Erythrocyte osmotic fragility of pigs administered ascorbic acid and transported by road for shortterm duration during the harmattan season

Abstract

The experiment was carried out with the aim of investigating the effect of an antioxidant ascorbic acid on
erythrocyte osmotic fragility of pigs transported by road for 4 h during the harmattan season. 16 pigs
administered with ascorbic acid at the dose of 250 mg/kg per os and individually served as experimental
animals and 13 others administered orally with sterile water were used as control animals. The animals were
then transported for 4 h at a speed of 40 - 50 km/h covering a distance of 140 km. Blood samples for
erythrocyte osmotic fragility determination which was done using standard procedure, were taken early in the
morning a day before transportation, immediately after and a week after transportation. Erythrocyte osmotic
fragility decreased significantly (P < 0.05) at NaCl concentration of 0.85, 0.80 and 0.70% in both experimental
and control pigs following road transportation and the difference in the post-transportation values was higher
(P < 0.05) in experimental compared to control pigs. The results indicated that ascorbic acid protected the
integrity of the erythrocyte membrane in experimental pigs administered ascorbic acid following road
transportation as demonstrated by lower percentage haemolysis immediately after road transportation and
thus may alleviate the risk of increase in haemolysis due to road transportation stress in pigs during the
harmattan season.