THIS STUDY aimed to determine the changes in the hormonal and biochemical profile of pregnant dromedary camels to provide a baseline data under Egyptian climatic conditions. Blood samples were collected from15 pregnant she-camels aged 8-11 years old just postconception and thereafter monthly during gestation period and during periparturient period (at days 15, 7,4and 1prepartum,at parturition and at days 1, 4, 7 and 15 postpartum).Progesterone level increased significantly (P<0.05) after conception and during the1 st and the 2 nd trimester of pregnancy then declined significantly (P<0.05) during the 3 rd trimester. Meanwhile its level decreased significantly (P<0.05) during periparturient period. Cortisol level significantly (P<0.05) increased at the 3 rd trimester and continued increasing significantly during prepartum period with a maximum level on the day of parturition after that it was markedly decreased during the few days postpartum to day 15 postpartum. Thyroid hormones levels were significant (P<0.05) decreased in their levels from early to late gestation then increased significantly (P<0.05) from day of parturition to day 15 postpartum. Total protein and albumin were significantly low (P<0.05) in the 2 nd and the 3 rd trimesters than the first one with no significance alterations in globulin levels. Total antioxidant, glutathione and ascorbic acid levels were lower in the 3 rd trimester than others, whereas the levels were relatively low in prepartum than 15 days postpartum. Malondialdehyde concentration was significantly increased (P<0.05) during late pregnancy period as a result of the physiological stress of pregnancy
The effect of experimental Trypanosoma congolense (T. congolense) infection on serum concentrations of lipids in donkeys was investigated. To establish the infection, four apparently healthy pack donkeys were, each, intravenously inoculated with blood (1 ml) from an infected donor donkey containing 1 x 10 6 T. congolense organisms. Following this, 5 ml of blood was collected from each of the experimental animals, starting from day zero and then every other day throughout the experimental period and used for haematological and serum biochemical analyses. Levels of triglyceride, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDLcholesterol) and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol) in the serum were measured over a 28-day experimental period, using commercial test kits. The infection with T. congolense caused significant (P<0.05) decreases in serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in the experimental animals. Decreases were also observed in the serum concentrations of triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol but were not significant (P>0.05). With the indispensable roles of lipids as integral parts of cell membrane structures and in other metabolic processes in the mammalian hosts, it could be inferred that T. congolense infection-induced alterations in serum concentrations of lipids might be contributory pathophysiological mechanisms of some of the reported disorders in trypanosome-infected animals.
Pregnant Agamy does were used in this experiment to evaluate the effects of Vitamin C (Vit C) supplementation as antioxidant agent to improve the performance of dairy goats during the evidence of oxidative stress (OS) in peri-parturient period. The does under experiment (n = 16) were assigned randomly into control and supplemented groups (n = 8 / group). The control group fed control diet without supplement and the supplemented group fed control diet plus Vit C 75mg/kg of body weight. Dietary supplementation began approximately one month before the expected kidding date till two months post-kidding. Compared to the control does, it was noticed that Vit C supplementation significantly increased (P<0.05) the conception rate (62.5 % vs. 25 %), the weaning weight (WW) (7.21 vs. 5.00 kg) as well as the average daily gain rate (DGR) (53.94 vs. 34.85 g/d) in the kids of the Vit C supplemented group. Vit C supplementation significantly (P<0.05) increased serum level of T 3 from day 45 to day 60 and of T 4 from day 30 to day 60 postkidding. Meanwhile, serum cortisol level was significantly decreased (P<0.05) from day 30 to day 60 post-kidding in the Vit C supplemented group. Also, there was a significant increase (P<0.05) in serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) from day 15 post-kidding and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) from day 30 post-kidding till the end of the experiment in the Vit C supplemented group as compared with the control one. Meanwhile, there was a significantly decrease (P<0.05) in serum Malondialdehyde (MDA) level from day 45 post-kidding and nitric oxide (NO) level from day 15 post-kidding till the end of the experiment. Concerning the effect of Vit C supplementation on milk quality, it was found that Vit C supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved most of milk components especially fat, lactose, milk urea level (MUL), total solids (TS) and solid not fat (SNF); meanwhile there was a non-significant increase in protein % all over the experiment period. Moreover, both somatic cell counts (SCC) and the infection rates represented by the total bacterial count (TBC) were significantly (P<0.05) decreased in the Vit C supplemented group when compared with the control one. It was concluded that Vit C supplementation in dairy does around the peri-parturient period can improve the unfavorable effects of OS; this reflected on their milk quality and post-kidding conception rate and enhancement of growth rate as well as weaning weight of their kids.
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