The effects of pineal gland transplantation on the production of spinal deformity and serum melatonin level following pinealectomy in the chicken

Abstract

Pinealectomy frequently produces spinal deformity in some animal models, but the precise biological mechanism of this phenomenon remains obscure. The current study investigated the effects of an autograft pineal body on the development of spinal deformity and serum melatonin (MLT) concentration after pinealectomy in the chicken. Thirty-six chickens (2 days of age) were divided into three equal groups. While the removal of the pineal gland was performed in groups B and C, a pineal body autograft was surgically implanted into the body wall musculature only in the pineal transplantation group (group C). Chickens in which no surgical intervention was performed served as intact controls (group A). Posteroanterior radiographs of the spines of the chickens were taken at the age of 8 weeks. These were used to determine Cobb angles and to measure the rib-vertebra angles (RVA) on the concave and convex sides of the curves, from which data the difference between the convex and concave RVA (the RVAD) was calculated. At the end of the study, serum MLT levels were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, and histopathological examination of specimens from all the groups was performed. The results were compared using one-way analysis of variance followed by Duncan's test for pairwise comparisons or by the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Mann-Whitney U tests for comparisons between two groups. In this study, the serum MLT levels in groups B and C were significantly lower than those in group A (P<0.05). However, scoliosis developed in only 7 of 12 (58%) in group B and 6 of 12 (50%) in group C. The average Cobb angle and RVAD in groups B and C were significantly larger than those found in group A (P=0.000 and P=0.001, respectively). Interestingly, there were no significant differences in either serum MLT levels or development of scoliosis between groups B and C. From the results of the current study, it is evident that the intramuscular pineal gland transplantation following pinealectomy in young Hybro Broiler chickens has no significant effect on the development of spinal deformity and serum MLT level. In the light of this result, the role of MLT in the development of spinal deformity in chickens after pinealectomy remains controversial, and further investigations are warranted.

Selective estrogen receptor modulation prevents scoliotic curve progression: radiologic and histomorphometric study on a bipedal C57Bl6 mice model

“…This group of work has demonstrated that pinealectomy produced scoliosis in chickens if the surgery was performed shortly after hatching. Pinealectomy resulted in a 100 % rate of deformity in all experiments if animals were rendered free of melatonin, the major product of the pineal gland [13,14]. Furthermore, these investigators demonstrated that development of scoliosis could be prevented by the replantation of the pineal gland in skeletal muscle or by the administration of melatonin as a replacement therapy [12], which however, could not be replicated by others [15,16].…”

Pinealectomy in the chicken: a good model of scoliosis?

“…Early reports were of an incidence of scoliosis after pinealectomy that was as high as 100% [14]. Subsequent investigations have found the incidence to be as low as 50% [5,6,18,21,22,24]. Factors proposed to account for this difference includes: the age at which the surgery is performed [10], the structures resected at pinealectomy [4], and the length of follow-up [13].…”

Potential benefits of melatonin in organ transplantation: a review

“…Pinealectomy generates spinal deformities due to the reduction in melatonin (Turgut et al 2003). The authors also observed a reduction in the number of chickens with scoliosis with an enhanced values of Cobb angle and rib-vertebra value in pineal-transplanted birds versus pinealectomized chicks.…”