The Effects Of Florfenicol And Chinese Herbal Ingredients Radix Astragali And Herba Epimedii On Humoral Immune Response In Chicks

Florfenicol, a new chemosynthesis broad spectrum antibiotic of chloramphenicol analogues, is a fluorinated derivative of thiamphenicol. Florfenicol will likely become the substitute of chloramphenicol for its low toxicity, little pollution and broad antibacterial spectrum and it also has activity against some bacterias that are resistant to most common antibiotic, eapecially in that it has no adverse effect that causes the irreversible aplastic anemia in human and animals as chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol has adverse effect thatsuppresses humoral immune response of critter and poultry in veterinary clinic and the suppression effect is roughly six times in thiamphenicol than that in chloramphenicol. The effect of florfenicol on humoral immune response of critter and poultry has never been researched to this day.Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii are both Chinese herbal medicine of invigorator species. Modern researches approved that Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii had immunoaccelerant function to critter and poultry and could enhance their resistivity to ailments. Efficient components of Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii had been extracted to form Chinese herbal ingredients Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii. Chicks were administered the preparation, and immunoaccelerant effects of the preparation were observed via determining the changes of Newcastle Disease (ND) antibody liters and Avian Influenza (AI) antibody liters. On the other hand, if florfenicol obviously suppressed humoral immune response in chicks, whether the using of ingredients Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii in chicks could reverse the suppression and protect chicks' immunity, which was also an important purpose in this test.Chicks were administered florfenicol, Chinese herbal ingredients Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii of different dosages orally for two weeks during inoculating period forinvestigating the effects of the drugs on antibody production. Blood samples were collected in different time after oral administration. The Newcastle disease (ND) and the Avian Influenza (AI) antibody titers were determined by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test respectively. The results indicated that no significantly lower response was measured in chicks that received florfenicol at a low dosage of 50mg/L drinking water (P>0.05), whereas ND antibody titers were significantly decreased in chicks that received the drug at a middle dosage of 150mg/L drinking water and a high dosage of 250mg/L drinking water (P<.01). ND antibody titers were significantly decreased in chicks that were additionally administered florfenicol for a week at a middle dosage and a high dosage (p<0.05), while no significantly decreased response was observed in chicks that were administered florfenicol at low dosage (P>0.05). ND and AI antibody titers were significantly higher by drinking ingredients Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii at middle (15ml/L drinking water) and high (22.5ml/L drinking water) dose (PO.01), as compared with the control group. The humoral immune response impairment caused by florfenicol could be controled and the antibody titers could be adjustedto control level by using ingredients Radix Astragali and Herba Epimedii (P>0.05).