Document Type : Full paper (Original article)
Authors
1
Graduated from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3
Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
4
Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5
Resident of Large Animal Internal Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
6
BSc in Laboratory Sciences, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
7
Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
8
Graduated from College of Veterinary Medicine, Garmsar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar, Iran
Abstract
Anaplasma ovis infections can cause severe anemia in the acute phase of the disease. In order to investigate the alterations of erythrocyte protective antioxidant mechanisms associated with anemia in sheep experimentally infected with A. ovis, 100 ml heparinized blood was collected from splenectomised sheep that showed 6% A. ovis parasitemia. Inoculums of 20 ml blood were administered intravenously to five male sheep without any blood parasite. Parasitological and haematological changes and the activities of erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) were studied in
experimentally infected animals on the 0-38 post infection days. Parasitemia increased significantly with the progress of infection and reached its maximum level on day 15 of the experiment. From this point to day 38, there was a gradual decline in parasitemia. A significant decrease in PCV, RBC and Hb concentration was evident coincidentally with peak parasitaemia in the infected sheep. On post infection day 15, the activities of all enzymes increased, the changes being significant for SOD activity. There was a significant positive correlation among parasitemia and the activities of erythrocyte SOD (r = 0.644, P<0.0005) and CAT (r = 0.424, P<0.05). Glutathione peroxidase activity declined significantly between post infection days 23-38. From the present study, it can be concluded that oxidative stress has an important role in anemia induced by anaplasmosis in sheep. It seems that SOD is a useful indicator of oxidative stress caused by A. ovis infection, due to its constant increasing means in the course of the disease.
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