MATERNAL ABILITY IN ALBINO RATS FANL ITS EFFECT SON THE IMMUNE RESPONSE OF PUPS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Dept of Hygiene and Animal Ethology

2 Dept Microbiology. Fac. Vet. Med., Cairo Univ.

Abstract

A study was carried out to determine the influence of maternal ability in albino rats on the immune response (cellular immunity) of pups. Twenty multiparous females were used for the study. The dams were randomly arranged under normal environmental conditions. The following maternal behavioral parameters of dams were measured and recorded daily for 15 days following parturition; nest building, physical contact, nursing, and licking.
In addition, the phagocytic activity (Percentage of phagocytosis) in pups was measured. The relative weight of thymus and spleen of pups were determined (Organ/body ratio).
The result indicated that; nest building, physical contact, nursing (Time of nursing and position) and licking were significantly positively correlated with phagocytic age (p < 0.01, 0.05) at the first 5 days and 15 days of pups’ life. While retrieving not Significantly correlated with phagocytosis.

Main Subjects