Plasma greatine kinase as an indicator of degenerative myopathy in live turkeys∗

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Abstract
Diagnosis for degenerative myopathy of the musculus supracoracoideus (DMS) in the live bird was attempted from plasma creatine kinase (CK) [EC 2.7.3.2] activities in 70 female turkeys. The blood of each bird was sampled 18-20 times over an age span of 16-79 wk. DMS incidence was 15.7%. After CK values were logarithmically transformed and corrected for bleeding date, 82% of the affected birds had one CK value that deviated 3 or more SD from the mean of other values for the same bird. Plasma CK activities evidently can be used to identify affected birds with a high degree of reliability.