Aim: The study aimed at studying the hepatoprotective effect of L-carnitine against lead (Pb) acetate-induced
hepatocellular injury, emphasizing the role of caspase-3 and glycogen synthase kinase-3β in hepatocellular
apoptosis and inflammation.
Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats were used. The experimental approach involved estimation of the liver
enzymes' serum levels. Oxidative and inflammatory biomarkers were measured in hepatic tissue homogenates.
Paraffin-embedded hepatic sections were prepared for histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Quantitative
determination of the phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta was performed.
Key findings: The serum showed a significant elevation in ALT, AST, and LDH; tissue homogenates showed significant
elevation in lipid peroxide and inflammatory biomarkers with significant reduction in reduced glutathione
in the Pb acetate-treated group. Co-administration of L-carnitine with Pb acetate produced significant
reduction in liver enzymes with significant improvement in oxidant, antioxidant and inflammatory markers.
Lead acetate treatment significantly reduced the phosphorylated glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta, while Lcarnitine
enhanced its phosphorylation. Histopathological examination showed inflammatory reaction around
blood vessels with fatty degeneration in hepatocytes of the Pb acetate intoxicated group. L-Carnitine caused a
decrease in hepatic damage with minimal vascular alterations in central vein. Caspase-3 expression in hepatocytes
was decreased in Pb-treated group supplemented with L-carnitine.
Significance: Our study reveals that oxidative stress and inflammation participate in Pb acetate-induced hepatocellular
injury. Glycogen synthase kinase-3β and caspase-3 play role in Pb acetate-induced hepatic damage. LCarnitine
shows significant protective effects against hepatocellular apoptosis and inflammation induced by Pb
acetate through antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic pathways in part mediated by GSK-3β
inhibition.

According to the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), both aspirin
and statin are used in the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Aspirin (ASA) is contraindicated
if there is gastrointestinal bleeding because it will exaggerate the condition. In this study, the effect of
surfactant; sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), in enhancing the in vitro dissolution of simvastatin (SIM) and
ASA, as well as gastric irritation and upset, was studied. Oral tablets containing both ASA and SIM with
and without the SLS were manufactured using the direct compression technique. The prepared tablets
were characterized with respect to hardness, friability, uniformity of dosage units, in vitro disintegration,
and dissolution. The effect of the addition of SLS in reducing the in vivo irritation and protection of gastric
mucosa were also investigated. The results showed that the compressed tablets possessed sufficient
hardness, acceptable friability, and are uniform with respect to disintegration, drugs contents, and tablet
weight. The results showed that SIM alone exhibited a gastroprotective effect on the induced irritation. In
addition, the incorporation of the SLS in the tablets containing SIM and ASA significantly enhanced the
dissolution rates of both drugs and significantly decreased the gastric irritation and the ulcer index.
The ulcer index of aspirin was decreased from 2.3 for tablets manufactured without SLS to 0.8 for tablets
containing SLS. In a conclusion, the addition of pH modifier surfactant; SLS could enhance the dissolution
rate of poorly soluble acidic drugs, reduce gastric upset and irritation without any effect on the main
characters of the tablets. Moreover, the addition of SLS is very useful in improving the therapeutic activities
and reducing the side effects of ASA and SIM for patients who require long-term administration of
these drugs.

Background: Castration is a husbandry practice raising important questions on the welfare and physiological status
of farm animals. Searching for effective castration methods that minimally compromise the body physiology is
worthy of attention. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the differential response of biological systems in
donkeys to surgical castration versus the chemical one by CaCl2 with special emphasis on stress, lipid profile, and
oxidative stress biomarkers. Donkeys were divided randomly and equally into two groups; the chemical (Ch) and
surgical (S) groups (n = 6). The Ch group was chemically castrated by intratesticular injection of 20% CaCl2 dissolved
in absolute ethanol. Blood samples were collected prior to castration and at 15, 30, 45, and 60 days after the
beginning of experiment.
Results: Surprisingly, the Ch group at the end of the experiment was characterized by significantly higher cortisol
level compared to the S group. TC and LDL-C levels in the S group significantly decreased at day 45, while TG
levels significantly increased at days 45 and 60 in comparison with day 0. HDL-C levels at days 30 and 60 in the Ch
group significantly increased in comparison with day 0. At day 30 post-castration, HDL-C was significantly higher
and LDL-C was significantly lower in the Ch group than the S group. A significant elevation in TC and LDL-C was
observed at day 45 and in HDL-C at the end of experimental duration in the Ch group when compared with the S
group. TPX level was significantly lower and TAC was significantly higher in the Ch group at day 45 than the S
group.
Conclusion: Surgical castration evoked less stress and minor changes in lipid profile and oxidant/antioxidant
balance relative to chemical castration by intratesticular 20% CaCl2 dissolved in absolute ethanol.
Keywords: Surgical castration, Chemical castration, Physiology, Stress, Lipid profile, Oxidative stress

The one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) or dromedary is an economically important domestic animal. However, infectious diseases, including those caused by vector-borne hemopathogens, frequently compromise the health and production of camels. In this study, we examined infections caused by Babesia, Theileria, Trypa-
nosoma, and Anaplasma species in camels in Egypt. We analyzed blood DNA samples from 148 camels reared in six Egyptian governorates (Giza, Asyut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, and the Red Sea) using pathogen-specific Poly-
merase Chain Reaction (PCR) assays. Our results indicated that 29 (19.6%), 22 (14.9%), 1 (0.7%), 2 (1.4%), 1 (0.7%), 2 (1.4%), and 28 (18.9%) of the surveyed animals were infected with Babesia bovis, B. bigemina, Babesia sp. Mymensingh, Theileria sp. Yokoyama, Theileria equi, Trypanosoma evansi, and Anaplasma marginale, respec-
tively. We found that a total of 68 (45.9%) animals were infected with at least one of the detected hemopath-
ogens. Sequencing analyses of PCR amplicons confirmed our diagnostic results. This study is the first to report Theileria sp. Yokoyama and Babesia sp. Mymensingh in Egypt. This is also the first report of infection with these two species in one-humped camel. In conclusion, this study found that camels in Egypt are infected with several vector-borne hemopathogens, including novel parasite species.

The study was carried out to determine the residual levels of heavy metals (zinc, iron, copper, lead, and cadmium) in tissues (meat, liver and kidney), serum and hair of 3 camel breeds (Magaheem, Maghateer and Wadha) collected from Al-Omran slaughterhouse, eastern province, Saudi Arabia by using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. Camel breed influenced Zinc (Zn) accumulation and distribution in organs, muscle, and arranged in descending manner as follows: hair> liver> muscle > kidney> serum. The iron content in all male camel samples was considerably greater than in female camel. Furthermore, significant strong positive correlation between muscle and serum iron was established. All examined samples contained copper (Cu), the highest value was 17.78 ± 0.85 mg kg–1 detected in liver samples of Maghateer breed. The descending manner of Cu as follows: liver > muscle > hair > kidney > serum. In addition, the female liver contained significantly higher Cu than the male liver. Lead (Pb) residue was detected in all examined samples among different breeds except muscle samples of Maghateer and Magaheem breeds. The cadmium (Cd) values ranged from 0.0001 mg kg–1 in the muscle of the Maghateer breed to 4.5113 mg kg–1 in the hair of the Wadham breed. The meat and offal of all examined breeds contained lower Pb and Cd levels than the maximum permissible limit. The estimated daily intake (EDI) due to consumption of camel meat below the tolerable daily intake (TDI). In addition, the hazard ratio (HR) and hazard indices (HIs) values were far below one for adults.

Camels are well known for their high blood glucose content and marked glucose tolerance. In order to understand the glycemic control in camels the role of insulin receptor was investigated. The camel insulin receptor sequence, structure model, and domain content were compared with those of humans and other vertebrates. The results indicated 100% identity rate in old world camels, 99.7% identity rate with new world camels and 96% with humans. There was a high identity rate among insulin receptors in domestic animals (82.3–100%). Despite the conserved features of the insulin 1 binding site (the main functional insulin molecules), the second insulinbinding site in camel insulin receptors showed interesting differences. Most of the sequence differences between human and camel insulin receptors were concentrated in the insertion domains (ID), particularly the ID-β loop. ID-α’~αCT’~ID-β, which is important for insulin receptor signal transduction, showed a greater positive electrostatic potential in camels. Such differences might be associated with the noticed hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in camels by affecting the movement of the α-CT helix which lies between the IDs and significantly affects the main insulin molecules, lowering the affinity at insulin site 1 and by affecting the transmission of the insulin signal to the intracellular domain

e evaluated the fects of different levels of dietary silver nanoparticle (AgNP) powder on performance, intestinal microflora, carcass traits and blood parameters of broiler chickens. Three hundred seven-day-old Ross broiler chicks were randomly divided into five groups, each group replicated three times with 20 birds per replication. Chickens were fed the basal diet with 2.5, 5, 10 and 20 mg AgNPs per kg feed. Dietary inclusion of AgNPs improved the final body weight, cumulative weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The best broiler performance, carcass traits, and relative organ weights were observed in the group supplemented with 2.5 ppm AgNPs. Increasing the AgNP dose resulted in a significant decrease in the caecal lactose positive and enterococci bacteria populations, while lactobacilli counts were numerically increased. The silver residues in the breast and thigh muscle significantly increased (p < .05) in a dose-dependent manner. Dietary inclusion of AgNPs induced dose-dependent lesions in liver, kidney, spleen and duodenum tissues involving degeneration, necrosis, mononuclear infiltration and focal aggregation of inflammatory cells. In conclusion, despite its potential positive impacts on growth performance, carcass traits and caecal microbial population diversity at a dose of 2.5 ppm, dietary inclusion of AgNPs had the following negative effects on broilers: 1) silver residues in breast and thigh muscle, which may result in AgNPs transmission to consumers, and 2) cytotoxicity in intestinal, liver, spleen and kidney cells in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, we suggest the use of lower doses of AgNPs (< 2.5 ppm diet) in poultry production in the future studies

The current work aimed to evaluate the effect of feeding organic acids (OA) on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, blood parameters and immune response of broilers fed with a low protein diet (LPD). A total number of 68 broiler chicks (one-day-old) were randomly distributed into 4 equal groups each of 17 chicks. The first group was fed the basal diet (100% NRC crude protein (CP)) free from OA and considered as a control (T1). The other three groups (T2, T3 and T4) were fed on diets with different protein levels (95% NRC, 90% NRC & 85% NRC, respectively) and supplemented with OA at a level of 0.45%. The results showed that body weight and gain during starter phase (days 1-21) were not significantly (P = 0.7, P = 0.13, respectively) influenced by the supplementation of OA. However, during finisher phase (days 22-42) body weight and gain were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in OA groups (-18% and -24%, respectively). A significant (P < 0.05) reduction in abdominal fat content and the meat cholesterol, triglyceride, and fat mass of broiler breast and thigh meat, while protein content significantly (P < 0.05) increased in all OA supplemented groups. In conclusion, adding OA improved immune response through increased serum globulin, and an increase in bursa relative weight of broilers. Moreover, the addition of OA to broiler fed LPD has no effect on growth parameters and carcass traits but improves broiler immunity and produces healthy meat to consumers.

The current study was conducted to find out the influence of feeding broilers on low protein diets supplemented with prebiotic. Growth performance, carcass traits, muscle cholesterol, triglycerides, chemical composition, blood parameters and immune response of broilers were evaluated. A total number of 68 birds’ one day old broiler chicks (Ross 308) randomly distributed into 4 equal groups each of 17 chicks. The first group (control) was fed the basal (100%NRC CP) diet free from prebiotic. The other three groups (T2, T3 and T4) were fed on low protein diets (95, 90 & 85% of NRC requirements, respectively) and supplemented with prebiotic at level of 0.1%. The results showed that, birds in the second group had significantly higher live body weight, feed conversion, and dressing percentages. Supplementation of prebiotic had no significant effects on relative weight of liver, gizzard and immune organs. Reduction in the relative weight of abdominal fat pad in all prebiotic treated groups. There were significant reduction (P<0.05) in the meat cholesterol, triglycerides and fat mass of broiler breast and thigh, while protein content was significantly (P<0.05) increased in all prebiotic treated groups. A numerical increased in antibody titre in birds in the second and third groups. Birds in the second group had the best economic feed efficiency. It could be concluded that adding prebiotic to broiler diets low in protein (95, 90 and 85% of NRC) has a beneficial effect on growth parameters, carcass traits, economic value in addition to healthy and nutritious poultry products for consumers.