Comparative Efficacy of Silymarin and Choline Chloride (Liver Tonics) in Preventing the Effects of Aflatoxin B1 in Bovine Calves

Abstract

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus spp. which are injurious to animals and humans The aim of this study was to determine the effects of aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) on Average Daily Feed Intake (ADFI), Average Daily Weight Gain (ADWG), haematological and serum biochemical responses of Bovine Calves and to determine the comparative efficacy of two different liver tonics against AFB 1 . Twenty seven calves were selected from herd and divided into 3 groups. All calves were fed with 1.0 mg/kg AFB 1 for a period of 10 days. After that they were fed with liver tonics: Silymarin fed at a rate of 600 mg/kg and Choline chloride 500 mg/kg for 7 days. The results indicate that the ADFI and ADWG of AFB 1 treated calves decreased significantly. Serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine significantly increased due to AFB 1 . In haematology the total erythrocyte count (TEC), total leukocyte count (TLC), haemoglobin concentration (HGB), haematocrit levels (HCT), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), lymphocyte %, neutrophil % and monocyte % significantly decreased in AFB 1 treated calves after 10 days of feeding. Both liver tonics significantly (p<0.05) improved all the parameters, including ADFI, ADWG, hematologial and serum biochemical test. However, Silymarin comparatively more efficiently ameliorate the effects induced by AFB 1 than choline chloride.

In Silico and In Vitro Studies of Mycotoxins and Their Cocktails; Their Toxicity and Its Mitigation by Silibinin Pre-Treatment

“…According to Naseer et al [38], silymarin showed better results compared to choline chloride (liver tonics) in lowering the AFB1-induced serum aminotransferase, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen. Silibinin has received much attention, but the negation of mycotoxins toxicity by silibinin has only been achieved on primary rat hepatocytes, isolated rat Kupffer cells, calves, and mice [37,38,[40][41][42].…”

“…Silibinin, a major pharmacologically active compound, is a mixture of silybin A and silybin B. The studies of hepatoprotective effect of silymarin against fumonisin B1 (FB1) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) were performed in mice and bovine calves [37,38]. The FB1-induced hepatocyte damage was significantly diminished by the silymarin treatment.…”

Exogenous factors affecting growth of Aspergillus species

“…Aspergillus growth reduces the nutritional value of feed stuff by producing aflatoxin and allergenic spores (Naseer et al, 2016a(Naseer et al, , 2017b. In 1729, Antonio Micheli named genus Aspergillus for the first time and developed a major science, i.e.…”

Efficacy of b-glucans and manna oligosaccharides (Yeast Cell Wall) and hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate (HSCAS) in preventing aflatoxicosis in bovine calves

“…Aflatoxins are the most toxic mycotoxins, produced by Aspergillus spp. (Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus) (Naseer et al, 2016;Hassan et al, 2015). Aflatoxicosis refers to the syndromes because of ingestion, skin contact or inhalation of fungal metabolites (Murugesan et al, 2015), leading to economic losses due to curtailed growth of young animals, reduce feed intake, abnormal nutrient absorption and metabolism (Storm et al, 2014).…”