Fig 1.
Location of sample collection.
Position of the cross section samples from the heart (H) and from the aorta (A); (AL) aortic lumen, (AW) aortic wall, (Br) brachiocephalic arteries, (LVC) left ventricular cavity, (LVW) left ventricular wall, (RVC) right ventricular cavity and (RVW) right ventricular wall of a 63-day-old Lohmann Dual chicken.
Fig 2.
Transverse section of heart ventricular walls of a 63-day-old Lohmann Dual chicken.
(A) ventricular wall thicknesses (black-white lines are of the right ventricular wall; blue lines are of the left ventricular wall; (LVC) left ventricular cavity; (LVW) left ventricular wall; (RVC) right ventricular cavity and (RVW) right ventricular wall), (B) representative cardiomyocytes outlined in green, (C) blood capillaries are each indicated by a green asterisk, (D) the area occupied by capillaries is each outlined in green, (E) intercapillary distances; the capillary distances between the nearest neighboring capillaries. A and B stained with H&E. C, D and E stained with Arachis hypogaea Lectin.
Fig 3.
Cross-section of aortic wall of a 7-day-old Lohmann Dual chicken.
(A) aortic wall thickness, (B) aortic diameter, (C) cross sectional area of aortic lumen, (D) diameter of aortic lumen. H&E.
Fig 4.
Aortic wall layers of a 35-day-old Lohmann Dual chicken.
(A) entire aortic wall with tunica media (Med), (B) luminal aspect of the aortic wall showing the tunica intima (Int) and endothelial cells (arrows), (C) outer aspect of the aortic wall showing the tunica adventitia (Adv) and blood capillary (BC). Weigert’s Resorcin Fuchsin.
Fig 5.
Internal elastic lamellae in the aortic wall of a 35-day-old Lohmann Dual chicken.
Each individual elastic lamella is indicated by a green asterisk. Weigert’s Resorcin Fuchsin.
Table 1.
Live body weight, heart mass and relative heart mass of LD and Ross chicken lines versus day post hatching.
Fig 6.
Trendlines of the changes in relative heart mass versus day post hatching.
Bars refer to mean ± standard error of the mean of the chicken samples at each time interval.
Table 2.
Ventricular wall measurements over time of both chicken lines.
Fig 7.
Trendlines of the changes in diameter and cross sectional area of cardiomyocytes versus day post hatching.
(A) diameter of cardiomyocytes and (B) cross sectional area of cardiomyocytes versus day post hatching for Ross and LD chicken lines. Bars refer to mean ± standard error of the mean of the chicken samples at each time interval. (C) allometric plot: log transformed diameter of cardiomyocytes and (D) cross sectional area of cardiomyocytes versus log of body weight post hatching for Ross and LD chicken lines. Symbols represent each individual value for each chicken line.
Table 3.
Ventricular capillary and cardiomyocyte measurements over time of LD and Ross chicken lines.
Table 4.
Aortic wall measurements over time of LD and Ross chicken lines.
Table 5.
Radius of aortic lumen, ratio of aortic lumen diameter/aortic wall thickness and cross sectional area of aortic lumen.
All versus day post hatching.
Fig 8.
Trendlines of the changes in number of elastic lamellae versus day post hatching.
(A) number of elastic lamellae and (B) number of elastic lamellae per 1mm aortic wall versus days post hatching for Ross and LD chicken lines. Bars refer to mean ± standard error of the mean of the chicken samples at each time interval.