Haematological and serum biochemical changes in the rat model induced with mannheimia haemolytica and treated with sea cucumber (stichopus horrens) extract

Mannheimiosis is one of the important respiratory diseases in ruminants and is still the main challenge to the ruminant industry in tropical countries. Sea cucumber extract has many therapeutic effects, including being an anti-bacterial, antifungal, antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive; however, there is no evidence of the preventative and therapeutic effects of sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) extract on pneumonic pasteurellosis in the rat model. Therefore, this study investigates the haematological and serum biochemical changes in rats induced with Mannheimia haemolytica and treated with sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) extract. Eight rats were recruited in this study, kept in separate cages and induced with Mannheimia haemolytica. Four rats in the treatment control group were given sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) extract, whereas the remaining four rats in the control group were not.Whole blood and serum were collected on day-28 and analyzed for haematological and serum biochemical changes. A T-test was done to analyze the data obtained. Hematology results were not significant (p>0.05) in both treatment and control groups. However, the total white blood cell and differential leucocyte counts were lower in the treatment groups than the negative control. Meanwhile, results on serum biochemical parameters, particularly blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CREA) and alanine transaminase (ALT), were significantly (p<0.05) lower in the treatment group compared to control group. These findings demonstrated that sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) extract has the potential in reducing inflammation and organ-specific injury in post-mannheimiosis inoculation.
Keywords: Mannheimiosis, sea cucumber (Stichopus horrens) extract, haematology, serum biochemical