The Role of ATPase in the Development of Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Broilers

The goal of this study was to assess the ATPase activity in the vascular walls of the pulmonary artery, 1A arteriole, and 2A arteriole of the lung of broilers susceptible to idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. This was achieved through the modification of tryptophan in the diet and through the examination of the ATPase activity in the different pulmonary vessels. A QuantiChrom ATPase assay quantified the amount of phosphate ion correlating to the amount of ATPase activity, which was normalized for vessel size using the Coomassie and MicroBCA Protein Assays (giving ?M of phosphate/?g of protein per mL). One way repeated measures tests were used for statistical analyses. According to this study?s results, there was no statistical difference in how the diets affected ATPase activity. When comparing ATPase activities of the different vessels without regard to the diets, a statistical difference was found between the ATPase activities of the 1A and 2A arterioles (more ATPase activity in the 2A arterioles), but not between the pulmonary arteries with either of the arterioles