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An in vitro approach to evaluate the nutraceutical value of plant foliage against Haemonchus contortus

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Abstract

Nutraceutical plants provide nutrients for the animal as well as secondary compounds that can affect the biology and survival of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN). Current screening of nutraceutical plants is based on in vitro evidence of anthelmintic (AH) activity against different life stages of GIN, but nutritional information is omitted or scarce. This study proposes an integral in vitro screening protocol to identify the nutraceutical value of the foliage from plant species consumed by small ruminants, using Haemonchus contortus as a biological model. The leaves from Acacia collinsii, A. pennatula, Bunchosia swartziana, Gymnopodium floribundum, Havardia albicans, Leucaena leucocephala, Lysiloma latisiliquum, Mimosa bahamensis, Piscidia piscipula, and Senegalia gaumeri were evaluated for their chemical composition and in vitro digestibility. Acetone:water extracts (70:30) from leaves of each plant were evaluated using the egg hatch assay and larval exsheathment inhibition assay. Respective effective concentrations 50% (EC50) were determined for each assay. The ten plant species showed good nutritional value for ruminants, including crude protein (> 10%), metabolizable energy (> 2.9 MJ/kg DM), and varied CT content (from 1.0 to 37.6%). The best AH activity against H. contortus eggs (EC50 = 401.8 μg/mL) and L3 (EC50 = 83.1 μg/mL) was observed for S. gaumeri extract. Although all the plant species showed in vitro nutraceutical potential, the leaves of S. gaumeri had the best values. The proposed in vitro protocol showed to be useful for the integral assessment of the nutraceutical potential of different plant species as it included the nutritional value and the AH activity against eggs and L3 in the selected plant species.

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank the review of the English language by FJ Torres-Salazar.

Funding

This work was financed by CONACYT-Mexico (Project-CB-2013-01-221608) and CONACYT PCP project between Mexico and France (no. 229330). The first author (G.S. Castañeda-Ramírez) acknowledges the scholarship from CONACYT for her PhD program at UADY (reference no. 7464535353).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Km 15.5 Carretera Mérida-Xmatkuil, C. P. 97100, Mérida, Yucatán, México

    G. S. Castañeda-Ramírez, G. I. Ortiz-Ocampo, P. G. González-Pech, J. Ventura-Cordero, J. F. J. Torres-Acosta & C. A. Sandoval-Castro

  2. Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Calle 43 No. 130 Colonia Chuburná de Hidalgo, C. P. 97200, Mérida, Yucatán, México

    M. Rodríguez-Labastida & R. Borges-Argáez

  3. Centro Multidisciplinario de Educación Ciencia y Cultura, Calle 35 No. 43 Fraccionamiento Colonial Buenavista, C. P. 97215, Mérida, Yucatán, México

    P. G. González-Pech & J. Ventura-Cordero

  4. INP-ENSIACET, LCA (Laboratoire de Chimie Agro industrielle), Université de Toulouse, F31030, Toulouse, France

    C. Mathieu

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  1. G. S. Castañeda-Ramírez
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  2. M. Rodríguez-Labastida
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  3. G. I. Ortiz-Ocampo
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  4. P. G. González-Pech
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  5. J. Ventura-Cordero
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  6. R. Borges-Argáez
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  7. J. F. J. Torres-Acosta
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  8. C. A. Sandoval-Castro
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  9. C. Mathieu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. F. J. Torres-Acosta.

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The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work complied with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guides on the care and use of laboratory animals (license no. CB-CCBA-D-281 2014-003).

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Section Editor: Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna

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Castañeda-Ramírez, G.S., Rodríguez-Labastida, M., Ortiz-Ocampo, G.I. et al. An in vitro approach to evaluate the nutraceutical value of plant foliage against Haemonchus contortus. Parasitol Res 117, 3979–3991 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-6107-0

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