The serum protein and lipoprotein response to tuberculosis in chicks fed various levels of dietary fat.

Abstract

In mammals, the serum proteins and constituent fractions, separated by electrophoresis, are significantly altered by a wide variety of physiologic and pathologic factors. Among these, the effects of experimental infection with 111 ycobacterium tuberculosis have been studied in the rabbit (1), the guinea pig (2), the mouse (3), and the rat (4). Although the serum proteins of birds have been the subject of several investigations by free (5-7) and zone (8) electrophoresis, these studies have dealt primarily with factors other than pathologic states. Reports are available concerning the effects of vitamin E deficiency (9) and of erythroblastosis (10) on the electrophoretic distribution of serum proteins in the chick. Since dietary fat level has been reported (11) to influence resistance to experimental infection with M. tuberculosis in mice, the present investigation was designed to study the serum protein response in the chick to infection with avian tubercle bacilli; and to assess the possible effects of dietary fat level on this response. Data regarding mortality and tissue reactions to infection are the subjects of other reports (12); those presented here concern the serum protein and lipoprotein responses to infection studied by paper electrophoresis.