Potential for non-shivering thermogenesis in perfused chicken (Gallus domesticus) muscle

The humoral modulation of resting muscle heat production of chickens (Gallus domesticus) was investigated in vitro. The resting distal lower limb was perfused via the popliteal artery at 25 degrees C without erythrocytes at constant flow. The preparation was stable for at least 3 hr, showing a constant oxygen uptake ((M) over bar O-2) and perfusion pressure as well as adequately maintaining muscle energy charge and creatine phosphate:creatine ratio. Noradrenaline (NOR), adrenaline (ADR) and serotonin (5-HT) each caused a dose-dependent rise in perfusion pressure. NOR and ADR evoked increased ((M) over bar O-2) at low doses eventually followed by decreased ((M) over bar O-2) at higher agonist concentrations. 5-HT gave smaller but qualitatively similar ((M) over bar O-2) effects. The actions of 50 nM NOR were blocked by prazosin (10 mu M) and nitroprusside (0.5 mM), but not altered by propranolol (10 mu M). NOR-induced stimulatory ((M) over bar O-2) changes in the presence of pharmacological concentrations (1 mu M) of glucagon were more pronounced and the thermogenic concentration range of NOR was increased. Taken together, these in vitro findings demonstrate a potential for vasoconstrictor-controlled muscle nonshivering thermogenesis in birds as in marsupials and mammals, suggesting that vascular control of muscle((M) over bar O-2) may be a wide-spread biological mechanism. The possible implications of these findings for avian nonshivering thermogenesis are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.