Investigation of oxidative stress profile and pathomorphology of lungs in goats sick of pneumonia-enteritis complex

Abstract

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), which causes pneumonia-enteritis complex, is an acute, highly contagious disease causing immunosuppression and high mortality in sheep and goats. Epidemiology, clinical signs and pathologic findings of the disease have been studied, but information on the oxidative stress profile is scanty. This study investigated the oxidative stress profile and the pulmonary histopathology of PPR infected goats. Twenty male goats were used for this study. The unvaccinated goats were naturally exposed to PPR according to environmental and animal market conditions consistent with routine PPR virus exposure in endemic areas. Following confirmation of PPR in the goats, their blood and serum samples were collected and evaluated for biomarkers of oxidative stress such as superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde and catalase, while the neutrophil: lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and serum electrolytes were used to assess physiologic stress. Four goats were euthanized before onset of the clinical signs and every three days following clinical manifestations. Severity of histopathology observed in the lungs were scored and used to categorize the goats into four groups as; normal, mild, moderate and severe. Results showed that oxidative stress increased in PPR affected goats from moderate and severe pulmonary lesions as the disease progressed. On the basis of pulmonary histopathology, malondialdehyde was a better indicator of oxidative damage than superoxide dismutase and catalase. The study also indicated that NLR and Ca:P are reliable indicators of generalised physiologic stress in goats naturally affected by PPR