AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF MOHAMMAD ANWER for the degree of Master of Science in Veterinary Medicine presented on September 30. 1992 Title: Chemotactic Effect of Different Treatments on Heterophils From Healthy Chickens and Chickens With Staphylococcal Infection

Staphylococcal tenosynovitis and osteomyelitis are world-wide problems of broilers and broiler breeders. Avian heterophils are analogous to mammalian neutrophils but the granules appear to be Afferent. The main objective of the study was to compare heterophil chemotaxis using heterophil obtained from healthy and staphylococcal infected chickens. Commercial broiler chickens were obtained to serve as healthy controls. The staphylococcal infected chickens were brought from a commercial broiler flock. Necropsy findings and culture tests were positive for staphylococcal bacteria in the commercial chickens. Chemotaxis of heterophils isolated from peripheral blood was measured using the Boyden chamber technique. Heterophil counts were made microscopically from membrane filters. A significantly reduced chemotactic response was observed in staphylococcal-infected chickens compared to healthy control chickens using repeated measures C.R.D. analysis of variance.