engleski

The influences of immune modulation with levamisole and polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene copolymers on the immunohematological, serum biochemical parameters and intestinal histocytomorphology of weaned pigs

The objectives of this study were to investigate whether or not the synthetic compounds, levamisole (LEVA) and polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene (POE-POP) copolymers, well-known to act as immunomodulators (IMs) in swine, may positively influence the cellular and humoral immune parameters of weaned pigs, without negatively affecting their hematological (HE), serum biochemistry (SB) and gut histocytological (HC) homeostasis. The pigs from a commercial swine farm were weaned at 26 days of age, randomly divided into 3 groups comprising 20 animals each, and kept in separate pens within the same rearing facility. At the age of 28 days (Day 0 of the experiment), the pigs were treated as follows: (1) control pigs perorally (p.o.) received 10 mL of saline, and the principals were p.o. treated with a single dose of 10 mL of either: (2) LEVA with 2.5 mg/kg body weight of the anthelmintic drug or (3) POE-POP with 2.5 mg/mL of the copolymer preparation. The experiment was conducted over 35 days, and 7 pigs per group were sampled for peripheral blood at 7 day intervals, starting at Day 0 before the treatments for immunohematology and SB analyses. At either Day 0 or Day 35 of the experiment 5 pigs per group were euthanatized and sampled for gut HC. The POE-POPtreated pigs had increased proportions of lymphocytes (P<0.05) at Day 35. These pigs had higher levels of total serum immunoglobulins (P<0.05) at Day 14. The LEVA-treated pigs had decreased proportions of lymphocytes (P<0.05) at Day 14, although their total leukocyte count was similar to that recorded in the controls. None of the tested IMs affected the values of HE parameters, indicating that they did not cause any harmful side effects during the observation period of 5 weeks following the treatments. Minor oscillations in SB parameters were observed, but their values were within the normal range for swine and in accordance with the ages of the pigs. The HC features of gut mucosa in the pigs from the principal groups showed very mild damage and were quite normal for farm pigs exposed to natural infections, indicating that the tested IMs did not induce any additional HC changes. The obtained results imply that immunomodulating treatment with tested IMs was not associated with any adverse effects on the monitored HE, SB and gut HC parameters, and thus, does not suggest any putative impairment in the general health status of weaned pigs throughout the experimental period.

immunemodulation; levamisole; copolymers polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene; hematology; serum biochemistry; gut histocytology; homeostasis; pigs

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