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Erythrocyte osmotic
fragility of pigs administered ascorbic acid and transported
by road for short-term duration during the harmattan season
A. Y. Adenkola1*,
J. O. Ayo2, A. K. B. Sackey3 and A. B.
Adelaiye4
1Department
of Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary
Medicine, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria.
2Department
of Physiology and Pharmacology,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria, Nigeria.
3Department
of Surgery and Medicine,
Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.
4Department
of Human Physiology,
Faculty of
Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
aadenkola@yahoo.com.
Tel.: +234-805-4977696.
Accepted 18 May, 2009 |
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The
experiment was carried out with the aim of investigating the
effect of an antioxidant ascorbic acid on erythrocyte
osmotic fragility of pigs transported by road for 4 h during
the harmattan season. 16 pigs administered with ascorbic
acid at the dose of 250 mg/kg per os and individually served
as experimental animals and 13 others administered orally
with sterile water were used as control animals.
The animals
were then transported for 4 h at a speed of 40 - 50 km/h
covering a distance of 140 km. Blood samples for erythrocyte
osmotic fragility determination which was done using
standard procedure, were taken early in the morning a day
before transportation, immediately after and a week after
transportation. Erythrocyte osmotic fragility decreased
significantly (P < 0.05) at NaCl concentration of
0.85,
0.80 and 0.70% in both experimental and control pigs
following road transportation and the difference in the
post-transportation values was higher (P < 0.05) in
experimental compared to control pigs. The results indicated
that ascorbic acid protected the integrity of the
erythrocyte membrane in experimental pigs administered
ascorbic acid following road transportation as demonstrated
by lower percentage haemolysis immediately after road
transportation and thus may alleviate the risk of increase
in haemolysis due to road transportation stress in pigs
during the harmattan season.
Key
words:
Ascorbic acid, erythrocyte osmotic fragility, harmattan
season, pigs, road transportation. |
