Protective Effects of Sugar Cane Extracts (SCE) on Eimeria tenella Infection in Chickens

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The effects of oral administration of sugar cane extracts (SCE) on Eimeria tenella oocysts infection in chickens were studied with 2 different experiments. In Experiment 1, 3-week-old inbred chickens (MHC; H.B15) were inoculated into the crop with SCE (500 mg/kg/day) for 1 day or 3 consecutive days, and then challenged with E. tenella sporulated oocysts (2 × 10 4 cells/chicken). In Experiment 2, 1-week-old chickens were orally administered SCE at the same dose for 3 consecutive days, and then initially infected with E. tenella sporulated oocysts (2 × 10 3 cells/chicken). At 2 and 3 weeks of age, these chickens were immunized intravenously with the mixed antigens of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and Brucella abortus (BA). At 4 weeks of age, chickens were challenged with E. tenella sporulated oocysts (1 × 10 5 /chicken). Challenged chickens with E. tenella oocysts showed markedly decreased body weight gain/day, severe hemorrhage and great number of shedding oocysts in feces and high lesion scores. Oral administration of SCE and initial infection with oocysts (2 × 10 3 /chicken) resulted in a remarkable improvement in body weight gain/day, hemorrhage, the number of shedding oocysts and lesion score, compare to other infected groups. In addition, SCE-inoculated chickens with the initial infection showed a significant increase in antibody responses against SRBC and BA and also improvement in decreased relative proportions of + and CD4 cells in cecal tonsil lymphocytes of E. tenella-challenged chickens. Cecal tissues of chickens administered SCE and initially infected with E. tenella oocysts showed lower numbers of schizonts, gametocytes and oocysts than those of infected control chickens. These results suggest that SCE have immunostimulating and protective effects against E. tenella infection in chickens. KEY WORDS: Eimeria tenella, protective effect, sugar cane extract.

Effect of Sugar Cane Extract, Commercial Probiotic and their Mixture on Growth Performance and Intestinal Histology in Broiler Chickens

“…Alternatively, SCE has displayed a wide range of biological effects including immunostimulation (El-Abasy et al, 2002), antiinflammatory activity (Ledon et al, 2003), activity as a vaccine adjuvant (El-Abasy et al, 2003) and anti-stress effects (Brekhman et al, 1978). Studies on chickens indicate that SCE acts as an adjuvant and has a protective effect against Eimeria tenella infection (El- Abasy et al, 2003). Other effects of SCE including antibacterial activities and superoxide anion scavenging activity (Takara et al, 2002) have been reported.…”

“…These results suggest that protuberant cells indicate hypertrophy. As SCE induced growth-promoting (El-Abasy et al, 2002) and immunostimulatory effects (El-Abasy et al, 2003) and the probiotics could inhibit adhesion of pathogens to the chicken intestinal wall (Jin et al, 1996) by binding to intestinal mucus (Bernet et al, 1994), the observed protuberant cells may indicate hypertrophy as a result of feeding SCE or SPB. This corresponds with the fact that the SCE + SPB group showed the most conspicuously rough surface on the duodenal villus apical surface and that duodenal cell mitosis numbers were the highest in the SCE + SPB group.…”

“…Another health-enhancing compound as a feed additive is Sugar Cane Extract (SCE). The main component of SCE is nitrogen-free extract (46.5%) and dietary SCE stimulates the immune system against E. tenella infection (El-Abasy et al, 2003) and has growth promoting effects (El-Abasy et al, 2002) by activating intestinal functions (Yamauchi et al, 2006) in chickens.…”

Effects of Sugar Cane Extract on the Modulation of Immunity in Pigs

“…In the chicken model, a dose of SCE between 500 and 1,500 mg/kg of body weight produces adjuvant and phylactic effects against viral, bacterial, and protozoal infections [6][7][8]. Decreasing the dose of SCE may reduce the protective effect against infections.…”

“…Other studies have indicated SCE can enhance resistance to secondary bacterial infection [1,19]. Studies on chickens indicate that SCE has an adjuvant effect on the activation of antibody and cell-mediated immune responses and provides a protective effect against Eimeria tenella infection [6]. These results suggest that SCE may positively regulate host natural immunity against viral, bacterial, and protozoal infections, via effects on the levels of macrophages, neutrophils and natural killer (NK) cells.…”