Determination of pre and post treatment oxidative status and oxidative DNA damage in diarrheic calves

Increase in production of free radicals causes damage in lipids of cell membrane, weakening in functions of cell proteins and DNA damage. The aim of the present study was to determine the oxidative status, level of oxidative DNA damage and treatment effectiveness on these parameters on diarrheic calves. The study was conducted using 10 clinically holstein calves from 2-3 months of age. Antidiarrheic treatment containing Amonium sulphate (30mg/kg/day, Gabbrocol, Ceva Inc.), a mixture of Bismuth subcarbonate, kaolin, pectin (10g/day, Bismol, Bioteknik Inc.), vitamin and mineral mixture (105g/day, Sky High Energy, Egevet Co.Ltd) as drugs orally administered to all calves for 3 days. Body temperature, feces and blood samples were taken before and after treatment. Dry matter measured (%) in feces, DNA damage level and some hematologic parameters, total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS) and some biochemical parameters were measured from blood samples. HB, ALT, TP levels did not differ before and after treatment. However, body temperature (p<0.01), WBC (p<0.01), HCT (p<0.05), GGT (p<0.01), TOS (p<0.05), DNA damage (p<0.05) were decreased, dry matter in feces (p<0.01), RBC (p<0.05), AST (p<0.01), Albumin (p<0.01) and TAS (p<0.05) were increased after treatment. The results of the study indicate that oxidative DNA damage increases with degenerative diseases such as diarrhea and decreases to the normal range after effective treatment. It can be suggested from these results that oxidative DNA damage might be a good indicator to reveal the degeneration level of diarrhea in animals and a good parameter to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment in terms of cellular form.