Infectious stunting and leg weakness in broilers. II. Studies on alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in blood plasma.
Total alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in blood plasma of broilers suffering from infectious stunting after artificial infection was constantly higher than that of uninoculated control birds. While total ALP activity in blood plasma from inoculated broilers of various ages decreased after incubation at 56 degrees C, it increased in similarly treated plasma collected from broilers at 3, 21 and 28 days after inoculation. Investigations into the organ origin of the plasma ALP isoenzymes with agarose electrophoresis, column chromatography, L phenylalanine inhibition and heat treatment showed that the main part of ALP activity in blood plasma of both, inoculated and uninoculated birds was most likely of intestinal origin. In 3-day-old broilers no heat sensitive part of total ALP could be measured.
Vertommen
M
M
Poultry Health Institute, Doorn, The Netherlands.
Van Der Laan
A
A
Veenendaal-Hesselman
H M
HM