Abstract
Melatonin, the pineal gland hormone, has been shown to play a principle role in maintenance of health and well being of man and animals in all stages of life. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of melatonin on some hematological parameters and immune status of broiler chicks. For this purpose sixty-four, three weeks-old chicks of Hubbard strain weighing 500-633g were used. Birds were kept on lighting regimen of 12 hours natural light to 12 hours darkness. Chicks were randomly allocated into four equal groups of 16 birds each. The first group was kept as a control group and fed starter ration sprayed with ethanol saline without melatonin from the 4th to 8th weeks of age. The second, third and fourth groups were fed on the starter ration sprayed with ethanol saline containing 20, 30 and 40 mg melatonin / kg ration, respectively from the 4th to 8th weeks of age. Blood samples were obtained from the tibial vein of all birds at the end of the 1st week of treatment and then every week up to the end of the experiment. The obtained blood were used for determination of red blood cells (RBCs) count, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, packed cell volume (PCV) as well as total and differential leukocytic count. Tissue samples from liver, spleen, thymus and bursa of Fabricious were taken for histopathological examination. The results revealed that melatonin in the three doses produced a significant increase in RBCs count, PCV, Hb concentration, total leukocytic count and lymphocyte percentage which clarifies the effect of melatonin on improving the health and immune status of the chicks under investigation. The histopathological study in the present investigation revealed that melatonin treatment induced a lymphoid hyperplasia in the liver, spleen, and bursa of Fabricious of all treated groups. This lymphoid hyperplasia might be another explanations for the immunostimulant effect of melatonin. In conclusion melatonin was found to improve the health and immune status of broiler chicks.
Highlights
Melatonin has been reported to play a fundamental role in the biology of all cells (Reiter and Robinson, 1995)
Karimungi and Joshi (1996) stated that a single subcutaneous injection of male rats with 25 μg melatonin at 17.00h for 4 weeks lead to a decrease in total erythrocyte count at 12.00 h, whereas a daily double injection of melatonin at 09.00 h and 17.00 h for two weeks resulted in either a significant decrease in total red blood cells (RBCs) count when the samples were collected at 06.00 h and 24.00 h or a significant increase in RBCs count, when the samples were collected at 18.00 h
3.1.1 Erythrocyte count (RBCs count). It appears from table (1) that treatment of broiler chicks with melatonin (20, 30 and 40 mg /kg feed, respectively) for 5 successive weeks induced a significant increase (P
Summary
Melatonin has been reported to play a fundamental role in the biology of all cells (Reiter and Robinson, 1995). The erythrocyte indices (mean cell volume MCV, mean cell hemoglobin MCH and mean cell hemoglobin concentration MCHC) in both experiments were found to be correlated with RBCs. Karimungi et al (1996) added that melatonin treatment either once daily (25 μg) at 17.00 h or twice daily at 9.00 and 17.00 hrs for two weeks induced a decrease in the RBCs count of rats and the erythrocyte indices (MCV, MCH and MCHC) were correlated with the RBCs count. On the contrary Anwar et al (1998) reported that I/P injection of rats with melatonin at a dose of 100 μg simultaneously with aracytin (cytotoxic drug) for 10 days lead to a significant increase in RBCs count and could counteract the aracytin – induced decrease in RBCs count
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