IMMUNOMODULATING PROPERTIES OF CALENDULA OFFICINALIS AND ECHINACEA ANGUSTIFOLIA EXTRACTIONS IN VIRAL ANTIGEN PRIMED HENS

A number of immunomodulatory effects have been attributed to the medicinal plants Calendula officinalis and Echinacea angustifolia; however, little is known about whether treatment with these plants can enhance antigen-specific immunity. The experiment was carried out on 28 Leghorn hens, divided into four equal groups (n=7), subjected each, for seven days, to a differentiated treatment, starting on day 0 and using the same pattern as follows: group I was injected with an alcoholic Calendula officinalis extraction; group II – with an alcoholic Echinacea angustifolia extraction; group III, a control for the extractions – with 70º alcohol and group IV, control with saline (0.5 ml/bird/day). On days 0 and 7 the birds were subcutaneously primed with Newcastle disease vaccine. Blood samples were taken from the wing vein, on days 0, 7 and 14 and anti Newcastle disease antibodies were quantified by haemagglutination inhibition test Natural logarithms (ln) of the antibody titers were calculated and statistically interpreted. The C. officinalis extraction induced a gradually increasing specific humoral activity, persistent after the stimulation, during both primary and booster vaccination while the Echinacea extraction induces an increase during the first phase, but the stimulating effect was not persistent. The active principles in the Calendula extraction positively influenced the anti-Newcastle antibody titers, without attaining the values in the control groups. Injecting the birds with the Echinaceea extraction seems to negatively influence the antibody synthesis, especially during the primary respons

INVESTIGATIONS CONCERNING VEGETAL EXTRACTIONS’ EFFECTS ON SPECIFIC CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNITY IN CHICKENS

Several experiments aimed to establish the action mode of various plants on T lymphocytes (Saul F.A. et al., 2000), monitoring the mitogenic activity or interleukine synthesis (Le Moal M.A. et all., 1992). A comparison between the effects of orraly administered (0.5 ml/day/bird) alcoholic Calendula officinalis and Echinacea angustifolia extractions in immunologically mature (47 days or 77 weeks old) chickens (n=7 bird/batch) on blast transformation capacity, showed that in 47 days old birds the most efficient proved to be that of Echinacea purpurea, followed by that of Echinacea angustifolia and of Symphytum officinale

ALTERATIONS OF THE CELL-MEDIATED IMMUNE RESPONSE INDUCED BY EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA VIRUS

Equine infectious anemia (EIA) represents an economically important viral disease with a strong autoimmune component and with and severe epidemiological consequences for equine medicine (1). The phagocytic function represents one of the important aspects of the innate immunity, while the blast transformation is a measure of the specific cell-mediated reactivity

DRUG INDUCED STRESS CAUSES CHANGES IN CELL-MEDIATED NON-SPECIFIC AND SPECIFIC IMMUNE REACTIVITY

Stress-induced alterations represent a most actual problem in veterinary medicine, where improper technological conditions are more and more frequent under intensive and meanwhile more and more artificialized breeding/exploitation of the domestic birds and mammals, (Mizoguchi Y. et al., 1987; Muntean S., 1990; Schulz V. et al., 1998; Zarnea G., 1990) that negatively influence the results of vaccinations

VEGETAL EXTRACTIONS INDUCED, AGE DEPENDENT CHANGES IN CELL-MEDIATED NON-SPECIFIC IMMUNE REACTIVITY

The evaluation of adjuvant capacities of active principles from Echinacea angustifolia, a cultivated medicinal plant, renown (Percival S.S., 2000; South E.H., Exon J.H., 2001) for its immune activity was done in comparison with that of a similar, alcoholic extraction of Calendula officinalis, a plant widespread in Romania, but less studied as an immune stimulant (Della Logia R. et al., 1994). A comparison between the effects of sc injected (0.5 ml/day/bird) alcoholic Calendula officinalis and Echinacea angustifolia extractions in immunologically immature (19 days old) and mature (47 days and 77 weeks old) chickens (n=7 bird/batch) on total leukocyte numbers and phagocytosis, showed that in 47 days old birds the total leukocyte numbers were lower than in 19 days old birds, in all corresponding batches. In young injected birds, both Calendula and Echinacea extractions were inhibiting on total leukocyte numbers, compared to the solvent control. Meanwhile, in older birds, Calendula was indifferent and Echinacea acted in a stimulating way

AN AGE-RELATED VARIATION OF IMMUNE GLOBULINS’ AND CIRCULATING IMMUNE COMPLEXES’ LEVELS IN VEGETAL EXTRACTIONS TREATED CHICKENS

Generation of immune globulins and immune complexes (CIC) is being essential for protection against infectious agents. The experiment aimed establish the age-related influence exerted by alcoholic Calendula officinalis and Echinacea angustifolia extractions on total immune globulins and CIC concentrations of antigen primed chickens. A comparison between Calendula officinalis and Echinacea angustifolia alcoholic extractions in three age categories (19, 47 days and 77 week old) of chickens led to the conclusion that the dynamics of total Ig and CIC concentrations were subjected to an age dependent, treatment induced variation. Calendula officinalis extraction proved to be more beneficial that the Echinacea anguctifolia one

INDICATORS OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN HORSES INFECTED WITH EQUINE ANEMIA VIRUS

Assessing the activity of the main antioxidant enzymes – superoxid-dismutase (SOD), cathalase and the general peroxidaze activity - in parallel with the lipidic oxidative level and the concentration of the total blood lipids, the goal was to establish the presence or the absence of the oxidative stress at cellular level, because of the viral infection in the affected animals. Blood samples were collected from the investigated horses (n=16) to assess the activity of the cathalase, peroxidase and superoxid-dismutase. These were compared with the lipidic oxidative level and the concentration of the total blood lipids. Based on the obtained results it can be sustained that the enzymatic activity of– superoxid-dismutase (SOD) markedly decreases in the animals with anemia compared to the healthy ones, while the cathalase activity decreses in the limits of normality in these animals. The decrease of the antioxidant enzyme level leads to the increase of the superoxide anion radicals and of the hydrogen peroxide (SRO) respectively of the products resulted trough the oxidative degradation of the lipids, proteins and nucleic acids in the analyzed pathological samples, leading to a persistent pro-oxidant state, at cellular level, promoting the settling of the oxidative stress. The changes of the oxidative metabolism are able to induce changes in the immune reactivity, reducing the in vitro blast transforming activity and the mytogenic response, activity that could be reset using antioxidant vegetal extracts

IMMUNOLOGICAL CHANGES CORRELATED WITH OXIDATIVE STRESS IN EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA

Equine infectious anemia (EIA) can be considered nowadays one of the most important and difficult to control infectious disease of horses, due to its high morbidity, mortality and transmission rate. Sixteen adult, both positive (n=8) and negative (n=8) horses, from private farms located in Cluj county, were investigated in order to correlate the immunological and oxidative stress changes induced by the infection. Blood samples were taken on heparine for the immunological tests and without a clott preventing agent for the ser

SYSTEMIC IMMUNE PROTECTIVE CAPACITY IN RELATION TO THE BACTERIAL LOAD OF THE UDDER IN BOVINE MASTITIS

Mastitis is one of the most important bovine diseases causing economic losses to dairy producers and it is a consequence of the activity of various internal factors that cooperate to destroy the invading microorganisms. The local immune response during the bacterial infection is fundamental in effectively designing therapies and control measures to help eradicate bovine mastitis (Oviedo-Boyso et all., 2007). Many studies have examined the intramammary neutrophil, lymphocyte, and monocyte function by in vitro “testing”, but a gap still persists in relating the local, innate and adaptive immune function to the systemic process of immune defense of the mastitic animals. The study aimed to establish a connection between non-specific (phagocytosis, total Ig, circulating immune complexes) and specific (lymphocytes) effectors involved in the overall immune protection of the intensively farmed animals, diagnosed with various degrees of clinical mastitis, and the species of bacteria involved in inducing the disease, as well as to investigate the therapeutic potential of several vegetal extracts. The microbiological results indicated a dominance of staphylococci, but did not exclude Gram-negative bacteria, suggesting the endemic chatacter of the mastitis in the investigated unit. Clinical disease influenced the humoral immune effectors in a differentiated manner, significantly increasing the total Ig levels, but diminishing the CIC concentrations. Both phagocytosis and blast transformation capacity of mononuclear cells were diminished in diseased animals, indicating a poor cellular defence at systemic level, possibly due to the circulating staphylococcal enterotoxin. Only the Thymus vulgaris extract showed restoring capabilities in the blast transformation test, suggesting possibilities for its potential therapeutic us

A COMPARISON OF VIRAL INFECTION AND ANTIGEN PRIMING INDUCED CHANGES IN THE FIRST LINE OF CELLULAR DEFENCE IN DOGS

The most important canine viral infections are distemper and canine parvivirus 2 (Charmichel, 1999). The latest is a well known viral cause for leuokopenia while development of cell mediated immunity to canine distemper is dependant on age of the dog at the time of vaccination (Chalmers and Baxendale, 1994). Nevertheless, induction of immunomodulation and suppression is a common feature of canine distemper virus. The study aimed to monitor changes of total leucocytes and their subpopulations during natural cases of parvoviral disease (n=8) and distemper (n=6), in groups of animals diagnosed by Rapigen Parvo and Rapigen Distemper Ag Tests, versus double (group I) or triple (group II) vaccination with a mixed vaccine against distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus and parainfluenza. Blood samples were drawn once from the diseased puppies and on days 0, 14, 28, 35 following vaccinations from the healthy ones. Total leukocyte counts were done by Turk stain and subpopulations of leukocytes were estimated by Dia-Quick Panoptic test. Total leukocyte numbers were lowered in parvovirus infected puppies (8,719±1,542.96/mm3) compared to distemper positive animals (14,507±2,490.29/mm3), still higher than in vaccinated groups after 35 days following the first vaccination. The increasing number of vaccine doses negatively influenced the total leukocyte numbers (7,547.5±2,956.8/mm3 after two versus 5,994±732.93/mm3 after three vaccinations). Neutrophile:lymphocyte ratios were higher in distemper infected dogs (3.12) than in parvovirus infected ones (1.4). After two vaccinations, the ratio warried from 1.44 to 0.48, 0.96 and 1.32 by day 35, while in those subjected to three vaccinations the neutrophile:lymphocyte ratio indicated less stress (1.1, 1.74, 1.54 and 1.13). The results showed that in target animals for complex vaccination, the vaccine acted as a stressing agent, inducing drastic changes in total leukocyte numbers and neutrophile:lymphocyte ratios, more pronounced than during the clinical disease, underlining the importance of checks of the immunological profile of the puppy before vaccination and restricting the number of vaccinations to fit the infectious pressure