Selenium, cadmium, zinc, copper, and iron concentrations in heart and aorta of patients exposed to environmental cadmium

The immune status of the organism of bulls under cadmium load and the effects of correcting factors

Man-made pollution of the environment through food chains has a significant impact on animal productivity and product quality. The studied environmental pollutant, cadmium, is classified as an extremely dangerous heavy metal. That is why the study of the effect of this toxicant on the immune system of the body of young cattle and the development of its correction is relevant. Research in this direction is relevant and has significant prospects. The experiments were carried out on six-month-old bulls, a Ukrainian black-and-white dairy breed. The bulls were subjected to a cadmium load by feeding cadmium chloride with feed at a dose of 0.04 mg/kg of animal body weight. It has been established that the cadmium load in bulls had an immunosuppressive effect on the activity of the immune system, which indicates a decrease in the indicators of humoral and nonspecific parts of the immune defense. To prevent the development of chronic cadmium toxicosis, experimental animals were given the feed additive Metisevit at a dose of 0.36 g/kg of feed and the liposomal preparation Butaintervit at a dose of 5 ml per animal. These preparations contributed to an increase in nonspecific resistance, in particular, an increase in the bactericidal and lysozyme activity of blood serum, phagocytic activity and phagocytic index with a simultaneous decrease in the level of circulating immune complexes in their blood. Under the experimental cadmium load, the best effect on the immune defense of the organism of bulls was exerted by the combined use of the feed additive Metisevit and the liposomal preparation Butaintervit. These changes in the body of young cattle are associated with the complex action of both the components of the feed additive and the liposomal preparation. The liposomal form of Butaintervit has a more pronounced and lasting effect. Metisevit and the liposomal preparation Butaintervit complement the prescribed therapy and, when used together with a cadmium load, show high therapeutic efficacy

Safety of livestock products of bulls on various diets during fattening in the conditions of radioactive contamination

Production of high-quality and safe food products in the conditions of technogenic environmental pollution is a problem worldwide, especially in Ukraine. As a result of the disaster at the Chornobyl Atomic Power Plant, radioactive substances, including caesium-137, contaminated the soil not only in Ukraine, but in many other countries. Zhytomyr Oblast is the fifth largest oblast in Ukraine and one of the regions that were the most damaged by the accident. Furthermore, this territory is contaminated by the most toxic heavy metals – lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) that actively migrate in the biological system: soil→ plant → animal → production → human, intensely accumulating in the products of plant and animal origin. The complex ecological situation and broad spectrum of biological and toxic actions of 137Cs, Pb, Cd require a number of measures that would prevent transformation of radioactive elements and heavy metals in the organism of animals, increase animals` productivity and safety of the food products made in the conditions of the Ukrainian Polisia. Therefore, we aimed at substantiating the practicability of using silage-concentrate, silage-concentrate-root vegetable and silage-concentrate-hay types of diet for young cattle during fattening and determining the impact of accumulation of 137Сs, Pb and Cd in livestock products. To perform the studies, we formed three groups of young bulls of Ukrainian Black Pied cattle using the method of analogues with creating comfortable maintenance condition and organization of in-detail planned feeding. The diet was composed of fodders prepared in the conditions of radioactive contamination. The laboratory surveys indicated that the main sources of 137Cs ingress in the organism of the animals were roughages and various types of silages, and the sources of heavy metals Pb and Cd were hay of red clover and concentrated fodders. In the experimental studies, we determined absolute and average daily weight gains, expenditures of metabolic energy per 1 kg of weight increment, specific activity of 137Сs and concentrations of the heavy metals (Pb and Cd) in the biological system “fodder-animal-production” during feeding of bulls with various-type diets in the conditions of the III zone of radioactive pollution. It was confirmed that substituting maize silage and carbohydrate fodders increased the average daily gains in the live weight by 2.3–4.6%, decreased specific activity of 137Cs by 8.7–20.1%, the content of Pb by 36.2%, Cd by 34.1–66.7% in the longissimus at silage-concentrate-root vegetable and silage-concentrate-hay types of diet for bulls. Thus, use of silage-concentrate-root vegetable and silage-concentrate-hay types of diets compared with silage-concentrate feeding had a positive effect on their productivity and safety of the food production.

The state of antioxidant protection system in cows under the influence of heavy metals

A highly relevant problem of modern veterinary science is the study of features and mechanisms of combined action of the most common heavy metals – cadmium and plumbum and their influence on the body of humans and animals in the regions of Ukraine under technogenic pollution. The purpose of the work was to study the influence of heavy metals on the state of the antioxidant protection system of cows, in particular on the content of lipid peroxidation products (malonic dialdehyde, lipid hydroperoxides and diene conjugates), and activity of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase), depending on the distance to the heaps of mines in the coal basin. The study objects were cows of black-and-white breed at the age of 3–7 years. It was established that this parameter in the place with the highest concentration of diene conjugates in the blood of cows was by 25.8 % higher compared to the place of low concentration and 12.1 % higher compared to the place with medium concentration. In the place with the highest content of lipid hydroperoxides in the blood of cows the parameter was 23.7 % higher compared to the cows from the place with the low content. The concentration of lipid hydroperoxides in the blood of cows from the place with the medium content was 16.7% higher compared to the cows from the place with the low content. The parameter from the place with the lowest content of lipid hydroperoxides in the blood of cows was 12.1% lower compared to the place with the highest content. The level of malonic dialdehyde in the blood of cows from the technogenic pollution zone in the place with the largest amount was higher by 36.2; 34.0 and 18.8 % – compared to places with medium and low levels, respectively. The activity of superoxide dismutase in the blood of cows in the place with its highest activity was 0.284 ± 0.0099 % block. reac/g Hb, and in the place with the lowest activity – 0.23 ± 0.0051 % block. reac/g Hb. The activity of glutathione peroxidase in the blood of cows in farms of the technogenic pollution zone depended on the distance to the mine. These researches will further develop effective methods of treating cows under the influence of heavy metals, in particular regarding the antioxidant system.