as an acquired disease in a few dogs (Cullen et al 2016, Ueda et al 2005. Histologically, porphyrin pigment is seen as orangebrown, spherical pigment deposited within hepatocytes and bile canaliculi (Fig.…”