Physiological responses of erythrocytes of goats to transportation and the mondulatory role of ascorbic acid.

Experiments were performed with the aim of investigating the effect of road transportation for 12 hr on erythrocytes of goats during the hot-dry season and the modulatory role of ascorbic acid. Forty 2.5-3-year-old Red Sokoto goats weighing 23-25 kg and belonging to both sexes served as the subjects of the study. Twenty of the goats served as the experimental group and were administered ascorbic acid (AA) per os at a dosage rate of 100 mg/kg body weight; the other 20 served as controls and were given 10 ml each of sterile water. Forty minutes after the administration and loading, the goats were transported for 12 hr. EDTA blood samples collected before loading, after loading, immediately after transportation and subsequently on the 3rd and 7th days of post-transportation were used to determine the red blood cell (RBC) count, packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb), erythrocyte osmotic fragility (EOF), hematimetric (intrinsic) indices and hemoglobin index levels. The obtained results showed that handling, loading and transportation of the control goats induced significant (P<0.05) increases in RBC, Hb, EOF and hypochromic erythrocytes and a decrease (P<0.05) in the volume and average Hb content in RBCs. AA administration ameliorated all these changes. The present results suggest that road transportation for 12 hr during the hot-dry season could induce serious stress, resulting in hemolysis of erythrocytes, which was ameliorated by AA administration. In addition, the results demonstrated that EOF could be used as a diagnostic tool in road transportation stress.