Abstract
<i>Haemonchus contortus</i> (<i>H. contortus</i>) parasite causes various functional derangements in the host body. This experimental study was established to appraise the remedial effect of <i>Balanites aegyptiaca</i> fruit’s ethanolic extract (BAF-EE) on experimentally induced haemonchosis in goats. Blood serum biochemical parameters and pathological changes were perused. Twelve male goats were randomly divided into 4 equal groups, G1 (infected-untreated), G2 (infected- BAF-EE treated), G3 (infected-albendazole treated) and G4 (uninfected-BAF-EE treated). Experimental infection was conducted with a single oral dose of 10x<sup>3</sup> infective third larval stage (L3) of <i>H. contortus</i> at 0-time, whereas treatment with BAF-EE and albendazole was given at a single oral dose of 9g and 5mg/kg body wieght respectively in the 5<sup>th</sup> week post infection (PI). Blood samples were drawn on zero time, 3<sup>rd</sup> week PI and then biweekly till the 9<sup>th</sup> week for serum biochemical analyses. At the end of the experiment, all animals were slaughtered to estimate histopathological alterations in the abomasal and hepatic tissues. Serum biochemistry of infected animals showed significant depression of total serum protein (TP), albumin, albumin/globulin (A/G) ratio, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and calcium (Ca) levels compared to uninfected goats. Significant elevation was observed in values of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (γGT), cholesterol, urea and creatinine of infected animals, while no significant differences were recorded in levels of inorganic phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sodium (Na), chloride (Cl) and total iron binding capacity (TIBC). Histopathological studies conducted on abomasa of infected-untreated animals revealed inflammation, necrosis, petechial hemorrhages and intense cellular infiltration. Liver showed bile duct hyperplasia, degeneration of hepatocytes and cell infiltration. Histopathological alterations in tissues of infected – treated animals were lower in intensity than those of infected-untreated goats. Results of the present experiment demonstrated that BAF-EE has an anti-parasitic and hepatoprotective effects as well as it improves serum biochemical alterations and oxidative stress in goats infected with <i>H. contortus </i>parasite. The present findings nominate the use of this plant as a novel safe natural anthelmintic agent.
Highlights
Infection of small ruminants with H. contortus parasite has detrimental effect on their well-being, causing anaemia, loss of body weight and productivity [4] and may cause death due to haemorrhages in the gastrointestinal tract of the animal [53]
Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile is a species of a tree, belonging to the family Balanitaceae, which has compound leaves, greenish yellow flowers, and brown or pale brown fruit known as desert date [16]
Microtomy was performed by rotatory microtome (Baired and Totlock, England), and sections of 5 microns thickness were prepared and stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)
Summary
Infection of small ruminants (sheep and goats) with H. contortus parasite has detrimental effect on their well-being, causing anaemia, loss of body weight and productivity [4] and may cause death due to haemorrhages in the gastrointestinal tract of the animal [53]. The parasite induces decreased appetite and digestibility of food as well as diversion of nutrients from production sites toward the repair of tissue-damage, which lead to disturbances in the hematological, blood biochemical and antioxidant parameters of the host [3, 12, 15, 37, 55]. When inhabiting the abomasum of sheep and goats, the parasite mainly affects the abomasal mucosa, consuming blood of the host and causing pathological alterations such as hyperplasia of the abomasal epithelium, edema of the mucosa and submucosa, hemorrhages, elevated abomasal pH and necrosis of different parts of the abomasum [6, 7]. Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile is a species of a tree, belonging to the family Balanitaceae, which has compound leaves, greenish yellow flowers, and brown or pale brown fruit known as desert date [16]. Numerous studies reported that B. aegyptiaca contains wide variety of compounds, which show a wide range of biological and pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic and cytotoxic activities [3, 16, 21, 36, 44]
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