Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:22:24.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The use of vitamin K deficient diets in the screening and evaluation of anticoccidial drugs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

John F. Ryley
Affiliation:
Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd, Pharmaceuticals Division, Mereside, Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4TG
Linda Hardman
Affiliation:
Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd, Pharmaceuticals Division, Mereside, Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4TG

Summary

Vitamin K (as menaphthone sodium bisulphite) added to a deficient diet reduced mortality due to Eimeria tenella or E. necatrix, had a slight effect on haematocrit, but had no obvious effect on weight gain or faecal blood; 0·1 ppm gave a maximal response. The effect of vitamin K on mortality was not absolute; the magnitude of the effect depended on the size of the challenge dose of oocysts. Likewise, the response of an infection to anticoccidial drugs, particularly monensin, depended on the severity of challenge. The effect of adding vitamin K in the presence of drug was to effectively reduce the coccidial challenge; no other interaction of vitamin K and drug has been found. No effects with vitamin K deficiency or supplementation were seen in cases of infections with E. acervulina, E. brunetti or E. maxima. The use of a deficient diet for experimental work is therefore quite justified – particularly as it results in a 4-fold saving of oocysts for inoculation purposes in the case of the haemorrhagic species.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, W. I., Reid, W. M. & Johnson, J. K. (1976). Effects of high environmental temperatures on cecal coccidiosis. Poultry Science 55, 1429–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, F. M., Wiswell, O. B. & Jankiewicz, H. A. (1941). Hemorrhage control in Eimeria tenella infected chicks when protected by anti-hemorrhagic factor, vitamin K. Proceedings of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine N.Y. 48, 278–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harms, R. H. & Tugwell, R. L. (1956). The effect of experimentally induced prolonged blood clotting time on cecal coccidiosis of chicks. Poultry Science 35, 937–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyner, L. P. (1963). Some metabolic relationships between host and parasite with particular reference to the Eimeriae of domestic poultry. Proceedings of the Nutritional Society 22, 2632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryley, J. F. (1967). Methyl benzoquate, a new wide-spectrum coccidiostat for chickens. British Veterinary Journal 123, 513–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryley, J. F. & Betts, M. J. (1973). Chemotherapy of chicken coccidiosis. Advances in Pharmacology and Chemotherapy 11, 221–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryley, J. F. & Wilson, R. G. (1975). Laboratory studies with some recent anticoccidials. Parasitology 70, 203–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warren, E. W. (1968). Vitamin requirements of the Coccidia of the chicken. Parasitology 58, 137–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed