Pathological changes in the organs of rats experimentally infected with mannheimiosis and treated with sea cucumber (stichopus horrens) extract

Mannhemiosis caused by Mannheimia hemolytica is a respiratory disease that is highly infectious, often lethal and causes a high economic impact on the large animal sector. This is an experimental study to study the pathological changes in the organs of the mannheimiosis rat model treated with sea cucumber extract, Stichopus horrens. Group 1 was a positive control group and was inoculated with bacteria but did not receive any treatment. Group 2 was inoculated with bacteria and received sea cucumber extract treatment seven days before inoculation and 14 days post-inoculation All rats were euthanized on day 15 of post-inoculation and post mortem was done. Lung and liver organ samples were observed for gross lesions and submitted for histopathology evaluation. Based on gross lesion and histopathological findings, the severity of lesions of group 2 rats were significantly (p<0.04) decrease than group 1. In conclusion, sea cucumber extract, Stichopus horrens reduced the severity of organ lesions in mannheimiosis rat model and had potential as a therapeutic and prophylactic agent against mannheimiosis.
Keywords: Mannheimiosis, Sea cucumber extract (Stichopus horrens), lung, liver, histopathology