Este estudo buscou evidenciar o papel das enteroparasitoses como fator adicional de pressão biológica sobre as espécies de aves silvestres locais e migratórias. a ocorrência de endoparasitos pode ser considerada como indicador de alterações indesejáveis das condições higiênicas, acarretando diminuição das áreas naturais com comprometimento dos locais de descanso e da qualidade do hábitat utilizado como ponto de alimentação aviária. setenta e cinco amostras fecais foram coletadas no câmpus da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Brasil, entre agosto 2007 e maio 2008, e analisadas em lugol e pela técnica de Faust.Das amostras analisadas, 82,66% foram positivas para parasitas entéricos, 44% parasitados por tricomonadídeos, 5,33% com o gênero Chilomastix, 52% com oocistos de coccídeos, 29,33% por formas vegetativas de Entamoeba coli, 37,33% com Iodamoeba butschlii e 10,66% com ovos de helmintos. a elevada prevalência de enteroparasitas indica a necessidade de estudos mais detalhados e avaliações mais frequentes de saneamento deste hábitat, cujo impacto parece estar associado às precárias condições higiênicas locais decorrentes da crescente antropização na região.

This study evaluated alterations in the qualitative cellular profile of leukocytes caused by the administration of low doses of ochratoxin-A (OTA) in poultry. Sixty chicks were separated in three experimental groups: control, PBS-treated and OTA-treated. Blood smears from all birds were analyzed three and six hours post-treatment. Differential leukocyte counting demonstrated that OTA reduced the percentage of lymphocytes and eosinophils and significantly increased the number of heterophils and monocytes

Objective:To determine possible toxic effects of Ruta graveolens hydroalcoholic extract in gastrointestinal parasitic infection.Materials and Methods:A total of 100 g plant leaves and seeds were powdered and extracted with 1500 mL alcohol/water and administered by gavage to Swiss albino mice infected with Vampirolepis nana. Anti-parasitic evaluation and toxicity assays were carried out in six groups of ten animals each. Treatments were scheduled with both the leaves and the seeds’ extracts at doses of 2.5, 5, and 10 mg per gram body weight. Toxicity was comparatively analyzed to a vehicle control group (n = 10) and to a Praziquantel® treated. On the fifth day, all the individuals were killed by euthanasia and parasite scores were correlated, giving rise to a relative percentage of elimination to each treatment. Toxicity was achieved by hematology and by clinical chemistry determinations.Results:The use of the R. graveolens hydroalcoholic extract to treat V. nana infected mice resulted in a mild-to-moderate hepatoxicity associated to a poor anti-parasitic effect. The major proglottids elimination (E%) was achieved at the lowest crude extract concentration with a mild anti-parasitic efficacy from the highest dose; that did not cause a significant elimination of parasites. A decrease of circulating polymorphonuclear-neutrophils associated with a normochromic-normocytic anemia was detected as the extract dose was augmented. The blood aspartate-aminotransferase and alanine-aminotransferase tended be slightly augmented with 100 mg R. graveolens extract.Conclusion:R. graveolens is an unsafe natural anti-parasitic medicine as its active constituents may be poorly extracted by the popular crude herb infusion. Although it presented a mild anti-parasitic effect in mice, symptoms of natural-products-induced-liver-disease confirmed that its self-medication should be avoided.

Macrophages exposed to 10 mug/mL citrinin (CTR) or 0.01 mug CTR mixed with 0.04 mug aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) for a period of 2 h at 37 masculine C, were infected with 10(6) Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites/muL. The parasites were treated with mycotoxins (2 h at 37 masculine C) before being added to the macrophage culture. The number of tachyzoites was quantified 2, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after infection. During the first 2 hours, 59% infectivity was observed in the control. After exposure to CTR or the mixture of toxins (CTR-AFB1), macrophages were infected with 77.5% and 75% of the inoculated tachyzoites, respectively. Similarly, 72.3% of the cells were infected when cultured together with previously treated parasites. The treatment with CTR-AFB1 gave rise to 2.9 times more tachyzoites than the control at 72 h. An increased number of parasites was recovered from macrophages exposed to CTR after 96 h, and to CTR-AFB1 after 72 h of culture; The number of tachyzoites recovered from the supernatant was 1.94 and 2.06 times higher, respectively, than in the control (5 x 10(5) +/- 0.054 /mL).

Objective: To evaluate the free radical scavenging and cytotoxic activities of the butanolic (BuOH) extract, methanolic (MeOH) extract and 20-hydroxyecdysone extracted from the roots of Pfaffia glomerata. Materials and methods: Pfaffia glomerata roots were collected, powdered and extracted with methanol by maceration at room temperature. The extract was concentrated under vacuum, yielding a residue, followed by a butanol extraction. The 20-hydroxyecdysone (EC) was obtained by chromatographic separation of the BuOH fraction. An amount of 10 mg of each dry extract and EC was dissolved in 0.1% dimethyl sulphoxide-phosphatebuffered-saline solution (DMSO-PBS) and screened for their capabilities on scavenging thiobarbiturate reactive substances (TBARS). The antioxidant activity of each extract was determined in vitro by measuring malonyldialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) in erythrocyte ghosts treated with ferric-ascorbate. The investigation has also included the cytotoxicity measurement by Trypan blue exclusion test and tetrazolium reduction assay in mice peritoneal macrophages. Results: The free radical scavenging activity of EC was higher than that present in the BuOH fraction. The MeOH extract showed a remarkable pro-oxidant activity. The ECfree radical reaction-inhibition was almost twice of that of the control α-Tocopherol (αT). The Trypan blue exclusion assay confirmed toxicity of the MeOH extract, whose lethality surpassed 80% of the treated macrophages after 1 h of 0.01 mg exposure per 10 6 cells.Conclusions: The present study shows the antioxidant effect of the Brazilian Ginseng. The scavenging effect was evidenced for EC as well the BuOH fraction. The MeOH extract showed cytotoxicity on mice peritoneal macrophages. Such toxicity is probably due to ginsenosides present in this latter fraction and warrants further toxicological evaluation of the Brazilian Ginseng roots.