Vet World   Vol.13   May-2020  Article-14

Biochemical and immunological investigation of fascioliasis in cattle in Egypt

Background and Aim: Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica are two commonly reported liver flukes that cause fascioliasis in ruminants. Among the members of the genus Fasciola, F. hepatica was identified in the study area. Fascioliasis is a major disease that affects the production of livestock by causing liver damage. F. hepatica has developed advanced mechanisms to trick, elude, and alter the host immune response, similar to an extrinsic stressor. These mechanisms consequently affect the animals' physiological and metabolic functions in vivo and postmortem changes, which have significant influences on animal welfare and meat quality development. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the current prevalence of cattle fascioliasis at abattoirs in El-Kharga city, New Valley Governorate, Egypt, and to investigate the changes in serum biochemical and immunological parameters and oxidative stress factors due to Fasciola spp. infection in terms of meat quality and immune response.

Materials and Methods: A total of 226 cattle were inspected for the presence of Fasciola spp. The liver of each cattle was examined by making several incisions for detecting adult Fasciola spp. in El- Kharga . The blood samples were collected to analyze the changes in serum biochemical and immunological parameters and oxidative stress factors.

Results: Of the 226 cattle, 38 (16.81%) were positive for F. hepatica at the postmortem examination. Cattle infected with F. hepatica had highly elevated serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, glutamate dehydrogenase, γ-glutamyl transferase, urea, and creatinine levels. Immunological cytokine profiles showed significantly increased serum interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, and transforming growth factor-beta levels and a significantly decreased interferon-γ level. Furthermore, oxidative stress profiles showed significantly increased serum malondialdehyde and nitric oxide levels and significantly decreased total antioxidant capacity and reduced glutathione level.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that F. hepatica infection alone is an oxidative stress factor that affects slaughtered animals, leading to biochemical and metabolic alterations in the early postmortem period. Keywords: cattle, Fasciola hepatica, fascioliasis, immune and biochemical response, liver damage.

Keywords: cattle, Fasciola hepatica, fascioliasis, immune and biochemical response, liver damage.

How to cite this article: Nasreldin N, Zaki RS (2020) Biochemical and immunological investigation of fascioliasis in cattle in Egypt, Veterinary World, 13(5): 923-930.

Received: 15-01-2020  Accepted: 13-04-2020     Published online: 18-05-2020

Corresponding author: Rania Samir Zaki   E-mail: raniasamir5555@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.923-930

Copyright: Nasreldin and Zaki, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.