Serum enzymes and hepatic changes in sheep infested with Fasciola hepatica

EGLANTINA XHEMOLLARI^1*, LULJETA DHASKALI¹, NIKOLAOS PAPAIOANNOU², MARIA KRITSEPI².

¹Agriculture University of Tirana, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

²Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

*Corresponding author e-mail: eglantina_xhemollari@yahoo.it

Download PDF Fulltext

Abstract:

Fasciola hepatica, also known as sheep liver fluke is a parasitic flatworm of the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes that infects liver of various mammals, including humans. Fasciolosis is a parasitic disease of sheep caused by Fasciola hepatica. It has a worldwide distribution and it causes significant morbidity, mortality, liver damage and loss of weight. This study provides evidence for the presence of the parasite in the liver of sheep and biochemical values for 26 sheep samples which have been infested naturally from Fasciola hepatica parasite. Infestation was perceived throughout liver’s macroscopic examination in slaughterhouses and microscopic examination too. From 224 sheep examined, 26 of them resulted infested by Fasciola hepatica. Biochemical indicators analysed in this study are alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, γ-glutamyl transferase and lactate dehydrogenase. Results have shown different values ​​compared with the references but significantly higher changes have resulted in lactate dehydrogenase values​​ (842.26U/I).

Keywords: Sheep, F. hepatica, biochemical value.