THE EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL-TEMPERATURE ON CELLULAR ENZYME-ACTIVITIES FROM DIFFERENT ORGANS

The effect of long term hyperthermia on enzyme levels in the chicken h eart and breast muscles, brain, kidney, liver and lung were studied. T hree weeks old chickens were exposed to environmental temperature of 2 4 degrees C (control group) and 32 degrees C (experimental) for a dura tion of 5 weeks, after which the birds were sacrificed, organs removed , homogenized and centrifuged at 22000 g for 30 minutes. Enzyme activi ties in the supernatant were measured. The following enzymes were anal ysed: alanine and aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, cr eatine kinase, lactic dehydrogenase and gamma-glutamyltransferase. Sig nificant changes in cellular enzyme activities were seen in the organs studied. Based on the percentage of changes compared to the controls, large and significant changes were seen in the creatine kinase from h eart muscle (mean increase of 328%), aspartate aminotransferase from t he brain (mean increase of 148%) and gamma-glutamyltransferase from th e kidney (mean increase of 105%). The organs showing the smalles chang es were breast muscle and liver.