Temporal characterization of wooden breast myopathy ("woody breast") severity and correlation with growth rate and lymphocytic phlebitis in three commercial broiler strains and a random-bred broiler strain.

Wooden breast myopathy (WBM), or "woody breast" or "wooden breast" affects modern, rapidly growing, high breast-yield broiler chickens. Decreased meat quality due to undesirable organoleptic properties and condemnation of affected breast meat cause economic losses. The pathogenesis of WBM remains unknown. In this study, WBM lesion development was determined in three modern broiler strains and Athens Canadian Random Bred (ACRB) broilers, a 1950s unselected broiler chicken. Correlations between WBM severity and incubation temperature profile, sex, strain, body weight, and lymphocytic phlebitis were also determined. At 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age, samples of breast muscle from 10 male and 10 female birds from each strain, incubated under optimal or low-early, high-late temperatures, were scored histologically for severity of WBM and lymphocytic phlebitis. WBM lesions, identified as early as 2 weeks, became progressively more severe with age and growth in the three commercial broiler strains. WBM severity was significantly correlated with lymphocytic phlebitis and body weight. Lymphocytic phlebitis and minimal WBM were present in the ACRB broilers at all samplings, but did not progress in severity over time. There were no significant differences in severity of WBM among the commercial broiler strains, between sexes, or between incubation temperature profiles. The positive correlation between WBM severity and lymphocytic phlebitis indicates vascular injury is likely an important factor in the pathogenesis. Mild muscle lesions in ACRB birds without overt clinical signs indicate subclinical muscle disease may have been present in broilers prior to the description of WBM.

[Functional assessment of the lymphatic bed of patients in the late clinical classes of chronic venous insufficiency according to the international GEAP classification].

The author revises the contents and limits of the anatomic CEAP classification. For this purpose 84 patients with different types of trophic disorders of the lower limbs were examined with the aid of the author's technique of functional lymphography and lymphoscintigraphy. Impairment of drainage and transport function of the lymphatic capillaries was established from the ulcer edge at the level of the outgoing (from skin to collector) and collecting (from foot to regional nodes) capillaries. A close relationship was discovered between secondary changes in the lymphatic bed and the severity of trophic disorders. In groups with dilated and stenosed vessels, there were subgroups of patients with preserved function of lympangions. The data obtained evidence that lymphovenous insufficiency beyond the area of trophic disorders is more pronounced than in the focus itself. This may play a decisive role in the choice of the treatment modality as dependent on the condition of the drainage pathways. To refine the diagnosis in patients showing disease progression, with failed treatment of trophic ulcers including ulcerous defects, the author suggests that A category may be divided into two subgroups: Av for characterization of different veins and Al for lymphatic vessels of varying levels: S (skin), (Tissue) and Lnd (lymph nodes). The use of additional criteria for the diagnosis substantially improves the characteristics of the international CAAP classification.

LYVE-1 immunohistochemical assessment of lymphangiogenesis in endometrial and lung cancer.

AIMS/METHODS: Normal and malignant pulmonary and endometrial tissues were analysed for lymphatic vessels to assess the process of lymphangiogenesis and its role at these sites, using specific immunostaining for LYVE-1 and the panendothelial marker CD31. RESULTS: Lymphatics were clearly demonstrated in some normal tissues (myometrium, bronchial submucosa, and intestinal submucosa), but not in others (endometrium and alveolar tissue). LYVE-1 positive lymphatic vessels were detected at the tumour periphery of endometrial and lung carcinomas, but not within the main tumour mass. Double staining for LYVE-1 and the MIB1 proliferation marker revealed a higher proliferation index in lymphatic endothelial cells at the invading front of endometrial carcinomas, compared with myometrial areas distal to the tumour. Lung and endometrial carcinomas did not have an intratumorous lymphatic network. CONCLUSIONS: Although lymphangiogenesis may occur at the invading tumour front, incorporated lymphatics do not survive. Therefore, the dissemination of cancer cells through the lymphatics may occur by invasion of peripheral cancer cells into the adjacent normal lymphatics, or through shunts eventually produced at the invading tumour front as a consequence of active angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis.