Serum Haptoglobin Concentration to Monitor Recovery from Postpartum Sub-Clinical Endometritis in Murrah Buffaloes

Abstract

A total of 150 postpartum apparently healthy buffaloes were screened. Out of these 30 buffaloes were found to be positive for sub-clinical endometritis were selected and divided into five groups. The group wise treatment allotted were: Group I (cloprostenol,), Group II (cloprostenol + benzathine cephapirin, single I/U infusion), Group III (100 ig E. coli LPS, single I/U infusion), Group IV (500 mg Oyster glycogen, single I/U infusion) and Group V (0.25% Lugol's iodine 20 ml, single I/U infusion). All the animals were subjected to trans-rectal ultrasonography, endometrial cytology, microbial assay and blood sampling for serum haptoglobin concentration before and after treatment. Total viable bacteria count revealed non-significant (p > 0.05) difference within pre-and post-treatment samples between different treatment groups. Post-treatment total viable bacteria count significantly (p < 0.05) reduced to zero in treatment groups III and IV. Out of 30 pre-treatment uterine lavage samples obtained from all the treatment groups, 25 (83.33%) samples were found positive. E. coli 08 (30.76%) was highly prevalent followed by 07 (26.92%) Staphylococcus spp., 03 (11.53%) Streptococcus spp., 03 (11.53%) Proteus spp., 03 (11.53%) Acinetobacter spp. and 01 (07.69%) Bacillus spp. Serum haptoglobin concentration in different treatment groups ranged from 76.62 ± 1.58 to 85.83 ± 2.12 ig/ml prior to treatment and 26.37 ± 0.86 to 42.57 ± 9.08 ig/ml post-treatment. Significant reduction (p < 0.05) was observed in haptoglobin concentration between pre-and post-treatment values in all the treatment groups. It was concluded that assessment of haptoglobin concentration in sub-clinical endometritic postpartum buffaloes can be used to monitor course of treatment at different points of time.