Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers are asking Michigan hunters for assistance with a study aimed at combating heart disease and congestive heart failure when they take to the field this spring.

Researchers need hunters to donate the hearts of harvested wild turkeys for their study of heart disease, a leading cause of death in the United States. Tests conducted with wild turkey hearts could lead to medical breakthroughs for alleviating heart problems in humans.

“There is a mutation in the heart of a wild turkey that lowers the incidence of heart disease and congestive heart failure,” said Tim Kwiecien, a WSU pre-medical student working with J.-P. Jin, Ph.D., professor and Chair of Physiology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine on this research. “By donating the hearts of harvested wild turkeys for our research, turkey hunters can help us make strides in what we know about heart disease among humans, and it will only take a few minutes of extra time.”

Michigan allows turkey hunting in the spring and fall seasons.

Cardiac muscle contraction, Kwiecien explained, is regulated by calcium through the troponin complex, which consists of three subunits: troponin C (TnC), troponin T (TnT) and troponin I (TnI). Previous research has found that abnormal splicing of cardiac TnT in turkeys with dilated cardiomyopathy (a weakened and enlarged heart) resulted in a greater binding affinity to TnI. In wild turkeys, this attraction between TnI and TnT has been minimized by a compensatory mutation in the TnI subunit. The single amino acid substitution that takes place, due to the mutation, decreases the binding affinity between the TnI and TnT, which leads to a lower incidence of cardiomyopathies and congestive heart failure in wild turkeys. Kwiecien, a third-year economics student, will further analyze this intriguing mutation with Dr. Jin this summer.

“We are using turkey hearts because it would be nearly impossible to conduct this type of analysis in human hearts while practicing ethical standards,” Kwiecien said. “Also, this particular mutation is only found in a few animals, and wild turkey hearts are the most practical for this type of study.”

Kwiecien is seeking to confirm previously published data that analyzed only three wild turkey hearts. Through the analysis of many more turkey hearts, he hopes to provide additional observation and relevant information.

While Kwiecien hopes to collect at least 30 turkey hearts from hunters, more hearts would increase the opportunity to collect more data and analysis. He has enlisted the assistance of the National Wild Turkey Federation to spread the word to Michigan hunters.

“When hunters and outdoor enthusiasts see an opportunity to improve the lives of others, we try to be first in line to help,” said Steve Sharp, National Wild Turkey Federation regional field supervisor in Michigan. “Helping with heart research at Wayne State University is just another opportunity for us to lend a hand.”

For purposes of the study, Kwiecien asks that hunters remove the heart as soon as possible by cutting the large blood vessels 1 inch from the heart. Hearts should be kept in ice and stored in a freezer or freezer chamber of a refrigerator as soon as possible.

Hunters are asked to record the following information and store it with the heart in a separate freezer bag: date of the collection, location where the bird was harvested, sex and estimated age of the bird, approximate weight of the bird, the time from the death of the bird to having the heart cool in ice, how long the heart was in ice (until it was placed in a freezer).

Hunters should contact School of Medicine researchers at ci9143@wayne.edu or (734) 765-1803 for information on how to ship frozen hearts to the lab.

For more information about using wild turkey hearts for educational research, contact Kwiecien at ci9143@wayne.edu.