Functional responses of neonatal chicken and turkey heterophils following stimulation by inflammatory agonists.

OBJECTIVE

To determine functional responses of neonatal chicken and turkey heterophils to various inflammatory agonists.

ANIMALS

100 one-day-old chickens and turkeys.

PROCEDURE

Blood heterophils were isolated and stimulated for 30 minutes at 39 C with ionomycin, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), opsonized zymosan (OZ), or formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). Functional responses (shape change, adherence, phagocytosis, influx of intracellular calcium, and oxidative burst) of stimulated heterophils were measured and compared with responses of unstimulated (control) heterophils.

RESULTS

Turkey and chicken heterophils did not respond to FMLP stimulation. Stimulation of chicken and turkey heterophils with ionomycin resulted in significant increases in adherence, percentage of cells with a shape change, phagocytosis, intracellular calcium concentration, and oxidative burst. Turkey heterophils did not respond to PMA stimulation, whereas stimulation of chicken heterophils with PMA resulted in significant increases in adherence, percentage of cells with a shape change, phagocytosis, and oxidative burst but not intracellular calcium concentration. Stimulation of chicken and turkey heterophils with OZ resulted in significant increases in oxidative burst.

CONCLUSIONS

Mechanisms regulating initiation of heterophil activation in neonatal chicken and turkey heterophils are consistent with those described for heterophils isolated from mature birds. The biochemical and cytoskeletal systems of neonatal avian heterophils undergo functional alterations following stimulation with inflammatory agonists.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Understanding heterophil activation and regulation should eventually lead to methods for controlling bacterial diseases in poultry.