A preliminary analysis of cardiac lesions in birds from the Canary Islands

Abstract

This Final Degree Project, histologically, shows and describes lesions in avian hearts from seven birds belonging to five different species in the Canary Islands, namely, three Fringilla polatzeki, one Neophron percnopterus majorensis, one Columba livia, one Fratercula arctica and one Ardea purpurea. In all cases, a complete standardized necropsy was performed following international standardized protocols. With the aim to characterize different types of lesions, with special emphasis in those associated with stress cardiomyopathy, several histochemical techniques were used. The results revealed that all the animals from our study had cardiac lesions that consisted in acute degenerative changes, arteriosclerosis, hemorrhages, myocarditis, fibrosis, visceral gout and necrosis. Acute degenerative changes were observed in all of the animals of this study, being more severe in the three blue chaffinch of Gran Canaria (Fringilla polatzeki) and in the purple heron (Ardea purpurea); stress cardiomyopathy was suspected in the three blue chaffinch of Gran Canaria; while a possible intoxication could cause the severe necrosis detected in the purple heron. Inflammation was also a common finding. The type of infiltrate and the absence of detectable bacteria by different histochemical stains, suggest that viral infections could be the most probable etiology responsible of these lesions in the cases of our study. Atherosclerosis was detected in three animals from our study, being detected the most severe lesions in the older birds.