The Clinical, Biochemical, Haematological and Pathological E¡ects of Long-Term Administration of Ipomoea carnea to Growing Goats B. Schumaher-Henrique, S.L. Go¨ rniak, M.L.Z. Dagli and H.S. Spinosa* Department of Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sa¬ o Paulo, Av. Prof. Orlando Marques de Paiva 87, Sa¬ o Paulo ^ SP, Brazil 05508-900 *Correspondence: E-mail: hspinosa@usp.br Schumaher-Henrique, B., Go¨ rniak, S.L., Dagli, M.L.Z. and Spinosa, H.S., 2003.The clinical, biochemical, haematological and pathological e¡ects of long-term administration of Ipomoea carnea to growing goats. Veterinary Research Communications, 27(4), 311^319 ABSTRACT Ipomoea carnea has been held responsible for several poisoning episodes, mainly in goats. This plant contains swainsonine, which inhibits acid or lysosomal a-mannosidase enzyme, causing cellular vacuolization. The objective of this study was to evaluate I. carnea toxicosis when four di¡erent doses of this plant were fed to growing goats. Twenty-¢ve male goats were divided into ¢ve groups, one control group and four experimental groups that received 2.5, 5.0, 10.0 and 30.0 g of the plant per kg of live weight per day for 4 months. Blood samples were collected for haematological and biochemical determinations and fragments from some tissues were collected for histopathological study. All the experimental goats ingested the plant throughout the trial, presenting nystagmus, muscle tremors, weakness of the hind limbs and ataxia.They also had a signi¢cant increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) from the sixth week of the experiment compared to the goats in the control group. There was a signi¢cant reduction in haemoglobin concentration in the goats treated with I. carnea. Histopathology revealed degenerative vacuolar alterations in the liver, pancreas, thyroid and kidney cells, and in the neurons of the central nervous system in the animals that received the plant. All these alterations occurred in a dose-dependent manner. Keywords: alanine aminotransferase, calystegein, goats, haemoglobin concentration, histopathology, Ipomoea carnea, swainsonine, toxicity, vacuoles Abbreviations: ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate transaminase; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; CNS, central nervous system; GGT, g-glutamyltransferase; HE, haematoxylin and eosin; PCV, packed cell volume INTRODUCTION Ipomoea carnea is a scrub of the Convolvulaceae family that is widely distributed in north-eastern Brazil, Africa and Asia, being commonly found in both urban and rural areas (Idris et al ., 1973). Characteristically, I. carnea £owers throughout the year, thus supplying food to animals at times of food scarcity. Hence, goats, cattle and sheep persistently ingest the plant (Tokarnia et al., 1960) and I. carnea has been held responsible for outbreaks of livestock poisoning, mainly in goats (De Balogh et al., 1999). VeterinaryResearchCommunications,27(2003)311^319 # 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed inthe Netherlands 311