Effect of Diet on Aortic Ruptures in Turkeys Induced by Diethylstilbestrol

Abstract

AORTIC ruptures in turkeys resulting from dissecting aneurysms were first reported in the United States by Durrell et al. (1952). This was soon recognized to be a major disease problem in turkeys, and was subsequently diagnosed in Canada (McSherry et al., 1954) and Great Britain (Carnaghan, 1955; Gibson and deGruchy, 1955).The cause of the disease is not known; however, fatal dissecting aneurysms in turkeys can be readily induced by feeding beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), the lathyrus factor (Barnett et al., 1957).Chicks fed a diet deficient in copper succumb from internal hemorrhages resulting from angiorrhexis (O’Dell et al., 1961). However, low-copper diets did not cause dissecting aneurysm or aortic rupture in turkeys (Savage et al., 1962; Simpson et al., 1963).Pritchard et al. (1958) reported that fatal dissecting aneurysms occurred in male turkeys in a commercial flock which had been implanted with diethylstilbestrol (DES) pellets. Beall et al. (1963) found that…