title: Hepatic profile of Gallus gallus Linnaeus, 1758 experimentally infected by Plasmodium juxtanucleare Versiani & Gomes, 1941.
abstract: One of the species that causes avian malaria is Plasmodium juxtanucleare. It is commonly found in poultry, especially when the birds receive food free of coccidiostats. Since industrial and organic poultry breeding is increasing in the world and few studies have been conducted examining the clinical parameters of both healthy and infected birds, this work evaluated whether the infection caused by P. juxtanucleare in Gallus gallus provokes alterations in the birds' hepatic profile. We analyzed the activity of ALT and AST and carried out histological analyses of liver sections of infected fowls by intracelomic inoculation with infected blood from a donor fowl with a parasite load of around 7%. The infected birds' parasite load was evaluated during 45 days by means of blood smears. There was a positive correlation between the increase in parasite load and higher ALT activity in the infected fowls, but there was no significant variation of the AST activity between the control and infected groups, possibly because of the non-specificity of this enzyme as an indicator of hepatic lesion. The results show that infection caused by P. juxtanucleare in G. gallus provokes hepatic alterations, indicated by the increase in the ALT enzyme activity and by the inflammatory infiltrates found in the liver sections of the infected fowls.
authors.affiliation: Curso de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Veterinárias, Departamento de Parasitologia Animal, Instituto de Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, RJ 23.890-000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Usha
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Vashist
authors.forename: Aline Duarte
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Falqueto
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lustrino
authors.forename: Victor Menezes
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Tunholi
authors.forename: Vinícius Menezes
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Tunholi-Alves
authors.forename: Marcos Antônio José
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Agosto
authors.forename: Carlos Luiz
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Massard
authors.forename: Jairo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D002645:Chickens / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D008289:Malaria, Avian / Q000201:enzymology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000201:enzymology / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases; D000410:Alanine Transaminase