An investigation was conducted to observe the effects of maternal feeding on infection of hemotropic protoza in animals, using nine puppies of a litter. The puppies were randomly divided into two groups, and one group was fed with maternal milk while ...
An investigation was conducted to observe the effects of maternal feeding on infection of hemotropic protoza in animals, using nine puppies of a litter. The puppies were randomly divided into two groups, and one group was fed with maternal milk while the other was fed with artificial milk for 30 days from the birth. Afterward, each animal of both groups was inoculated with Babesia gibsoni and checked for body and organ weights, for infection rate of the parasite, for hematologic variables, and for histopathological changes of livers and spleens. The results are summarized as following.
1. The body weight of maternal feeding group(4.23kg) was significiantly increased compared to that of artificial feeding group(3.71kg) when measured on the 30th day after the infection. The artificial group also showed decreased spleen and increased liver weight compared to that of the other group.
2. On the 10th day after the infection, maternal and artificial group showed the highest infection rates of 23‰ and 12‰ respectively, after which point the rates of both groups began showing decreasing tendency. But throughout the experiment period, the former’s rate was higher than the latter.
3. Both groups showed severely decreased values in total RBC count, HB, and PCV from the 10th to 20th day. The maternal group revealed more decreased values than that of the other.
4. Hepatic parenchymal cells of both groups underwent diffuse fatty changes and necrosis, but the changes of artifical group were more progressed. Also, a moderate number of cellular proliferations were found in the red pulp of spleen of each experimental animal, and the artificial group contained a number of myeloid cells and megakaryocytes which demonstrated so called typical extramedulla hematopoiesis.