Biochemical, endocrine, and histopathological profile of liver and kidneys of sheep with pregnancy toxemia

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to characterize the biochemical, hormonal, and mineral profile, and histopathology of the liver and kidneys, related to the severity of natural cases of pregnancy toxemia (PT) in sheep. A total of 45 sheep with PT were analyzed at the “Clínica de Bovinos”, Campus Garanhuns-UFRPE. The animals were submitted to clinical examination, followed by the collection of blood and urine. A necropsy was performed on thirteen animals that died and a histopathological examination was performed on samples of liver and kidneys. Increased creatinine, urea, glucose, fructosamine, non-esterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate, cortisol, chlorine, amylase, aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and folic acid were found, whereas insulin, potassium, and total and ionizable calcium presented low values for the species. Total protein, albumin, globulin, sodium, magnesium, and vitamin B12 remained within the normal range. In the macroscopic analysis of the liver, it was possible to observe an increase in organ and border size, yellowish coloration and parenchyma that varied from firm to friable. Vacuolation of the hepatocytes and renal tubular cells was observed. Metabolic disorders in sheep associated with hepatic and renal lesions are more apparent in overweight animals. With the greater impairment in hepatic and renal function, the clinical prognosis of animals with a high body score should be considered reserved.

Endocrine-metabolic Adaptations in Dorper Ewes: Comparison Between Single and Twin Pregnancies During Gestation, Delivery, and Postpartum

“…In dairy cows, insulin concentration decreases at the late gestation and early lactation stages, with acute peaks at calving (Vernon et al 2005;Oikawa and Oetzel 2006). In goats, lower insulin levels were observed in PT (Hefnawy et al 2011;Souto et al 2013), which was also shown by Henze et al (2008), Santos et al (2011), Duehlmeier et al (2013), and Souto et al (2019 in sheep. This condition was justi ed by Schmitt et al (2012), who reported higher peripheral tissue resistance to insulin in sheep during the third gestation stage.…”

Body condition score at lambing and performance of Santa Inês ewes with an offspring during lactation

“…Creatinine is generally used to monitor kidney function because when there is serious kidney damage (causing a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate), creatinine levels are above the normal physiological values. Souto et al (2019) reported that high creatinine values could be observed in ewes with pregnancy toxemia, therefore, ewes with renal impairment. However, this is more likely to occur in ewes with a high body condition score.…”

Advances in managing pregnancy toxaemia in sheep

“…Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) administration has been advocated by Andrews (1997) and Rook (2000), as it is involved in gluconeogenesis. However, levels of vitamin B12 have been found to be normal in ewes affected by OPT (Souto and others 2019) and the administration of a combination of butaphosphan and cyanocobalamin to pregnant ewes not suffering from OPT did not have a significant effect on BHB or NEFA levels compared to controls, although insulin levels were significantly lower in treated sheep (Temizel and others 2015).…”

“…Progressive hypoglycaemia usually occurs in cases of OPT but blood glucose levels can vary (Sargison 2007, Souto and others 2019) and do not correlate well with either severity of clinical signs or prognosis (Sargison 2007). Normoglycaemia does not exclude OPT, and often occurs following fetal death, and so is associated with a poorer prognosis (Sargison 2007, Souto and others 2019).…”

“…It is reported that approximately 20 per cent of ewes that suffer from OPT also have hypocalcaemia (Andrews 1997, Rook 2000, Sargison 2007, Souto and others 2019), and so the administration of calcium borogluconate by intravenous or subcutaneous injection would be indicated. There is some evidence that hypocalcaemia impairs glucose metabolism, more so in cases with concurrent hyperketonaemia (Schlumbohm and Harmeyer 2003).…”