Beneficial effects of antioxidants in improving health conditions of sheep infected with foot-and-mouth disease

The effect of multinutrient antioxidant treatment on sheep naturally infected with FMD virus was investigated in terms of general health conditions, serum proteins profile, and antioxidant/oxidant parameters. Twenty diseased sheep were divided into 4 equal groups (n=5) and underwent certain therapeutic protocols for 8 weeks as follows: GI, infected not treated group; GII, infected and treated with the ideal and usual line of treatment against FMD virus infection; GIII, infected animals supplemented orally zinc methionine at a dose of 5 g/head/day and vitamin E with selenium-enriched yeast at the same dose level; GIV, infected animals received both the ideal treatment and antioxidants. The animals under experiment were clinically evaluated. Blood samples were obtained for the comet assay and biochemical examination at zero time and at the 8th week after treatment. Results revealed that DNA damage reduced in both GIII and GIV groups which received antioxidants. In the GI group, the activity of SOD and GPx and the level of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) markedly decreased. However, in both GIII and GIV groups treated with multinutrient antioxidants, GPx and TAC values significantly increased after treatment in comparison with the values of the same groups before treatment. After treatment with multinutrient antioxidants, alpha 1-, beta-, and gamma -globulins levels markedly increased in GII and GIII groups while alpha 2-globulin level decreased. The improvement in healing of clinical signs and general health conditions was clear in the GIV group. Finally, FMD infection in sheep was found to be associated with oxidative stress. The use of antioxidants as therapeutic approaches recovers and improves general health conditions and performance of affected animals.