Hepatoprotective and cardioprotective effect of Artemisia nilagirica leaf extract on E. coli challenged broiler chicken

Shalini Thakur; Rakesh Kumar; R K Asrani; Meenakshi Thakur; Shailesh Kumar Patel; Rajendra Damu Patil; Ahmad J Obaidullah; Talha Bin Emran

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25709

Hepatoprotective and cardioprotective effect of Artemisia nilagirica leaf extract on E. coli challenged broiler chicken

Heliyon. 2024 Feb 10;10(4):e25709. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e25709. eCollection 2024 Feb 29.

Authors

Shalini Thakur¹, Rakesh Kumar¹, R K Asrani¹, Meenakshi Thakur², Shailesh Kumar Patel³, Rajendra Damu Patil¹, Ahmad J Obaidullah⁴, Talha Bin Emran^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Pathology, Dr. G. C. Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSKHPKV, Palampur, 176062, Himachal Pradesh, India.
² Department of Basic Sciences, College of Horticulture and Forestry, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Neri, Hamirpur, 177001, Himachal Pradesh, India.
³ Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Rewa, 486001, Madhya Pradesh, India.
⁴ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2457, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.

Abstract

Artemisia nilagirica is an important medicinal plant found to exhibit several medicinal properties but the use of its leaves for combating E. coli infection has not been scientifically validated in poultry. The present study was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of methanol leaf extract of A. nilagirica (ANE) on E. coli challenged broiler chickens. Three hundred and thirty, day-old broiler chickens, were divided into 6 groups of 55 each, with group EX infected intraperitoneally (I/P) with LD₅₀ dose of 1 × 10⁷ cfu/ml of E. coli; group(s) EA1, EA2 and EA3 infected I/P with 1 × 10⁷ cfu/ml of E. coli and supplemented with ANE @ 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 g/L of drinking water, respectively; group AX were only given ANE @ 2.0 g/L in the drinking water. ANE treatment was started from day 4 and was continuously given in the drinking water up to day 21. E. coli infection was given to the birds on day 7 of their age. The effect of the plant extract was evaluated on the basis of gross, microscopic and ultrastructural alterations in E. coli challenged broiler chickens. The extract of A. nilagirica was found to show antibacterial, cardioprotective and hepatoprotective properties in a dose-dependent manner on the basis of gross and microscopic examination. The methanol extract of A. nilagirica leaves revealed no toxic effect on the hepatocytes on ultrastructural evaluation. This study demonstrates the antimicrobial, hepatoprotective and cardioprotective activities of ANE in broiler chickens infected with E. coli organism.

Keywords: Artemisia nilagirica; Broiler chicken; Colibacillosis; Escherichia coli; Pathology.