enlarged spleen?

[marie83]

I dont know specifics because it isnt one of mine but someone i know of. Her parrot was quieter than normal but other than this no real sign of illness. She took the bird to the vet who ran scans and blood tests. The vets not seen an enlarged spleen in a bird before so has just put the bird on antibiotics whilst they await the blood test results. Im not sure if the blood sample was for anything specific or just a general blood test, im waiting for a message back to get more info.

Was just wondering if anyone knew what might cause an enlarged spleen in birds, ive seen it in other animals but not birds. Thank you

[Pajarita]

I had to go read my avian medicine texts and do research online because I've never had to learn about the spleen itself in any depth (thank you for that because it's a HUGELY interesting subject and right up my alley -see below about the connection with photoperiodism!) Now, what species are we talking about here? Because a normal size for an amazon spleen is 7 mm (1/4 of an inch) so although an inflammation could be detected through CT scans and MRIs, the organ itself is so small and so close to the liver that it would be pretty difficult. PLUS, the spleen normally goes through stages of inflammation on a daily basis in birds and apparently, the normal release of melatonin (circadian cycle -see below) is what affects it so the first things I would ask is whether this bird is been kept at a strict solar schedule, what kind of artificial lights it's been exposed to, at what time of the day were the tests conducted (it's always inflamed in the morning) and whether it was tested for chlamydiosis (it's the most common cause of spleen enlargement in pet birds).

I can't copy this very interesting study I found (it's in one of those sites you have to subscribe to) but it's about

'Understanding how disruptions of circadian timing mechanisms lead to dysfunctions of the immune response is potentially very important in understanding the progression of several inflammatory disorders and disease states'

'The aim of this research was to better understand the daily regulation of immunological function by the circadian clock through determining the expression pattern of circadian clock genes and the regulation of the inflammatory response over a 24 hr cycle in the spleen'

'Our experiments demonstrate that several inflammatory cytokines oscillate in a daily and circadian manner within the spleen (Figures ​(Figures3,4). We therefore hypothesized that the circadian clock functions as a regulatory mechanism of the inflammatory response' and goes on to say 'daily pattern of rhythmicity in the spleen with robust 24 hour oscillations with maximal amplitudes occurring in the late night and early day'

'Thus, an additive or synergistic affect of melatonin and LPS (*) function is evident in the regulation of TNFά and IL-18 cytokine induction following inflammation in the spleen'

My note (*) LPS is lipopolysaccharides, a component of the 'outer skin' of bacteria.

and concluding 'to our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of daily and circadian clock gene regulation in the avian immune tissue'.

Super interesting, isn't it?!

[marie83]

Thank you for putting that time into the subject pajarita. I read your reply really quickly the same day you posted and copied and pasted it all over to her. Unfortunately her vet thinks its a sign of chronic infection -which I wouldn't personally dispute but they wouldn't take anything else into account as the bird is now "better" from the antibiotics so who cares what caused it right??
This person is part of a parrot group I belong to and tbh none will accept that people, animals and in particular birds were designed to live in a certain pattern/routine in accordance to their evolution caused by nature despite the fact I've posted many links for them to research the subject (seasonal changes and dietary factors) themselves. For instance theres a 'tiel owner there who's a prolific layer. She has been there, done that with the solar schedule apparently- fair enough right? Well I since found out she was then putting artificial lights on after letting the natural sunlight levels rise and fall. I tried to ask them what they thought the point was of letting the birds see the sunset and settle down for the night only to be woken up again 30 mins later with artificial light, I also explained why their logic all wrong but some people just wont listen.

Anyway sort I didn't reply sooner, I did type a quick thank you after reading which wouldn't post for some reason and I've been realy busy since then.

[Pajarita]

I hear you! I well know about bird owners like that and they are the main reason why I no longer post anywhere else. One tries to give good advice but people choose to listen to the 'easy solution' advice instead of the 'hard work' one... And, although I don't get aggravated by their attitude, it makes me worry about their birds and despair of them ever been well-taken care of -and that bothers me something terrible!