It is believed that ascitic broilers die of right heart failure caused by pulmonary hypertension, but the underlying mechanisms of right heart failure are unknown. However, recent studies have shown that reactive oxygen species have the ability to damage heart cells. This study aimed to determine the changes of reactive oxygen species in serum and plasma, and the effect of this variation on myocardial cells during broiler ascites. We used hypoxia and a low-temperature method to induce broiler ascites in the fast-growing group. For controls, we treated a slow-growing group of broilers with 70% restricted feeding under the same circumstances as the fast-growing group. The results showed that hypoxia is a more effective and better way to induce broiler ascites than a low-temperature environment and high growth rate. In addition, reactive oxygen species levels were significantly increased in the fast-growing group compared with those in the slow-growing group. This significant increase in reactive oxygen species resulted in myocardial cell apoptosis in the fast-growing group. Our results suggest that cardiomyocyte apoptosis caused by increased reactive oxygen species levels of ascitic broilers is one of the most important reasons for causing heart failure.

Key words: Apoptosis, Ascites, Lipid peroxidation, Reactive oxygen species (ROS)