Influence Of "Wei Qi Booster" On The Immune Response To Newcastle Disease Vaccine In Chickens

Aim: At present, the issue of immunosuppression occurs widely and leads to newcastledisease vaccine invalid in chickens, Wei Qi Booster (WQB) is a traditional Chineseveterinary medicine which was produced by Dr. Xie’s Jing Tang Herbal Inc. USA. It waswidely used in veterinary clinic to improve the body’s immunity. The present study wascarried out to evaluate the effects of WQB as an immunopotentiator on the immune responseto newcastle disease vaccine in chickens.Method: Two hundred and forty-five healthy Hisex chickens of one day age weredivided into seven groups randomly and35chickens in each group. GroupsⅠ-Ⅲ werehigh(2%), middle(1%) and low(0.5%) dosages of WQB group, group Ⅳ was “Mian Yi YinZi” group, groupⅤ was immuneonly group, group Ⅵ wasWQB only group, group Ⅶ wasblank control group. Chickens inⅠ-Ⅴ g roups were immunedwith La Sota vaccine at the10th day for the first time. GroupⅠ-Ⅲ and group Ⅵw ere fed with “Wei Qi Booster”fromthe10th day and lasted for30days with the following dosages: high (2%), middle (1%), andlow (0.5%), middle (1%). Each dose was made according to the percentage of the feed perday. Chickens were immuned with La Sota vaccine again at the28th day. Group Ⅵ was fedwith “Mian Yi Yin Zi” from the10th day and lasted for7days, groupⅤ was immuned only,and group Ⅶ was fed feed only. The blood samples were collected on days17,24,31,38and45from heart, the organs of thymus, spleen and bursa of Fabricius were weighed and theorgan indexes were calculated. The ND-HI antibody titer was tested; the serum contents ofIFN-γ and IL-2were determined by ELISA. The segment of duodenum, jejunum and ileumwas fixed in Bouin’s for48hours to determine the expression of IgA secretory cells.The results showed that (1)“Wei Qi Booster” which consist of Astragalus, Codonopsis,Oldenlandia, Lindera et al. could significantly promote the growth index of immune organs.Among the five time points, the immune organ index of WQB groupⅠ-Ⅲ were significantlyhigher than that of group Ⅶ and Ⅴ, and the middle dose (1%) of WQB had the best result(P<0.01). At the age of17th day, the immune organ index in group Ⅳ exceed all the othergroups significantly. Along with the growth of the age, the immune organ index in group Ⅳdeclined gradually;(2) High (2%) and middle (1%) dose of WQB could significantlyenhance the antibody titers (P<0.01). In the “Mian Yi Yin Zi” group (Ⅳ), the antibody titerswas lower than that of groupⅠ-Ⅲ all the time except for the day of17th;(3) The levels ofIFN-γ and IL-2in High (2%) and middle (1%) dose of WQB groups were significantly higher than that of control group on days17,24,31,38(P<0.01). And the contents of IL-2were promoted distinctly from31th day and maintained in the high levels from that.“Wei QiBooster” could also increase the numbers of IgA secreting cells significantly.In conclusion, the results showed that “Wei Qi Booster” could significantly promote thelevels of humoral, mucosa and cellular immune responses to NDV-immunized chicken.WQB is an effective immunopotentiator on the immune response to newcastle diseasevaccine in chickens.