Mh. Maxwell et al., IDENTIFICATION OF TISSUE HYPOXIA IN THE LIVERS OF ASCITIC AND HYPOXIA-INDUCED BROILERS USING TRYPAN BLUE, British Poultry Science, 36(5), 1995, pp. 791-798
1. The perfusion of livers with the vital dye trypan blue was performe
d to test for evidence of tissue hypoxia in 3 groups of young broiler
chickens, namely, ascitic, hypoxia-induced and controls. 2. Hepatocyte
s that stained with trypan blue were considered to be dead or dying be
fore fixation and represented damaged cells. 3. The proportion of tryp
an blue-stained hepatocytes in the livers of ascitic birds was slightl
y less than half that observed in the hypoxia-induced birds but signif
icantly more than the proportion of stained cells observed in control
birds. 4. Liver damage in the ascitic birds was also assessed biochemi
cally by an altered enzyme profile. 5. The study demonstrated that inc
reased trypan blue uptake in the livers of ascitic birds reared at sea
-level may be the consequence of hypoxia stress caused by reduced oxyg
en utilisation.