Effect of sulphachloropyrazine on antioxidative systems in blood and liver of broilers

This report describes the effects of therapeutic doses of coccidiocid sulphachloropyrazine on enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidative systems in haemolysed blood and liver homogenate from broilers (glutathione, glutathione-reductase, glutathione-peroxidase, peroxidase, superoxidedismutase, xantine-oxidase and lipid peroxidation). The in vivo investigation was carried out on 120 heavy-line broilers (Arbor acres) of both sexes. One-day-old broilers were randomly distributed into 2 groups, each numbering 60 individuals of both sexes: Group 1 - control group; Group 2 - group of broilers inoculated with laboratory derived coccidia species on the 21st day-ofage. When symptoms of coccidiosis appeared (30 th day-of-age), blood sampling and decapitation of 20 chickens were carried out (Group 2a). The remaining broilers were treated with therapeutic doses of sulphachloropyrazine (60 ppm). Decapitation of 20 chickens was carried out after the therapy was concluded (38th day-of-age – Group 2b). Infection of broilers with coccidia intensified free radical processing in haemolysed blood and liver homogenate. This was evident from the increased levels of lipid peroxidation and the catalytic activity of almost all examined enzymes (SOD, GSHPx and Px). Therapeutic doses of sulphachloropyrazine inhibited free-radical activity induced by disease and establishing of physiological values of lipid peroxidation and catalase activity of examined enzymes. Coccidiocid, Eimeria, enzymatic, non-enzymatic antioxidative systems, therapy Coccidiosis is an infectious disease of the digestive tract which is most frequent in poultry, causing prolonged fattening, slower feed conversion and increased mortality (Jenkins et al. 2008). The disease is caused by protozoas from the genera of Eimeria, Isospora and Cryptospora, and it is manifested by damage of the intestinal epithelial cells, less frequently the bile duct and renal tubuli (Perry and Long 1987). If coccidiosis is manifested in its clinical form, the sulphonamide-based derivatives, i.e. the derivatives of p-aminobenzolsulphonic acid are used for treatment (Arakawa et al. 1991; Katzung 1995). Sulphachloropyrazine-4-amino-N(choropyrazinyl)-monosodium monohydrate (active substance of the drug “Esb 3 30%”) is a sulphonamide of a wide spectrum of action, (Bevill 1988). For the diagnostics of blood and organ diseases, catalytic activity of enzymes in erythrocytes and liver is most commonly monitored. Erythrocytes are directly exposed to molecular oxygen; their plasma membrane has high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids and an anionic channel specific for single oxygen. Furthermore, erythrocytes contain a high concentration of haemoglobin that is exposed to antioxidation. Erythrocytes have a highly effective system of protection from free radicals: they contain all the enzymes of antioxidative protection and a high level of glutathion (Jovanovic 1993). The liver is an organ with a central metabolic role in the organism, often referred to as “the main laboratory” since it performs major detoxification functions. For this reason the liver is the prime target for the study of the metabolism of xenobiotics (Popovic 1988). Antioxidant enzymes counteract exessive formation and harmful effects of reactive oxygen