Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, and Immunomodulatory Effect of Chlorella Vulgaris in Chicken Experimentally Infected with Eimeria tenella and Clostridia Perfringens

Elbarbary, Noha B.; Abd El-Wahab, Reham A.; Gad, Wafaa M.; Zayed, Shimaa; Basiony, Smaa; Darwish, Wageh Sobhy; Abdallah, Mona S.

doi:10.21608/ejvs.2025.371944.2742

Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, and Immunomodulatory Effect of Chlorella Vulgaris in Chicken Experimentally Infected with Eimeria tenella and Clostridia Perfringens

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Parasitology department, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Mansoura provincial Lab (AHRI-Mansoura), Agriculture Research Center (ARC), P.O. Box 264 Dokki, 12618 – Giza, Egypt.

² Biochemistry department, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Mansoura Branch, Agriculture Research Center (ARC),246 Dokki, Giza 12618, Egypt.

³ Bacteriology department, Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI), Mansoura Branch, Agriculture Research Center (ARC),246 Dokki, Giza 12618, Egypt

⁴ Infection Control Unit, Zagazig University Hospitals, Zagazig University, Egypt.

⁵ Professor of food hygiene, Fac. Vet. Med., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

⁶ Department of Avian and Rabbit Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt 41522.

10.21608/ejvs.2025.371944.2742

Abstract

Clostridium Perfringens (Cl. Perfringens) colonizes the intestines of poultry and causes severe disease, leading to intestinal damage, reduced production performance and high mortalities. This study focused on detection the occurrence of Cl. Perfringens in broiler chicken farms, evaluate the effectiveness of Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris) compared with amoxicillin on biochemical, hematological, and immunological parameters in experimentally infected broiler chickens with Cl. Perfringens enhanced by the coccidiosis. One hundred intestinal samples from sick or recently dead birds were selected and subjected for bacterial identification, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and molecular typing. An experiment was performed in which 150 male broiler chickens (Cobb 500), 1 day old, equally separated into five groups, control negative group G1, positive control G2, uninfected and supplemented by C. vulgaris G3, infected and supplemented by C. vulgaris G4, infected and treated with toltrazuril and amoxicillin G5. Infected groups G2, G4, and G5 were orally inoculated with 5x10² sporulated E. tenella oocysts on day 14 and then orally with 1x10⁹ Cl. Perfringens type A. The detection rate of Cl. Perfringens was 6%, and it was a multidrug-resistant toxigenic A strain capable of producing alpha toxin (α), and 100% (6/6) carried the virulence gene (Cpe). Uninfected and supplemented G3 showed significant enhance the FCR and BWG through the trail. G4 had significant increase in serum antioxidant enzymes SOD, GSH-Px especially at 3-week post-inoculation (PI) and lower level in the lipid peroxidation marker (MDA). Toltrazuril-treated G5 showed the lowest oocyst counts at day 11 PI, which continued to decrease until day 13 PI when no oocysts were found. In conclusion, supplementation with C. vulgaris improved performance and restored biochemical, immunological, and hematological parameters to near normal levels.

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