Effects of repeated lipopolysaccharide treatment on growth performance, immune organ index, and blood parameters of Sprague-Dawley rats
Published Online: Oct 23, 2018
Page range: 341 - 346
Received: May 27, 2018
Accepted: Sep 17, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2018-0048
Keywords
© 2018 Y. Zhong et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The study was designed to investigate the effects of repeated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment on growth performance, lymphoid organ indexes, and blood cells in Sprague-Dawley rats.
Material and Methods
Forty healthy weaned Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly equally divided into LPS and control groups. Each rat in the LPS group was injected
Results
When rats were treated 3–10 times with LPS, their body weight and average daily gains increased more slowly than in the control group (P < 0.05). Repeated LPS treatment significantly increased spleen weight and the ratio of spleen to body weight (P < 0.05). White blood cells, neutrophils, and neutrophil percentage increased (P < 0.05) remarkably, but lymphocyte percentage, haemoglobin, and blood platelet counts decreased significantly (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
LPS treatment obviously suppresses growth and promotes peripheral immune organ proliferation. It is indicated that host protective mechanism can be activated by multiple small doses of LPS and prevents organs from further damage during stress status.