A Comparative Evaluation of Different Treatment Regimens in Endotoxemic Buffalo Calves—A Physio-Pathological Perspective

Abstract

Fifteen apparently healthy male buffalo calves aged between 6 months to one year with body weight range of 70 - 140 Kg divided into 3 groups of 5 buffalo calves each were used in the present investigation. Endotoxic shock was produced by IV infusion of Escherichia coli endotoxin @ 5 μg/kg BW/hr for 3 hours followed by administration of three different treatment regimens comprising of intravenous infusion of hypertonic saline solution(HSS) @ 4 ml/Kg bw, flunixin meglumine @ 1.1 mg/Kg bw and blood @ 20 ml/Kg bw to group-I, HSS, Dextran-40 and Flunixin meglumine to group-II and HSS, Dextran-40, whole blood and Flunixin meglumine to group-III with the objectives to study the major physio-pathological changes during induced endotoxemia in buffalo calves and to compare the effects of different treatment options to find out the best treatment option out of the three combinations. All the animals were further observed up to day 2 or death whichever was earlier. Endotoxin infusion to all the animals caused symptoms of restlessness, respiratory distress, snoring, diarrhoea, profuse salivation along with the significant hypoproteinemia, hypoalbuminemia, hypoglobulinemia, hypokalemia and hypocalcemia. The treatment with HSS, flunixin meglumine and blood infused as one time infusion to these endotoxemic buffalo calves not only alleviated the above mentioned symptoms but also significantly raised the circulating albumin level at 5.5 hrs and day 2 and Fibrinogen level at day 2 of observation. A significant hypocalcaemia was observed at 4.5 hours along with an increase in Alkaline Phosphatase at 3.5, 4.5 and 6.5 hrs. All the endotoxemic buffalo calves which died were subjected to post mortem and histopathological studies. Epicardial and endocardial haemorrhages, haemorrhages on intestinal mucosa, congestion, haemorrhages, emphysema and fibrinous thrombi in microvasculature of lungs were salient histopathological findings. On comparison with observations of the other treatment regimens tried, it was found that the IV infusion of the combination of HSS, Flunixin meglumine, Dextran-40 and blood was found to be the most effective leading to full recovery of 3 out of 5 buffalo calves of group-III where as only 1 out of 5 animals recovered in group-II. None of the group-I animals recovered and all of these succumbed to shock after day-2.