Biological activity of cinnamaldehyde, citronellal, geraniol and anacardic acid on Haemonchus contortus isolates susceptible and resistant to synthetic anthelmintics.

Parasitism by gastrointestinal nematodes is a challenge for small ruminant farming worldwide. It causes productive and economic losses, especially due to parasite resistance to conventional anthelmintics. Natural compounds with antiparasitic activity are a potential alternative for controlling these parasites especially when considering the widespread occurrence of anthelmintic resistance. Our objective was to evaluate the activity of anacardic acid, geraniol, cinnamaldehyde and citronellal on Haemonchus contortus isolates with different levels of anthelmintic resistance profiles. These compounds were tested using egg hatch assays (EHAs), larval development tests (LDTs) as well as LDTs on mini-fecal cultures, on the Haemonchus contortus isolates Kokstad (KOK-resistant to all anthelmintics), Inbred-Strain-Edinburgh (ISE-susceptible to all anthelmintics) and Echevarria (ECH-susceptible to all anthelmintics). Effective concentrations to inhibit 50% (EC50) and 95% (EC95) of egg hatching and larval development were calculated. Results for EHA and LDT for all tested compounds, considering EC50 and EC95 values, showed low variation among the studied isolates with most RF values below 2x. All studied compounds showed efficacy against egg hatching and larval development of H. contortus isolates regardless of anthelmintic resistance profiles. The compounds with the smallest EC50 and EC95 values were cinnamaldehyde and anacardic acid making them promising candidates for future in vivo studies.

Thermoregulatory capacity of Santa Inês hair ewes of different genotypes associated with coat colors raised in a hot environment.

The relationship between hair color characteristics and thermoregulatory responses in ewes raised in hot environment were evaluated. 15 Santa Inês hair ewes of different genotypes associated with coat colors (light brown, dark brown and black) with body weight of 41.2 ± 8.1 kg were evaluated during three consecutive days. Rectal temperature (RT, °C) and coat surface temperature (CST, °C) of seven anatomical points (front, back, croup, loin, side, thigh, and belly) were measured during the morning and afternoon periods. Thermoregulatory responses were recorded along with meteorological variables. Heat tolerance index (HTI) and thermal gradient (TG, °C) were estimated for each genotype. RT and CST were influenced by periods of the day (P < 0.05), being higher in the afternoon, but TG did not differ (P > 0.05) between periods. HTI, CST, and TG were equal (P > 0.05) among the three genotypes. Only RT was higher in animals with dark brown coats compared to light brown, but equal to the black coat. It was observed that animals with black or dark brown hairs have a strong association between the CST under study, and yet these had an inverse behavior with the RT. Animals with a darker coat tend to trigger heat dissipation in various anatomical regions of the body, presenting dynamics in thermoregulatory responses in relation to those with lighter coats. Santa Inês ewes have heat dissipation mechanisms as a function of different genotypes associated with coat colors, but have the same thermoregulatory aspects to maintain homeostasis, demonstrating an excellent adaptive mechanism in a hot environment.