BOVINE CATTLE FED WITH ANDROPOGON AND BRACHIARIA GRASS: HISTOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS OF LIVER AND LYMPH NODES

• Autor(a) principal: Moreira, Cecilia Nunes
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Morais, Michele, Garcia, Edismair Carvalho, Neto, Sebastião Cabral, Araújo, Eugênio Gonçalves de, Fioravanti, Maria Clorinda Soares
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Ciência animal brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.ufg.br/vet/article/view/1057
• topic: Sanidade Animal; Bovinos

Numerous papers report hepatic alterations in ruminants fed with Brachiaria spp. The aim of this study was to verify whether the ingestion of Andropogon gayanus or Brachiaria (B. brizantha and B. decumbens) produces microscopic alterations in the liver of cattle. By histological examination was characterized the hepatic injury, and determined the amount and localization of foamy macrophages in the liver and mesenteric and scapular lymphonodes. Those changes were correlated with live weight gains of the animals. Forty bulls divided into two groups of twenty were grazing, from weaning to slaughter, in Brachiaria spp or A. gayanus pastures. In the slaughterhouse, fragments of liver and mesenteric and scapular lymphonodes were collected. Results showed, in both groups, macro and microvacuolar degeneration of hepatocytes, mainly in the periacinar region. The animals fed on Brachiaria spp pastures revealed larger quantity of foamy macrophages in the hepatic parenchyma and mesenteric lymphonodes. There was a negative correlation between the number of foamy macrophages in the liver and in mesenteric lymphonodes with the live weight gain, regardless of the type of ingested grass. In the lymph nodes, the highest macrophage concentrations were in the cortical zone, followed by the paracortical zone. The mesenteric lymphonodes showed a higher amount of foam cells than the liver. KEY WORDS: Colangiohepatitis, foamy cells, saponins, sporidesmin, tropical grasses.