Eritrograma e estresse oxidativo em cordeiros anêmicos tratados com ferro dextrano

Abstract

With the sharp increase on the demand for lamb meat, Brazilian sheep industry has experienced an unprecedented growth on the national flock. Among the limiting factors in sheep production anemia due to worm infection is a major cause of losses. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the oxidative status and the red blood cell profile in lambs with bleeding induced anemia, supplemented or not with dextran iron. Ten 5 to 7 month-old ram lambs were used. Day zero was defined when each experimental animal attained 15% packed cell volume after successive bleedings. Animals were then allocated into 2 experimental groups: Treated group which received a single injection of dextran iron (25 mg/kg i.m.) and Control animals that received no treatment. Blood samples were collected on days zero, 7, 14 and 21. At days 7 and 21 there was an increase in the tiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) in treated animals. The same group presented reduced levels of non-protein Thiol groups (NPTH) at days 7, 14 and 21. At day 7 osmotic fragility of red blood cells was increased in control animals as compared to the treated group. Red blood cell profile recovered faster in treated than control animals. In conclusion, iron supplementation eventhough inducing oxidative stress accelerated the recovery of hematological profile. The results can suggest the use of iron injections in conjunction with wormers in the treatment of haemonchus infections