Muscle fiber characteristics and expression level of , , and genes in chicken meat with white striping.

Background And Aim: The poultry industry faces an emerging muscular defect in chicken meat called white striping (WS). The biological processes associated with WS myopathy are immune system activation, angiogenesis, hypoxia, cell death, and striated muscle contraction. We examined the (), (), and () genes based on their functions related to muscle contraction and the innate immune system. This study aimed to determine the muscle fiber characteristics (MFCs) and expression level of , , and genes in white striping chicken meat (WSCM).

Materials And Methods: A total of 428 breast samples were randomly collected from a commercial poultry processing plant. The samples were classified into four levels: 0 (normal), 1 (moderate WS), 2 (severe WS), and 3 (extreme WS). Five samples per group were selected to evaluate MFCs, including total number of muscle fibers, muscle fiber diameter, cross-sectional area, endomysium thickness, and perimysium thickness. Five samples per group were selected for ribonucleic acid (RNA) isolation to evaluate the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of , , and genes related to WS.

Results: Statistical analysis revealed that the total number of fibers, endomysium thickness, and perimysium thickness significantly differed between groups (p < 0.05). Muscle fiber diameter and cross-sectional area did not significantly differ (p > 0.05). The expression of the gene did not significantly differ among groups (p > 0.05). and mRNA expression significantly differed among groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: These detailed MFCs will provide baseline information to observe WS in chicken meat. and genes may play a role in the occurrence of WS in chicken meat through non-specific immune reactions.