Metaphylactic effect of minerals on the immune response, biochemical variables and antioxidant status of newborn calves

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether injectable zinc and copper affect host immune responses and antioxidant status of newborn calves. For this study, 19 newborn calves were divided into two groups. The control group consisted of 10 animals; and the treated group consisted of nine animals that received copper edetate (Cu-ed) and zinc edetate (Zn-ed) subcutaneously at the first day of life at doses of 0.3 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg respectively. Blood and faecal samples were collected for laboratory analyses (seric biochemistry, proteinogram, antioxidant enzymes and parasitological examination) on days 10, 20 and 30 after birth. On day 10, treated animals showed increased levels of total proteins, as well as increased globulin levels compared to the control group, a finding probably related to the increase in ceruloplasmin and IgG heavy chain. Thirty days after mineral metaphylactic administration, IgG light chain and acid glycoprotein levels significantly increased in treated animals (p < .05). There were no significant differences between groups regarding the biochemical analyses (triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose and urea). On the other hand, the superoxide dismutase and catalase activities increased on day 10 after treatment. In the control group, eight animals showed severe diarrhoea and one died 8 days after birth. Two animals from this group showed mild diarrhoea. Only three treated animals had severe diarrhoea, and six showed signs of mild diarrhoea. All animals that showed severe diarrhoea (control = 8; treated = 3) had hyperthermia (over 39.5°C), and therefore, antibiotic therapy was administered (sulfadiazine and trimethoprim) for five consecutive days. In summary, Zn-ed and Cu-ed decreased the frequency and intensity of diarrhoea, modulated superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) enzymes and also heightened the immune responsiveness of newborn calves, suggesting a new approach to improve cattle performance and minimize the occurrence of diarrhoea.

Effects of different types of zinc supplement on the growth, incidence of diarrhea, immune function, and rectal microbiota of newborn dairy calves

“…Immunoglobulin G is the main antibody mediating humoral immunity and is the most abundant antibody in the serum (Crassini et al, 2018), whereas IgM is the first antibody to appear in immune responses and infection (Ehrenstein and Notley, 2010), and IgA is the principal antibody in exocrine secretions (Woof and Kerr, 2006). Some investigators have proposed that supplementation with zinc increases the immune responsiveness of calves by increasing IgG concentration (Kegley et al, 2001; Tomasi et al, 2018), whereas others have shown that supplementation with coated ZnO at 380 or 570 mg of Zn/kg reduces diarrhea index and increases secretory IgA concentration in the jejunal mucosa (Shen et al, 2014). Furthermore, Nagalakshmi et al (2018) demonstrated that administration of a low level of organic zinc improves growth performance and the immune response of calves.…”

Effects of a single trace minerals injection on antioxidant and immune response, resistance to endoparasites, health and growth of newborn Boer kids

“…Similarly, the application of ITM in calves on day 0 and 30 days of age, reduced the incidence of diarrhea (41.7 and 49.7% for ITM and saline respectively) and pneumonia, otitis or both (41.6 and 49.1% for ITM and Saline respectively) (Teixeira et al 2014). In other studies, the ITM application at birth (Tomasi et al 2018) or on day 2 and again on day 14 (Glombowsky et al 2018) reduced the severity of the diarrhea, occurrence of pneumonia and the use of antibiotics in dairy calves. In the current study, ITM injection increased plasma concentrations of antioxidant enzymes which may have reduced the damage caused by the oxidative stress to the immune cells leading to a reduction in the incidence of diarrhea, by reducing the pathogenic bacteria infection in the gastrointestinal tract.…”

“…Increased concentration of antioxidants enzymes by ITM, results in improved immune system (Cazarotto et al 2018, Vedovatto et al 2019c) and less incidence of diseases (Teixeira et al 2014). Further, the application of ITM in calves reduced the incidence of diarrhea (Teixeira et al 2014, Glombowsky et al 2018, Tomasi et al 2018. For this reason, we hypothesized that the application of ITM in newborn kids could reduce the incidence of diarrhea from birth to weaning.…”

Effect of the injection of trace minerals on growth performance, health, antioxidant enzymes activity, and immune system of newborn Boer kids

“…It has been reported that the ITM application increases the plasma concentrations of SOD (Tomasi et al, 2018;Vedovatto et al, 2019a,b;Vedovatto et al, 2020) and GSH-Px (Teixeira et al, 2014;Vedovatto et al, 2019a,b;Vedovatto et al, 2020) in calves and cows, and SOD (Cazarotto et al, 2018) in newborn lambs.…”

“…In calves, ITM containing Zn, Mn, Se, and Cu increases the liver concentration of these TM (Arthington et al, 2014), and in cattle and sheep, it improves several components of the immune system and increases the plasma concentration of antioxidant enzymes (Cazarotto et al, 2018; Teixeira et al, 2014;Tomasi et al, 2018;Vedovatto et al, 2019a,b;Vedovatto et al, 2020), resulting in improved health (Teixeira et al, 2014) and growth performance (Cazarotto et al, 2018). Although several studies have evaluated the use of ITM containing Zn, Mn, Se, and Cu in cattle (Arthington et al, 2014;Teixeira et al, 2014;Tomasi et al, 2018;Vedovatto et al, 2019a,b;Vedovatto et al, 2020) and lambs (Cazarotto et al, 2018), we are unaware of studies evaluating the effects of ITM in goats. In addition, the most susceptible stage of mortality of goats is from birth to weaning, because their immune system is not fully developed and is, thus, more susceptible to diseases.…”