Hemato-Biochemical studies on Egyptian Buffaloes and Calves naturally infected with Foot and Mouth Disease Virus serotype SAT 2

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease of all cloven footed domestic and wild animals. This work was planned to study the different markers for diagnosis of FMDV serotype Sat2 in adult buffaloes and calves including clinical, hematological and biochemical examinations. A total number of sixty animals were divided into four groups. The first group was apparently healthy adult buffaloes, while the second was naturally infected adult buffaloes, a third group was apparently healthy suckling calves and finally the fourth group was naturally infected suckling calves. The recorded clinical signs were fever, salivation, loss of appetite, depression, lameness, blisters or vesicles, erosions and ulcers in the mucosa of the mouth, tongue, lips, gums, pharynx, palate and between the claws. Anemia, leucopenia, lymphopenia and monocytopenia were recorded in infected adult buffaloes and calves. Myocardial injury proved by presence of degenerated myocardial fibers and lymphocyte cell infiltration with a significant increase in cardiac markers like cardiac torponin I, CPK and LDH in addition to a significant hyperkalemia, hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesemia in buffaloe calves. Moreover, electrophoresis showed hyoproteinemia, hypoalbuminemia and hypoglobulinemia in infected animals. It could be concluded that the elevation of cardiac markers emphasized that FMD is more severe in young calves than adult animals. Therefore, it is recommended to evaluate the prognosis of FMD infection in calves by these markers

Biochemical and pathological studies on the effects of levamisole and chlorambucil on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma-bearing mice

Clinicopathological studies on the effects of combining immunostimulant drugs (levamisole) with anti-cancer drugs (chlorambucil) revealed the enhancement of the latter against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma-bearing mice and resulted in a reduction in the size of tumour. An evaluation of liver and kidney functions showed a significant increase of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST) and creatinine in all groups. Histopathological studies of one group that received an intraperitoneal injection of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells (2.5 × 106) showed that hepatic parenchyma revealed degenerative changes. The portal area was oedematous and showed rounded cell aggregations. Cell death within hypertrophied Kupper cells was observed in some hepatic cells. The neoplastic emboli could be seen either inside blood vessels or hepatic sinusoids, while another group which had been treated orally with a combination of Leukeran™ (0.2 mg/kg body weight) and levamisole (5 mg/kg body weight) revealed that hepatic parenchyma revealed massive necrosis with proliferative bile duct epithelium. No neoplastic cells were observed without the hepatic parenchyma, while the renal cortex presented a large number of lymphocytes and plasma cells forming bands or aggregates, mainly around the blood vessels. It was concluded that the addition of levamisole to chlorambucil improved the anti-cancer effect of chlorambucil against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. However, it had adverse effects on the liver and kidneys as shown by liver and kidney function tests and confirmed by histopathology

Anti-tumour effects of Egyptian propolis on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma

A total of 150 female Swiss mice were used to study the ability of water soluble propolis derivatives (WSPD) of Egyptian propolis to inhibit the proliferation and growth of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells in mice. The mice were divided equally into three groups: the first was kept as a negative control group, the second received an intraperitoneal injection of 2.5 × 10(6) EAC and was kept as a positive control group and the third an intraperitoneal injection of 2.5 × 10(6) EAC and treated with propolis (50 mg/kg body weight) administered by gastric intubations 2 h prior to the intraperitoneal injection of EAC. The propolis was administered daily for 11 successive days. An examination of EAC cells revealed a reduction in the volume, total cell count, viable percentage and increase in the percentage of dead cells in the treated group with an increasing mean survival time (MST), increasing life span (ILS) percentage and treated vs positive control (T/C) percentage. Immunological studies revealed a significant increase in the lymphocyte transformation rate (LTR), phagocytic activity and killing power in the group treated with propolis. A haematological study of the parameters revealed leucocytosis in cancer-bearing mice and propolis-treated groups with granulocytosis and monocytosis. The erythrogram revealed a significant reduction in red blood cell (RBC) count in group 2. The result showed that the implantation of EAC in Swiss mice without treatment resulted in a significant decrease in total protein and albumin levels without a change in globulin level and a significant increase in creatinine level, while the third group that received propolis showed an improvement in these biochemical parameters compared to the normal control group