VETERINARY CLINICAL PATHOLOGY (VETERINARY JOURNAL TABRIZ)
Year:2016 | Volume:10 | Issue:3 (39) |Papers Count:7

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder which is considered one of the main causes of mortality in developed countries. Long term use of the majority of synthetic anti-diabetic drugs lead to various side effects therefore the use of medicinal plants has currently become popular. Traditionally, Euphorbia cyparissias has been used for its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-neoplastic properties. In the present study 40 male Wistar rats were studied in four groups (n=10). The groups included: control, diabetic, alcoholic 500, alcoholic 250. The alcoholic groups received 250 and 500 mg/kg of alcoholic extract of Euphorbia cyparissias for 21 days through gastric gavage following induction of diabetes with streptozotocin. In control and diabetes induced groups an identical volume of physiological serum was gavaged. The testicular tissue and blood samples were obtained at the end of the experimental period for histological and blood testosterone concentration purposes, respectively. Results suggested that the serum glucose and testosterone concentrations in the control and alcoholic 500 groups had a significant difference with the other groups (p<0.05). Also, it was demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the control and alcoholic 500 groups compared with the other studied groups in terms of testicular weight, tubular distinction coefficient, and spermatogenesis coefficient (p<0.05). The study showed that E. Cyparissias had hypoglycemic effects and improved the histological parameters of testicular tissue as well as spermatogenesis process.

In order to investigate the effects of vitamins C and E and betaine on performance, immune response and blood parameters of broiler chickens, an experiment was conducted with completely randomized block design consisting of 6 treatments and 5 replicates with 30 chicks in each replicate. The groups were assigned to receive the treatment diets as follows: diet with no feed additive (control); diet supplemented with vitamin C; diet supplemented with vitamin E; diet supplemented with betaine; diet supplemented with vitamin E and betaine; diet supplemented with vitamin E, vitamin C and betaine. Body weight, feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and mortality were determined over the course of the experiment. At 35 days of age, two birds per replicate were randomly selected and 2 ml blood sample was collected to measure plasma concentration of T3 and T4 hormones. IgM and IgG antibody response to SRBC were also determined at 28 days of age. Body weight, FI and FCR were not affected by different treatments over the course of the study. Broilers fed diet supplemented with vitamin C, vitamin E and betaine showed the highest survival percentage and production index as compared with the other treatments. But it was not significantly different with the control group. IgM and IgG antibody response to SRBC, hematocrit percentage and plasma concentration of T3 and T4 also were not affected by different dietary treatments. The results of this experiment showed that there were no significant differences among the treatments in the performance, immune response and blood parameters of broiler chicken.

Because of the particular role of vitamin A in different tissues and organs, various clinical signs are seen in its deficiency. Additionally, marginal deficiency of vitamin A without the presence of clinical signs leads to performance defects such as infertility. In this study, the seasonal changes of b-carotene and vitamin A of serum and liver of slaughtered sheep in Ahvaz abattoir were investigated. A total of 360 sheep were sampled from October 2013 to June 2014. Spectrophotometry was used for measuring values. The results were analyzed statistically with student t-test. The mean ±SE concentration of b-carotene and vitamin A of serum and liver were 209.9±1.5, 98±0.9 (mg/dl), 19.8±0.4, 32.3±0.8(mg/g), respectively. Although there wasn't significant difference in levels of the measured parameters in two age groups(sheep only with immature teeth and sheep with a minimum mature tooth) but there was a significant difference in vitamin A of serum and liver in the two sexes (p<0.05). The serumic levels of vitamin A in male sheep was more than the females while the concentration of vitamin A in the liver of female sheep was more than the males. The difference between seasons in vitamin A of serum was also statistically different with higher concentrations observed in warm seasons in comparison to milder seasons.

This experiment was conducted as completely randomized design (CRD) with factorial arrangement (4×3) including three levels of extract and four incubation times (10, 20, 30 and 40 days) to evaluate the effect of alcoholic extract of pine tree leaves under in vitro conditions to inhibit the growth of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus Niger on the biomass of wet corn. Pine tree leaves were collected in autumn and their extract prepared using ethanol and used at concentrations of 0, 1 and 2 percent. Mass commercial corn was purchased from the factory. Ten grams of corn were mixed with 90 ml of saline solution and stirred several times, then serially diluted and the volume of 0.1 ml was placed on the culture medium.  The samples were incubated at 25oC for one week and the growth of fungi were checked every 24 hours from the second day of incubation. The fungus colonies were counted visually. The results indicated that 1 and 2% of pine leaf extract effectively reduced the number of fungi colonies at days 10 and 20 of incubation and the growth of fungi were completely inhibited on days 30 and 40 of incubation. The results were similar for both species of fungi. According to the results, pine leaf extract at the level of 1% is recommended for inhibition of fungi growth.

In order to investigate the effects of alcoholic extract of garlic on the function and survival of rainbow trout 600 pieces of fish with an average weight of 15±5 g were randomly divided into four groups, each with three replicates. The fish were fed with 0.1. 0.15 and 0.2 percent alcoholic extract of garlic for 40 days. At the end of the production period, body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and survival rate were evaluated. The results of this study showed a significant difference in the overall growth and feed intake between treatments so that the highest absolute growth and feed intake was observed in the control group. Also significant differences between treatments in terms of feed conversion ratio and survival, so that the lowest FCR rates were observed in treatment with 0.15% garlic extract and lowest mortality rate observed in the control group and treatment group with 0.15% garlic extract and highest mortality was observed in treatment group with 0.2% garlic extract. The results of this study showed that the use of different amounts of alcoholic extract of garlic treatments had a significant effect compared to the control treatment, so that except FCR, in these amounts, negative impacts were observed on the overall growth rate, feed intake and survival of rainbow trout.

Passive cigarette smoke contains five times more carbon monoxide and six times more nicotine compared to the main smoke because cigarette filter has a protective role for smokers. Cigarette smoke contains a range of oxidants and free radicals that can directly or indirectly induce oxidative stress in the body. Adding some aromatic ingredients to cigarette may play an important role in increasing damage and free radicals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of passive inhalation of cigarette smoke on serum lipid profile in rats. For this purpose, 16 male Wistar rats were divided randomly into two groups of eight rats, control and treatment. There was no intervention in the control group, but treatment group was exposed to a cigarette passive smoke on a daily basis for a month. After a month, the rat tail vein blood samples were taken and after separation of the sera, serum lipid profiles, including triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL and HDL was measured and the results were statistically analyzed using t-test. There was a significant (p<0.01) difference between the two groups regarding the serum levels of LDL but no other significant differences were observed. The results showed that cigarette smoke causes an increase in serum LDL, which is considered one of the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.

Ovine and caprine coccidiosis has always been regarded as one of the important diseases with high morbidity and economic losses such as weight loss, death and costs of treatment and control. In a sheep farm, 4 sick newborn lambs (out of 10 lambs) with the age of 1 to 2 months died with clinical signs of weight loss, loss of appetite, yellowish diarrhea, fever, ruffled wool, contamination of tail and perineal area to diarrheic stool and abdominal pain at the touch of abdomen. At necropsy on one lamb, multiple and diffuse nodular hyperplastic lesions yellowish-white in color were seen in the mucosal surface of jejunum. Microscopically, in addition to hyperplasia of the small intestinal villi, various developmental stages of Eimeria were observed. Based on morphological characteristics and presence of numerous polyp like formations in small intestine, the involved protozoan species was determined as Eimeria bakuensis. The relatively high case fatality rate in this flock could be related to sever nodular lesions in the small intestines, age and immune status of the affected animals.