1Department of Veterinary Biochemistry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004, India.
2Department of Veterinary Parasitology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004, India.
*E-mail: ns@hau.emet.in
Two groups of six cross-bred male calves of 4–6 months old were used to understand the effect of Theileria annulata infection on distribution of zinc in calves. Group-l animals were infected experimentally with Theileria annulata by attaching 10 Theileria annulata positive ticks on the ear of each calf and group-II was kept as a healthy control. Blood, plasma samples (collected at 0, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days post-infection) and tissue samples of liver, spleen and heart (collected immediately after natural death from the infected calves) were subjected to estimation for zinc concentration. Piroplasms were fIrst seen between days 11 and 13 post-infection and peak parasitaemias ranged from 14 to 85%. The infected calves had significantly (P < 0.05) low levels of zinc in whole blood, plasma and erythrocytes whereas the values in spleen and heart were within normal range. The zinc concentration in liver increased signifIcantly (P <0.05) indicating that T. annulata infection causes mobilization of zinc from blood to liver for partitioning it between various pathways (as liver is not the storage organ for zinc) in order to combat the host responses as zinc is involved in the development and maintenance of immune system by influencing both lymphocyte and phagocyte cell functions.
Theileria annulata, Zinc, Liver, Spleen, Cross bred bovine calves
