Chicken I-FABP as biomarker of chicken intestinal lesion caused by coccidiosis

Abstract

Coccidiosis is an infection of the gastrointestinal tract caused by Eimeria spp, which causes morbidity, mortality, decreased body weight, and decreased production. Until now, difficulties for monitoring health status because no method for early detection has been found. Intestinal - Fatty Acid Binding Proteins (I-FABP) are intracellular proteins that play a role in the transport and metabolism of long-chain fatty acids. The FABP protein family can be used as a marker for specific tissue damage. I-FABP has never been done as a coccidiosis biomarker in poultry. This study aims to know the concentration of I-FABP in serum from chicken blood infected with various doses of Eimeria oocysts. A total of 400-day old chick were divided into four treatment groups: doses of 500 oocysts per ml (D1), 5,000 oocysts per ml (D2) and 50,000 oocysts per ml (D3), and Negative Controls (NC). The parameters used were the number of oocyst, lesion score in chicken intestine and measurement of I-FABP level. The results of this study obtained Eimeria oocyst production began out seven days after infection in the stool. The lesion score began to appear on day five after infection with a dose of 5,000 and 50,000 oocysts per chicken, while I-FABP concentrations were detectable on day 2 (48 hours) after infection. The conclusions of this study I-FABP can be used as biomarkers of early detection of gastrointestinal damage.